Blind Tasting Bubbly

Ah, champagne – that heady, glorious drink! Many people have a favourite label. Others are more than happy to sip down a flute of whatever is popped and poured, confident that it will be a fizzy celebration of flavours.  But how many of us can tell the difference between a Laurent Perrier and a Veuve Clicquot? Is your palate more 007 (Bollinger), Churchillian (Pol Roger) or Scarlett Johansson (Moet Imperial)?

The big brand ‘Grandes Marques’ champagnes (there are 24 of them) expend a great deal of resources developing their own ‘house style’ and keeping it consistent year after year – most notably through blending. As expensive as the manufacturing process for good champagne is, between 20-50% of the retail price of a bottle goes towards building and marketing their illustrious brands.

The Capital Branch aimed to take away the influence of branding and let the drinks speak for themselves in the glass . We conducted a blind tasting of six well-known and widely available Grandes Marques, along with a mystery wine - the Nyetimber Classic Cuvee - an English sparkling wine that has regularly bested its French rivals in past international blind tastings.

The results were eye-popping. Prior to the tasting, the participants were informally asked to name their 'favourite champers'. Names that rang forth were Bollinger, Taittinger and Veuve Clicquot. Below are the scores by the 26 participants at the end of the blind tasting, and their rankings:

Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label Brut NV (12 points) - TIED FOR FIFTH

Moet Imperial NV (12 pts) - TIED FOR FIFTH

Taittinger NV Brut Reserve (21 pts) - THIRD

Bollinger Special Cuvee Brut NV (24 pts) - SECOND

Pol Roger NV Brut Reserve (18 pts) - FOURTH

Laurent Perrier NV La Cuvee (10 pts) - SEVENTH

Nyetimber Classic Cuvee (43 pts) - FIRST AND WINE OF THE NIGHT

Much to the astonishment and delight of everyone present, an English sparkling wine bested its more famous French peers - and by a considerable margin! Yet again, this tasting demonstrated the power of objectivity in producing unexpected conclusions. So there's no doubt that people will and should continue to enjoy their favourite champagne. But also, if we let our taste buds choose for us, our favourite bubbly might come from somewhere else entirely. And that's a revelation worth celebrating!

Nibbles and bread were provided.

This event marked the second anniversary of the Capital Branch. We raised a toast to all who made the journey possible so far! The tasting was preceded by a brief procedural event to mark our 2025 Annual General Meeting.