Champagne styles
A short reference for the main styles you will meet on the shelf and on wine lists.
Brut
The default dry style of champagne — dry but not austere, and the reference point for every other category.
Rosé
Rosé champagne is made by blending or brief maceration with red grapes. It is drier than most still rosé.
Blanc de Blancs
Champagne made only from white grapes — in practice almost always Chardonnay. Precise, linear and often the longest‑lived style.
Blanc de Noirs
White champagne made from black grapes — Pinot Noir and Meunier — richer and rounder than Blanc de Blancs.
Vintage
Champagne from a single declared harvest, aged longer and released only in years the producer considers exceptional.
Prestige Cuvée
A producer's top wine — often, but not always, vintage — assembled from the best parcels and aged for years.