An incredible boutique Champagne

2008 Ayala, Blanc de Blancs, Champagne, France (£49.95, ChampagneDirect.co.uk; £44.48, CambridgeWine.com).

I popped over to Champagne in the summer to attend the launch of Bollinger's Galerie 1829 and La Rserve. A full write-up on this life-changing visit can be found on my website, to coincide with the publication of this piece.

I travelled out a day early to squeeze in another visit Ayala, the incredible, boutique Champagne house, owned by Bollinger, and situated in the same village, A, as its parent company. I enjoyed a phenomenal tour and tasting with winemaker Caroline Latrive and her tiny team.

MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/mw70aro6gl1676370748.jpg

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

I am of the mind that Ayala is making some of the most individual and fascinating wines in the region and this newly released, 100% chardonnay wine, made from Grand Cru fruit sourced from the villages of Chouilly and Mesnil-sur-Oger, is a tour de force. With a relatively low dosage and six years spent on lees, it is an ultra-fine wine with serious depth and richness cut by searingly refreshing acidity.

The 2008 Ayala Blanc de Blancs will no doubt whet your palate for the release of the 2006 Cuve Perle d'Ayala (about £95) in the New Year. I venture that this will be Ayala's most vaunted release todate, underlining the fact that the incredible renaissance of this historic Champagne house is all but complete.

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

Matthew Jukes has been the MoneyWeek wine correspondent since 2006.

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

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.