Champagne · prestige cuvées and vintages
Champagne: prestige cuvées and available vintages
Three prestige cuvées from great houses, in old vintages and in small numbers, with the format, the guide price and what to expect from it today: ready to drink, or to keep. Tick what interests you, and the quote request goes with your selection.
The champagnes on the price list
Filter by budget or by “ready to drink”. Nothing is sent until you click on the quote.
Three cuvées, two houses
The top of each house's range, vintage, and only a few bottles of each.
La Grande Dame 1990, Veuve Clicquot
The house's prestige cuvée, named after Barbe-Nicole Clicquot, who ran it in the 19th century. Mostly pinot noir. A vintage more than thirty-five years old.
Cuvée William Deutz 1990
The prestige cuvée of the Deutz house, in Aÿ, a blend of the three grapes. Each bottle in its original wooden box.
Amour de Deutz 2009, in magnum
Deutz's other prestige cuvée: a blanc de blancs, all chardonnay. In magnum, which ages more slowly and pours twelve flutes.
On request: Cristal, Dom Pérignon, Ruinart
Louis Roederer's Cristal, Dom Pérignon, Ruinart's Blanc de Blancs: not on the price list at the moment. Transvins can look for them, without guarantee; give the cuvée and the vintage in the quote request.
Old champagnes: what you need to know
A thirty-year-old vintage champagne no longer has the lively bubbles of a young one: the mousse is fine, discreet, and the wine has taken on notes of hazelnut, brioche, honey. Some wine lovers seek it out for exactly that; others will be surprised. The quote confirms the condition of the bottle (fill level, cork) before purchase.
Transvins is a Bordeaux wine merchant: outside Bordeaux, the selection is short and made up of big names. For a wine not in the table, the quote request is still open.
What to serve it with
- As an aperitif, a blanc de blancs, such as Amour de Deutz. With oysters (what wine with oysters).
- At the table, a vintage prestige cuvée: fine fish, lobster (what wine with fish), poultry in a cream sauce (what wine with poultry).
- An old vintage: on its own, or with parmesan, an aged comté (what wine with cheese).
Which cuvée for which occasion
As a gift, a prestige cuvée in a gift box (which wine to give); for client gifts, see end-of-year client gifts. For a wedding anniversary, a vintage from the wedding year, if the table has it (wedding anniversary). For Christmas or New Year's Eve, as an aperitif and with the oysters (what wine with Christmas dinner). For the quantities for a wedding, the wedding champagne page does the count.
What is the difference between vintage and non-vintage champagne?
A non-vintage champagne blends several harvests to keep the same taste from one year to the next. A vintage champagne comes from a single year, judged good enough, and ages longer in the cellar before release.
How long can you keep a prestige champagne?
A vintage champagne from a great house can be drunk on release and goes on developing for ten to twenty years, sometimes more, in a cool cellar away from light. A non-vintage is drunk within two or three years.
How many flutes per bottle?
Six flutes per 75 cl bottle, twelve per magnum. For the quantities for an event, see how many bottles of champagne.
Are the prices shown the prices on the quote?
They're the guide prices from the price list, incl. VAT, per bottle of the format, excluding delivery. The quote confirms the price, the availability of each vintage and the shipping; the delivery grid gives the lead times. For a cuvée or a vintage not in the table, the quote request is still open.