Pinot Meunier ' is a less distinguished grape in itself, but does lend a distinct fruity immediacy to many blends Most Champagne is labelled ' Brut ', which is the standard , bone dry style. A Champagne or sparkling wine may vary in sweetness from a Brut meaning very dry or having very little sugar, to a Deux - meaning very sweet. The quality for champagne increases with its ageing on lees. The lees are the residues left behind after the yeast has died. The benchmark style of Champagne, and the brand that the houses live or die by, in the non vintage blend.
Styles vary enormously from one producer to the next.
Best Houses - Charles Hiedsiek, Bollinger, Henriot, Pol Roger, Devaux, Georges Gardet. Vintage Vintage champagne is the produce of a single year's harvest, with the year stated on the label. The minimum ageing time it must spend on its sediment in the cellars is three years, although the better house keep longer. Theoretically, Vintage Champagne should only be made in the best years, maybe three or four times in a decade, but it seemingly takes a spectacularly bad vintage to convince many houses from producing a vintage champagne each year. On average, vintage wines are released at around five years old, although they don't really come into their own until after eight to ten years.