Three Champagnes to welcome in 2016

Matthew Jukes pops the cork on three great bottles of bubbly with which to toast the new year.

Matthew Jukes
By Matthew Jukes
published

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NV Les Pionniers, Champagne, France (£16.99, Co-op).

I have been a massive fan of the Co-op's own label Champagne, Les Pionniers, for a good few years now and it always makes the cut in my Daily Mail Weekend Magazine round-ups of high-street sparklers. It recently won a blind wine competition up against some pretty big names, so it's clear that it cuts the mustard with others' palates, too. The reason for bringing it to the erudite MoneyWeek wine lover's attention is that you ought to think about this wine for New Year's Eve celebrations or indeed any parties over the festive period and beyond.

It is a very classy wine indeed and it is ridiculously inexpensive I cannot emphasise enough just how impressive it is! If, however, you would like to splash out, then there are two further magnificent Champagnes which have recently crossed my path.

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NV Pierre Vaudon Brut Premier Cru (£15.20 for a half bottle, £25.50 bottle, £53.85 magnum, HHAndC.co.uk) is a delightful wine with effortless grace, trademark length and poise; 2006 Billecart-Salmon, Cuve Elisabeth Salmon Brut Ros (£139, Hedonism.co.uk) is the finest ros of all. Elisabeth treads lightly unlike many clumsy, plodding, super-cuve ross and this is most noticeable when you hoover your third and then fourth glasses. I cannot finish even one glass of most of the elite ross out there!

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

Matthew Jukes
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.

 

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