Chardonnay Archives -

Champagne Varnier-Fanniere St. Denis Review – Exquisite Bubbly

We had the extreme luxury of being able to visit Champagne producer, Varnier-Fanniere, when visiting the region in 2025. After getting a tour and tasting by the owner and winemaker herself, we quickly realized we were in the presence of greatness.

Their Champagnes are beautiful, with some incredibly flavor intensity, and, perhaps even better, were sold at a price point at the winery that we would say were exceptionally reasonable given the premium nature of the product.

One bottle we bought was from their St. Denis line, was an exquisite blanc de blanc with about four years on the lees, which was so good that we came home and bought the stock that a local grocery store had available (if only because at the time of publishing, Varnier-Fanniere was no longer importing into the States).

Naturally, a few of these bottles didn’t last long in our cellar, and we had to share this gem of a bottle with friends.

Veuve Clicquot has a reputation of being an iconic Champagne producer. From the easily recognizable yellow label, to legions of diehard followers (and critics), their non-vintage Champagne can be found and enjoyed the world over.

While we personally enjoy the yellow label bottle ourselves, we do recognize that it does come at a fair premium for what you get- especially in the United States with import markups added.

After visiting Veuve Clicquot during our Champagne wine tour, we tried another bottle, Veuve Clicquot Extra Brut Extra Old No. 4 that became our new favorite from the producer. Why is that? Well, it is a blend of old, reserve wines only (the 4th edition had wines from 1996 to 2014 only), and, given that it is extra brut, has a fair bit less residual sugar than the standard bottle- all for not that much more in price (in the US, at least).

So if you are a critic of the yellow label for any reason (or are just a fan), be on the lookout for this one!

Every January, we try and do a refresh and take some time off from drinking alcohol.

But, as we still enjoy good flavor, we take this time to try some non-alcoholic wines and see how the industry is progressing. Oddbird has a rather delicious Blanc de Blancs worth trying and, while perhaps not quite a perfect substitute for a fine wine, it is getting there!

If you’ve spent any time going down the rabbit hole of fine Champagnes, odds are good you’ve heard the name Jacques Selosse.

Selosse is synonymous with some of the finest wines in all of Champagne, and when we say they are highly sought after, we really mean it. Not only are bottles almost impossible to find, when you do, they likely come at a price that will make even the most interested Champagne drinker do a double take.

When we visited Alsace, we were on the lookout for bottles of Selosse and were, unfortunately, turned off by the price point for bottles to bring home. But we did visit the winery’s restaurant, Les Avises, for a lunch on Thanksgiving day where we decided to splurge on their solera style Blanc de Blanc, Substance which has its origins dating back to my own birth year- 1986!

Was it the most expensive bottle of wine we’ve ever purchased? Yes. Are we glad we bought it? Still yes. And are we glad we did tasting notes in the middle of lunch so we could write a review? You know it.

One thing I absolutely love to do when shopping for wine is checking out a store’s clearance bin. When you’d think a clearance bin would be just for poor wine, we’ve had some surprising finds, including many bottles from many famous producers marked down because wine staff thought “they were getting old.”

This is how we found a bottle of Robert Mondavi Chardonnay 2018 for about $10 off list price, and snatched it up right away.

A seven year old California Chardonnay at a much more appropriate price point? Well, we are in, and took that discount in a heartbeat thank you very much.

Although most everyone knows Champagne for its delightful sparkling wine, many other regions around the world make equally delicious bottles in the same method.

In South Africa, these wines are called Cap Classique, and some producers make bottles that could easily rival their French counterparts. Graham Beck’s Blanc de Blanc made entirely out of Chardonnay is one such bottle, and was one we were quite glad to try.

The Champagne region is full of many famous producers whose names we easily recognize, but never have tried before.

After staring at Moet & Chandon’s Imperial Brut at the store for many years, we decided that it was time to finally try this famous wine. After trying this, we do have to admit, we can see why it is popular- although we wish the flavors were as intense as the aromas!

One of our fears with California Chardonnay is that they can often be quite oak and malolactic fermentation forward. While these have their place, we often find the intensity to be not for us.

But when we find one that has a prominent intensity that hits our tastes, we absolutely love it, and Lloyd Cellars Chardonnay from Carneros was one such bottle- oak and malo forward, but very well balanced and how we like it.

If there are elements of a white wine that we do not enjoy too much, it would be overuse of oak and/or malolactic fermentation to the point that it overshadows the flavors of the base wine.

A little? Great! A lot? We really aren’t into it.

Meerlust’s Chardonnay out of South Africa was one such bottle, and we honestly wish it was just a bit more restrained in the oak here. This one packs a punch!

We’ve read about Pol Roger Reserve Champagne for many years, and it is always one of those bottles we put off buying due to a slightly higher price point than we’d normally prefer.

When we finally decided to grab one of these, we wondered why it took us so long. Yes, the price can be fairly high, but it is also a rather delicious bottle of sparkling wine!

Champagne Varnier-Fanniere St. Denis Review – Exquisite Bubbly

Veuve Clicquot Extra Brut Extra Old No 4 Review – A Favorite

Oddbird Dealcoholized Blanc de Blancs Review – Flavorful NA

Jacques Selosse Substance Champagne Review – Incredible

Robert Mondavi Chardonnay 2018 Review – Balanced With Age

Graham Beck Blanc de Blanc 2017 Review – Cap Classique

Moet & Chandon Imperial Brut Review – A Delicious Champagne

Lloyd Cellars Chardonnay 2023 Review – Balanced Oak and Malo

Meerlust 2021 Chardonnay Review – An Oak Heavy White

Pol Roger Reserve Brut NV Review – A Lot Going On