Four Bottles of Champagne You Need to be Drinking Now!

GRAND CRU & PREMIER CRU CHAMPAGNE: GROWER BOTTLES WORKING ELITE TERROIR

The big champagne houses buy grapes from the best sites. These producers walk outside.

Four vintage champagnes from small growers farming Grand Cru and Premier Cru vineyards in Champagne's most prestigious villages—Aÿ, Dizy, Hautvillers, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, and Ambonnay. Extended aging on lees, organic and biodynamic farming, hand-harvesting, and single-vineyard focus. This is what elite terroir tastes like without the brand markup.

Gaston Chiquet Spécial Club Millésime 2016 represents eight generations of winemaking since 1746. Nicolas Chiquet farms 23 hectares across Aÿ Grand Cru and three premier cru villages—Dizy, Cumières, and Hautvillers. This vintage blends 68% Chardonnay from five premier cru parcels with 32% Pinot Noir from Dizy's Griboury parcel on clay and limestone over chalk. Chiquet avoids barrels entirely, trusting terroir and time. Fermented in stainless steel with over 90 months on lees and just 6g/L dosage, this champagne relies on concentration, fruit maturity, and extended aging for body. Disgorged October 2024.

Vilmart & Cie Grand Cellier d'Or 2020 comes from fifth-generation Laurent Champs, who farms 11 hectares organically in Rilly-la-Montagne using methods his father pioneered biodynamically in the 1890-founded domaine. This vintage sources 80% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Noir from 50-plus-year-old vines in the premier cru Blanches Voies lieu-dit—a privileged south-facing hillside with chalk and limestone soils that differs from Rilly's typical north exposure shared with Verzenay and Mailly grand crus. Fermented and aged in four-to-six-year-old barrels with blocked malolactic, then 42 months on lees with 7g/L dosage, this vintage champagne balances hedonism and austerity with crisp acidic structure and oak richness. Peter Liem calls Vilmart one of Champagne's finest producers of any type. Disgorged July 2024.

Valentin Leflaive Grand Cru Rosé MA|19|60 pairs two of Champagne's most prestigious terroirs—Le Mesnil-sur-Oger and Ambonnay. Both Grand Cru sites feature distinctive flint and chalk soils at 100-119m altitude with southeast exposure. Sustainably farmed 25-year-old vines of 51% Pinot Noir and 49% Chardonnay are hand-harvested and crafted through fractional pressing, with 13% red wine from Ambonnay added for color and complexity. After fermentation in stainless steel and 40 months aging on laths with 18% reserve wines, this salmon-pink champagne displays fine, abundant bubbles and a remarkably soft, lace-like texture culminating in a salivating, slightly iodized finish with impressive length. The palate reveals raspberries, redcurrant, and pomelo. Perfect alongside lobster, scallops, or firm-fleshed fish like bass or John Dory. Disgorged November 2023.

Domaine Les Monts Fournois Mesnil & Oger 2017 showcases winemaker Juliette Alips, trained at Louis Roederer—yes, that Roederer—sourcing her own grapes from exceptional Grand Cru vineyards in Côte des Blancs. This Blanc de Blancs is crafted entirely from Chardonnay grown in the poor, chalky soils of Mesnil-sur-Oger, contributing a distinctive mineral backbone with Chablis-like hints of seashell and flint alongside bright citrus zest. Aged over four years on lees, this champagne balances richness and vibrancy with a beautifully textured palate that leads to a lingering, elegant finish demonstrating the aging potential of Grand Cru fruit. Aromas of lemon zest, white flowers, and minerality. Disgorged November 2022.

Four bottles. Three Grand Crus. One premier cru. Zero brand markup.