Sparkling Wine Guide: Non-vintage Brut Style

Each grape variety brings its own note, its own touch. As regards Chardonnay, we’d be looking for liveliness, minerality and notes of citrus fruits and white flowers. With Pinot Noir, it would be body, structure, red fruits and such flowers as violets and roses. As for Meunier, it provides fruity notes, roundness, and notes of apples, pears and yellow fruits. Wines made from white grape varieties will bring freshness, while those made from black grape varieties will bring roundness, an unctuous, indulgent side for Meunier, and body and power for Pinot Noir. The magic of blending lies in the combination of different aromas which sometimes bring out new, wholly unexpected notes: spices, truffle, light tobacco, etc.

Grape varieties aren’t all there is to it, though. The aromas that each of them confers on the wine are complemented by those provided by vinification. The winemaker can add reserve wines (i.e. wines from previous years) to the current year’s wine. They’ll provide more developed, more structured and rounder aromas and flavours. Some vintages contain up to 50% reserve wines. They make the notes conferred by youth more complex, adding freshness and liveliness.

The length of the maturation time also significantly influences the aromas to be found in it. In the early stages of maturity, from 3 to 10 years, notes of brioche, viennoiserie, ripe, stewed and crystallised fruits (figs and dates), dried flowers, dried fruit and nuts (almonds, hazelnuts and raisins), light tobacco, wax, honey and milk caramel will make their appearance, sometimes with vanilla and liquorice notes (characteristic of wines matured in wooden containers). Older wines, known as “vins de plénitude” (10 or more years old) evolve over time, providing notes ranging from fruit pastes (quince in particular) to gingerbread, and aromas that may include undergrowth and grilled or torrefied notes (toast, rusks, mocha, coffee and cocoa).