Wine of the week: a serious but affordable champagne

Don't miss out on this devastatingly beautiful wine, says Matthew Jukes.

NV Henri Billiot, Brut Rserve, Grand Cru, Ambonnay, Champagne, France (£28.99, Raeburn Fine Wines of Edinburgh, 0131-343 1159; £25.50 by the case, Farr Vintners of London, 020-7821 2000).

I always attend the annual Comit champagne tasting at the Banqueting House in London, and it is usually a great opportunity for me to work through a wide range of wines and find some new recommendations for my readers.

The organisational chaos at this year's event prevented me from covering as much ground as Id have liked, but it didn't stop me from finding a few simply stunning wines.

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I'm not going to blurt out all of the stars this week (most were famous names), but to celebrate my 300th column in MoneyWeek, I thought I'd shine the spotlight on a little-known, but staggeringly serious and affordable wine.

I used to buy a fair amount of Billiot in the old days, but have lost touch with it of late and my reunion with this grand cru beauty was heart-stopping. Made from 75% pinot noir and 25% chardonnay, this heady, flamboyant but devastatingly beautiful wine is such a snip. The vintage 2005 is also an attractive creation and it is under £35.00. Do not miss out.

Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year (www.matthewjukes.com).

Matthew Jukes

Matthew Jukes has worked in the UK wine business for well over three decades and during this time has written 14 wine books.  

Matthew regularly lectures, judges, speaks at wine conferences and runs masterclass tastings for both corporate and private clients all over the world. Matthew is also the creator of his ground-breaking initiative, the One Day Wine School, an indulgent day of tasting and learning first performed in 2006.

He has been the MoneyWeek wine correspondent since 2006 and has written a weekly column for the Daily Mail’s Weekend Magazine since 1999. His four highly-acclaimed, annual wine reports – the Burgundy En Primeur Report, the Bordeaux En Primeur Report, the Piemonte Report and the 100 Best Australian Wines – are published on his website, www.matthewjukes.com.

Matthew is one of the world’s leading experts on Australian wine and, with Brisbane-based wine writer Tyson Stelzer, runs an annual competition in Australia to find ‘The Great Australian Red’.  He was made Honorary Australian of the Year in the UK at the 2012 Australia Day Foundation Gala dinner. 

Matthew is a winner of the International Wine and Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year Trophy.  His thoughts, recommendations and tastings notes are followed very closely by the wine world at large.