Published by Jeremy. Last Updated on October 8, 2026.
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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.
Varnier-Fanniere St. Denis is an Exceptional Bottle
This Champagne was medium gold in color with medium aromas of yellow apple, pear, cream cheese, butterscotch, brioche, marzipan, caramel, yogurt, almond, and golden raising.
On the palate, it was dry with high acidity, medium alcohol and body, creamy mousse, medium(+) flavor intensity, and a long finish. The wine was a bit less lees-forward on the palate with notes of lemon, yellow apple, pear, wet stone, cream, yogurt, butterscotch, and almost that we appreciated all around.
This one is truly worth savoring!
Champagne Food Pairing – Indian Pulao
We paired this dish with homemade Indian pulao with rice, vegetables, herbs, soy, and topped with cilantro and a creamy raita (all made by our friend The Indian Somm). This spice-forward (albeit, not spicy) Indian dish was an excellent pairing with the Champagne and brought out a stronger hit of minerality, orange marmalade, almond, and perhaps even some apricot notes as well.
This pairing was quite lovely- so much so that we are now wanting to try more Indian dishes with Champagne to see how they hold up!
Score: 4.5 / 5
We want several bottles of this one.
It is really hard to put into words how much we enjoyed Varnier-Fanniere’s St. Denis. We had already bought out the stock we could find locally in the States, and on an upcoming trip to Paris I absolutely am going to try and search for more bottles when visiting- this one is too good to only have one or two in our cellar.
Champagne Varnier-Fanniere is located at 23 Rempart Midi 51190 in Avize, France. We purchased this bottle at the winery and enjoyed it in 2026.
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