Read more: The Grande Marque Champagne Report 2024

All the above definitions are, however, misleading: officially, Champagne recognises only two categories, vintage and non-vintage. Yet the debate between the two terms is not new. As long as I can remember, Bruno Paillard has called its Première Cuvée a multi-vintage. Twenty years ago, I recall talking to Remi Krug, who flamboyantly declared that theirs is a multi-vintage because ‘Krug is non-nothing’. He had it right for Krug, of course – and for the whole of Champagne – as the non-vintage term is all wrong, derogatory even, to the region’s most important product. How could the champenois get it so wrong? In French they call it sans année, or ‘without a year’, which much better describes the wine’s blended nature without degrading it. Rather than using the term in confusing ways, the champenois should officially replace the term non-vintage with multi-vintage, as I already suggested back in the 2011 edition of The Christie’s World Encyclopedia of Champagne and Sparkling Wine.

But what’s in a name? ‘That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet’, as Shakespeare put it. A name is just a name. It is, in essence, the valuation of the non-vintage product that needs to be fixed in the realm of Champagne. With all the effort put into the marketing of prestige cuvées and the hyping of vintages, the non-vintage category has fallen off the wine-lover’s radar, sadly handed the image of intangible agelessness and boring repetitiveness all in the name of consistency. Times change and so must Champagne. Edition numbering and printing of the disgorgement dates on bottles has finally started to become mainstream in Champagne.

Taking aside Krug Grande Cuvée (which belongs to the prestige cuvée rather than the non-vintage category), the pioneer of premiumisation in the non-vintage category is Charles Heidsieck. As far back as the early 1990s, master blender Daniel Thibault received carte blanche to create the world’s best non-vintage. The idea behind his recipe was to drastically increase the percentage of reserve wine in the blend while stretching the number and age of reserve wine vintages. It’s a winning formula, where reserve wine mellowness and age-derived complexity meet the freshness of youth. Charles Heidsieck has successfully transmitted the style to its newer creation Blanc de Blancs, which in magnum was my highest scoring non-vintage in the Grande Marque Champagne Report 2024.

Shying away from edition numbering even today, Bruno Paillard’s Champagnes have laudably carried disgorgement information since 1983. Profoundly understanding the role of pre-and post-disgorgement ageing, Bruno Paillard Première Cuvée is a bottling built to age. This cuvée is unapologetically crafted to the owner’s personal taste in its bold Pinot Noir expression and textured vinosity.

For Louis Roederer, it was time to revamp its sans année a few years ago in order to adjust to the new era and the changing climate. A carefully nurtured perpetual reserve initiated in 2012 aids in the fight for freshness, whereas a selection of characterful single-vineyard wines from a range of vintages are used as spices. Now, each blend of Louis Roederer Collection is given freedom of expression of the base year in question, while edition numbering ensures collectability and appreciation of the wine’s ageing capacity.

In addition to the bread-and-butter brut non-vintage blends, we are seeing increasing amounts of exciting premium non-vintage cuvées. These may be directed to a more niche audience, reinforcing the houses’ storytelling and unique selling points. Bollinger’s brilliant PN series is an homage to the house’s unique blanc de noirs tradition and expertise. Each iteration highlights a particular village, making sure every year there is a lot to communicate to a knowledge-thirsty Champagne audience. The wine’s latest edition, Bollinger PN VZ19, is its best yet.

Another brilliant recent blanc de noirs creation, Piper-Heidsieck Essentiel Blanc de Noirs, is the brainchild of chef de cave Emilien Boutillat, who first created it in 2019, his second year in charge of this rapidly ascending house. It’s a beautifully contemporary, fresh and creamy blanc de noirs, that comes with Piper’s hallmark toasty deliciousness.

On blanc de blancs, Ruinart are making exciting things with their Blanc Singulier, a cuvée that boldly embraces and expresses climate change, giving us an idea of what Champagne’s Chardonnays might be like in the future.

Laurent-Perrier are effectively premiumising their offering and wiping dust off the brand. Their latest creation, Héritage, is an ode to blending in the spirit of the house’s 20^th century visionary Bernard de Nonancourt, a blended-to-perfection Champagne ready to impress upon launch.

As you see, a new era for non-vintages is arriving. In the Grand Marque Champagne Report 2024 you will find many more exciting examples in this ever-important but undervalued category.