A bottle of Champagne is one of the easiest gifts to get right, as long as you know what you are looking at on the label. Non-vintage or vintage, brut or rosé, full bottle, half bottle or magnum: each choice says something slightly different. This guide walks through those choices using the Champagnes we have on the shelf this Christmas, from Gosset, Paul Bara and Philipponnat, so you can match the bottle to the person.
Quick picks
- The safe, generous choice: Gosset Grande Réserve Brut NV, the signature non-vintage of a house that dates its origins to 1584.
- For the rosé lover: Paul Bara Grand Rosé de Bouzy NV, coloured with the still red wine of Bouzy.
- A thoughtful smaller gift: Philipponnat Royale Réserve Brut 375ml, a half bottle that is just right for sharing between two.
If you want the bigger picture on styles, villages and grapes first, our Champagne guide covers the basics. Below we keep it practical and focus on gifting.
Non-vintage or vintage: what the label is telling you
Most Champagne is non-vintage. According to the Comité Champagne, a non-vintage brut is a blend that can draw on reserve wines from different harvests, which is how a house keeps its style consistent from year to year. All Champagne must spend at least 15 months maturing in the cellars before release.
Vintage Champagne comes from a single harvest and is only made when the producer judges the year good enough. It must spend at least 36 months in the cellar, and often much longer. That extra time and the sense of one particular year make a vintage bottle feel like an occasion, which is why it suits a milestone, a thank you or someone who already knows their Champagne.
A simple rule: give non-vintage when you want a bottle that will be opened and shared at the table, and vintage when you want the gift itself to be a talking point.
Brut or rosé
Brut is the classic dry style. The Comité Champagne sets the limit for Brut at less than 12 grams of sugar per litre, so it pairs with almost anything on a Christmas table, from oysters and prawns to a ham glaze.
Rosé Champagne is often made by blending: red Champagne wine is added to the white base wines, usually somewhere around 5 to 20 percent, according to the Comité Champagne. It can also be made by macerating black-skinned grapes. Rosé brings red fruit and a little more weight, and it looks wonderful in the glass on a summer afternoon. If the person you are buying for orders rosé whenever they can, this is the easy call.
Gosset: a house that dates back to 1584
Gosset traces its origins to 1584, when Pierre Gosset, Lord and Alderman of Aÿ, set up as a wine merchant, and the house describes itself as the oldest wine house in the Champagne region. Since 1993 it has been part of the family-owned Renaud-Cointreau group. That story alone makes it a good gift, but the wines back it up.
- Gosset Grande Réserve Brut NV is the house signature. Gosset describes it as predominantly Pinot Noir, with Chardonnay for freshness and Meunier in the blend, aged for at least four years in the cellars. For a lunch with a crowd, the Grande Réserve magnum is the same wine in a 1.5 litre bottle, and the Comité Champagne itself calls the magnum an ideal gift.
- Gosset Grand Rosé NV has a high proportion of Chardonnay, with Pinot Noir made both as white wine and as red wine and blended in. It too spends at least four years in the cellars.
- Gosset Grand Millésime 2015 is the vintage choice: 59 percent Pinot Noir and 41 percent Chardonnay from the 2015 harvest, with a low dosage of 4 grams per litre according to the house's technical sheet.
Paul Bara: Pinot Noir from the Grand Cru village of Bouzy
The Bara family story in Bouzy starts in 1833, when Auguste François Bara arrived in the village to work as a cooper. Paul Bara began selling Champagne under the family name in the 1950s, and the house is now run by the sixth generation. Bouzy is classified Grand Cru and is known for Pinot Noir, and that grape leads all three Paul Bara wines below.
- Paul Bara Brut Réserve NV is built on Pinot Noir with a smaller share of Chardonnay (80 to 20 on our current listing). It is a fuller, rounder brut for someone who likes Champagne with a bit of body.
- Paul Bara Grand Rosé de Bouzy NV takes its colour from Bouzy rouge, the still red wine of the village, which makes up around 12 percent of the blend alongside Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
- Paul Bara Grand Millésime 2014 is 90 percent Pinot Noir and 10 percent Chardonnay, aged six years on lees. A lovely gift for a couple who married in 2014, or anyone marking a 2014 milestone of their own.
Philipponnat: the perpetual reserve, in two sizes
Philipponnat dates its establishment in Champagne to 1522 and is based in Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, with around twenty hectares of Premier and Grand Cru vineyards. Its non-vintage Royale Réserve draws on what the house calls its Réserve Perpétuelle: reserve wines curated since 1946 and aged in wood, with each new harvest blended with part of the previous year's blend. Roughly two thirds of the cuvée is the new harvest and one third is reserve wine.
- Philipponnat Royale Réserve Brut 750ml is mainly Pinot Noir and spends three years on lees, which gives it a mature, generous character while keeping it fresh.
- Philipponnat Royale Réserve Brut 375ml is the same wine as a half bottle.
Half bottles and magnums
Size is an underrated part of a Champagne gift. A half bottle is a neat present for a colleague, a neighbour or someone who lives alone, and it sits easily in a hamper. The Comité Champagne describes the half bottle as conveniently sized, and it makes a good gift for someone you want to treat without overdoing it.
At the other end, a magnum makes an entrance. It is the bottle to bring to Christmas lunch or to give a host who has the whole family coming over.
Serving and storing tips to pass on
- Serve between 8 and 10°C, the temperature the Comité Champagne recommends. In an Australian summer, an ice bucket with water and ice works faster than the fridge.
- For keeping a bottle a while, a dark, odour-free space at 10 to 15°C is better than the fridge, which is not ideal for long-term storage.
- If the Champagne is part of a bigger celebration, our Christmas cocktails for an Australian summer have ideas for the rest of the day, and our holiday gift guide covers the other people on your list.
Where to start
- Not sure what they like: Gosset Grande Réserve or Philipponnat Royale Réserve, both classic non-vintage bruts with serious depth.
- Rosé drinker: Paul Bara Grand Rosé or Gosset Grand Rosé.
- A milestone or a Champagne enthusiast: Gosset Grand Millésime 2015 or Paul Bara Grand Millésime 2014.
- Small gift or a big lunch: the Philipponnat half bottle or the Gosset magnum.
- Browse the full range: our Champagne collection, the wider Champagne and sparkling range and our Christmas collection.
We deliver to every Australian state and the ACT. Please enjoy responsibly.