Following the remarkable 2015 harvest, many Champagne houses chose to skip releasing vintages from 2016 and 2017, opting instead to include them in upcoming non-vintage blends. However, as the industry looks ahead, a number of prestigious Champagne houses are now releasing their highly anticipated 2018 vintage offerings. Known for its freshness and richness, the 2018 vintage is regarded as a standout year for both Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, delivering wines that are equally generous in flavor and balanced in structure.
“The 2018 growing season was a study in contrast, marked by a particularly wet winter followed by a long, warm, sun-drenched summer,” explains Didier Mariotti, cellar master at Veuve Clicquot. Mariotti’s La Grande Dame 2018, which blends 90 percent Pinot Noir with 10 percent Chardonnay, is currently drinking beautifully. The wine presents a complex profile with vibrant citrus, ginger, and pastry crust notes, complemented by a touch of salinity. Mariotti attributes the wine’s striking balance of density and freshness to the season’s ideal conditions. “The 2018 harvest delivered one of the finest crops in recent memory,” he says. “The result is a vintage marked by exceptional Pinot Noir, showcasing a perfect balance between tension and aromatic complexity.”
In addition to Veuve Clicquot, Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte is also releasing two distinct 2018 vintages: a Blanc de Blancs made exclusively from Chardonnay, and a Brut Millésimé, a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Meunier. Chief winemaker Guillaume Roffiaen describes the 2018 vintage as “early, healthy, sunny, and highly productive,” producing wines of “great elegance and finesse, with soft, mellow acidity.” While the Blanc de Blancs is already on the market, the Brut Millésimé has been released slightly later, due to the Pinot Noir and Meunier grapes requiring more time to age on the lees.
Palmer & Co, another prominent Champagne house, is beginning the distribution of its 2018 Blanc de Blancs, which will be available nationwide by summer. Managing director and winemaker Rémi Vervier attributes the wine’s vibrancy to both “near-perfect climatic conditions” and the cooler terroirs of Palmer’s vineyards on the north face of the Montagne de Reims. “These cooler locations preserved freshness and energy, which gave the wines their elegant structure,” Vervier says. Palmer also released limited quantities of Blanc de Blancs from the 2016 and 2017 vintages, with the quality of the 2018 offering greatly benefiting from ideal growing conditions.
Charles Heidsieck is another house releasing 2018 vintage bottles after a lengthy hiatus. Their Brut Vintage and Rosé Vintage, both from 2018, follow the 2013 and 2012 releases, respectively. Elise Losfelt, cellar master at Charles Heidsieck, notes that the 2018 vintage’s warmth allowed for “remarkable maturity during tastings,” allowing the wines to be released sooner than usual. “After five years on the lees, we decided it was the perfect moment for release,” she says, highlighting the depth, complexity, and concentration that the wine has achieved in this relatively short time.
A key point for many Champagne houses is that while the seasonal conditions determine which harvests make it into vintage bottlings, it is the aging process that ultimately dictates when the wine is ready for market. By law, vintage Champagne must age for a minimum of three years, with at least one of those years spent on the lees. However, most vintage bottlings are not released until after nine to ten years of aging, with a few exceptions. The exceptional quality of the 2018 vintage has led to a quicker maturation, with many houses releasing their 2018s in near-simultaneous fashion.
Veuve Clicquot, for instance, launched its 2018 La Grande Dame at a lavish gala at the Gallery of Mineralogy and Geology at Paris’s Natural History Museum, a setting that cleverly references the minerality imparted by the region’s limestone soils. While the 2018s are being quietly introduced to wine lists and retail shelves, Veuve Clicquot’s bold move has brought significant attention to the vintage. Other notable releases from the 2018 vintage include Ayala A/18 Blanc de Blancs and two releases from Champagne Mandois, both Blanc de Noirs and Blanc de Blancs Premier Cru.
As the 2018 vintage is hailed as one of the finest of the century, Champagne enthusiasts have a wealth of exceptional bottles to explore. Whether for special celebrations or personal enjoyment, this collection of 2018 releases offers a remarkable range of styles to suit every palate.
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