With the season to eat, drink and be merry finally here, it’s time to start thinking about stocking the fridge with champers – especially if you are playing the role of festive host this year.
Whether you are looking for an easy-drinking aperitif for your festive drinks party or an extra-special drop for New Year’s Eve, below are the very best bottles to buy this season.
Krug Grande Cuvée
Champagne Number 1, which is known today as Krug Grande Cuvée, is the fullest expression of Champagne, re-created every year, regardless of annual climate variations. It is a blend of over 120 different wines from more than 10 different years. Blending so many different wines from different years lends a fullness of flavours and aromas that would be impossible to express with the wines of a single year. Show off some serious champagne prowess and treat your champagne friends to a bottle.
Available from: R2500.
Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label Radiating Retro
We’re all feeling a little nostalgic these days, prompting the occasional wistful look back to more carefree times. And like many excellent designs of the present, the Veuve Clicquot Radiating Retro special edition pays homage to the past with a sophisticated, geometric design. Inspired by the wallpaper of the 1960s, it offers a dose of vintage chic with its on-trend nod to the era. But while it’s designed in celebration of the past, it’ll be best-put toasting to the future. Fun, irreverent, with a dose of good old-fashioned fun, it will pair well with your 60s (and 70s, 80s, 90s, and noughties) playlists.
Available from R699.
Ruinart Blanc de Blanc
Ruinart’s move to replace gift boxes with a chic recyclable ‘Second Skin’ made from pulped paper (a process that reflects two years of research and development alongside English paper manufacturer James Cropper and Italian packaging specialists Pusterla 1880) has resulted in a case that mimics the curves of the bottle while protecting it from light and moisture. Sculptural and minimal, it’s also luxurious – the surface evokes the walls of the Crayères de Reims, the ancient chalk quarries, and natural wine cellars where Maison Ruinart champagnes age. In addition, the new packaging is extraordinarily eco-friendly – with a carbon footprint reduced by 60%. If you’re looking for an eco-friendly festive centrepiece, this is it.
Available from R1195.