Champagne's Best-Kept Secret

The world's most celebratory wine could have easily rested on its laurels. But instead, Champagne has become more popular and relevant than ever, winning more share of the booming US sparkling market.

It's not just celebrities posing with fancy bottles, it's millennials trading up from other sparkling wines and choosing Champagne to add excitement to regular occasions.

Champagne's relevance may seem like a given, but it is underpinned by an uncompromising culture of innovation, much of which comes from the region's top enology school, Lycée Viticulture d’Avize ("Avize Viti"). Avize Viti pours its boundary-pushing innovation into its house label, Champagne Sanger.

Indeed, Champagne Sanger's Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru "Terroir Natal" NV is a stunning overachiever, voted #1 in our blind tasting. Rich with intense minerality, it's really hard to find a grand cru blanc de blancs without paying significanly more. 

Avize Viti was established in 1919 to help revitalize Champagne after the devastation of WWI, and has been a beacon of excellence ever since. Some 80% of Champagne winemakers—among them, Anselme Selosse and Richard Geoffroy, have trained at Avize Viti, and the school has spearheaded innovations in farming, vinification and more.

Avize Viti began its Champagne production in 1952 with the grant of vineyards from alumni and benefactors. They named the winery Sanger (derived from “sans guerre” meaning “without war”) to dream of a future where winemaking was principal without the interruptions of war.

The winery is run as a non-profit, to push the boundaries of quality and maintain Champagne's preeminence as the standard for luxury. What little wine they make is a spectacular value. 

While students assist in carefully controlled tasks such as harvest, the wine is always made by the Chef de Caves, Nicolas Robert. Under Robert's aegis, Champagne Sanger has gained international recognition and marquee placements.

Sanger is certainly celebrity-worthy. Idris Elba is now working with Sanger to make his new Porte Noir champagne, which just debuted in London.

When we started importing Champagne Sanger Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru "Terrroir Natal" several years ago, it was clearly overachiever.

The new disgorgement is perhaps even better. In a blind tasting with 7 veteran tasters, against similarly priced benchmark Blanc de Blancs, Sanger snagged the top place. Four tasters ranked it their first choice and two ranked it their second.

(Wines shown in order of blind tasting score.)

Among other flourishes, Sanger devotes extra-long aging (52 months) to develop complexity and allow the flavors to mature before blending; this gives the wine extra richness and an oxidative style with intense minerality. 

With soaring inflation in Champagne, it’s hard to beat the quality and value of Champagne Sanger Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru “Terroir Natal”.