A non-vintage brut champagne is a classic style of champagne
that most of us drink when we think of picking up a bottle on Friday night or
when we’re going over to someone’s house for dinner. The biggest appeal is that
it’s easy to drink and gives us that classic champagne taste of the blended
three grape varieties: pinot noir, pinor meunier and chardonnay.Where some non-vintage champagnes let me down is in the fact they’re still very young and so have sharp, citric (lemon/lime) or strong green apple flavours; to me they need a little more time to develop that classic champagne taste (non-vintages only have to be aged for 15 months, according to the Appellation d’OrigineContrôlée (AOC) – the regulatory authority for champagne, although some champagne houses age them longer). These young, fun and lively champagnes should be taken (and enjoyed) as they are; mostly as an aperitif on a lazy Sunday afternoon with cheese, over a barbeque with friends or on a Friday night sitting on the couch watching TV.
