Wine & cellar advice

Vintage Champagne: what it is

A vintage Champagne is made 100% from grapes harvested in a single year, unlike non-vintage Champagne, which blends multiple years to guarantee a consistent house style.

When a house declares a vintage

A house only declares a vintage when the harvest yields a quality deemed sufficient—some years produce no vintage at all. The minimum legal aging requirement in the cellar is 3 years for a vintage Champagne, compared to 15 months for a non-vintage. In practice, houses far exceed this legal minimum.

Value in tasting and gifting

The result is a wine that reflects the climatic conditions of a specific year rather than a uniform house style. For a corporate gift or a landmark occasion, a vintage has the advantage of corresponding to a specific year (birth, company anniversary).

The Pinot & Chardo wine cellar in Nice maintains several vintages available for purchase individually and in gift boxes.