Non Vintage (N.V.)
Blended from wines of several years to achieve a constant "style de maison" House style. This
blend will depend on the art and history behind the house and its Chef du Caves. Many NV
Champagnes are a blend of thirty or forty different wines.

A non-vintage Champagne cannot be sold until it is 15 months old, although most reputable
houses will age the wine in their cellars for longer periods. An NV wine will often improve in the
bottle after purchase, if it is kept in the right conditions, ideally a cellar, but failing that, in a
cool dark place. As the bottle ages the Champagne will become softer on the palate, richer in
taste. However, it is not recommended to keep Champagne longer than it was originally cellared
by the maker.

Vintage
Vintage Champagne is a blend of wines from a particular year, when the quality of the harvest
was sufficient to declare a "Vintage". Obviously, not every year is a vintage year, but the
vintage is left to the individual houses themselves to declare. Therefore, some houses declare
a vintage Champagne in a year where others did not feel the quality justified it.

Vintage Champagne must be 39 months old before it is sold, i.e. 3 years after the 1st January
following the harvest around September. Again, many Marques will age their wines for longer
than this legal minimum.

Rosé
Rosé Champagne can be made in one of two ways: First by maceration of black grapes during
pressing, so that the colour leeches out from the skins (the juice from black grapes is white)
or by adding a small proportion of the red wine form the Champagne region (often Bouzy Rouge)
to give the wine a rose tint. The former method (de saignée) is more expensive and difficult to
control, but many would say produces the better Champagne. An excellent Rosé is
Laurent-Perrier, produced de saignée.

Prestige Cuvées
Most Champagne houses produce a special bottle in a vintage year and these are normally
deemed to be "Prestige or Deluxe cuvées". Probably the most famous of these is Moët's Cuvée
Dom Pérignon. In fact Moët invented the Cuvée Prestige with D.P. in 1921.

Prestige cuvées represent the pinnacle of a house's achievement and can be a vintage or
occasionally a blend of vintages. They cost around three times more than a Non-Vintage, and
around double the price of a Vintage.

Why are they so expensive?
Well, the grapes will have been hand picked (like all Champagne grapes) but they will have
come from the top-producing vineyards, and more or less hand selected. Then they will be
very carefully pressed, the resulting wines carefully blended and bottled in a specially shaped
bottle. The Champagne is left to mature for five to seven years, after which the bottles will be
riddled by hand prior to disgorgement. Then, there is often a pretty box. Clearly, these wines
are a premium product, crafted with the utmost care to produce a premium wine, but I
suspect they carry a premium profit margin! But then why does a Rolex watch cost a hundred
times more than a Swatch, when the Swatch tells time better? (I've got both - the Rolex
won't work the ski-lift either!)

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