This non-vintage grand cru is a blend of 50% 2021 and 50% reserve wine. It has a sea air, briny freshness, and is so quintessentially chalky blanc de blancs on the nose. The palate has a soft mousse (it is slightly lower pressure than mainstream Champagnes) and a salty, fresh length with an agile weight. It is discreet and reserved on first opening, but its reticent refrain opens up with some coaxing. One for the purists.

This is Laurent Champ’s top rosé cuvée. It's a blend of 60% Chardonnay and 40% Pinot Noir (saignée) from vines with an average age of 60 years, all premier cru. It is savoury and ripe, with a level of precision and detail on the nose uncommon to rosé Champagnes. This is a truly great follow-up to the 2012, 2013, 2015 and continues the cuvée's astonishing run, coveted for its complexity of flavours - clementine, grilled nuts, red currant, rose petals, and a salty umami quality. It would go brilliantly with sashimi.

The 2013 Blanches Voies comes from a single parcel of sixty year-old vines, from Laurent's most expressive parcel of Chardonnay. It’s a relatively recent addition to the Vilmart roster, having first appeared in 2009. 2013 was one of the latest-picked vintages in recent times (5th October), meaning the grapes had a long ripening window to build up complexity. The expression is chalky, crystalline purity, with remarkable saline, laser-like precision.

Laurent’s father first made this now emblematic cuvée in 1989. As the name suggests, it is the heart of the juice from the press, offering up a complex and intense expression of the vintage. It is a blend of 80% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Noir which comes from premier cru vineyards in the heart of the Montagne de Reims, and shows taut control and an elegant, complex structure. Malolactic fermentation is blocked, and the wine shows tension and grip, with a juicy, ripe citrus character and racy, saline freshness. The wine was matured in old oak, giving a softness and breadth on the palate.

Laurent Champs was so taken with the way his customers in the English market cellared his wines, he realised a demand for late release non-vintage would find many takers. T14 refers to the year of bottling, and the wine itself is a blend of the 2013 vintage at its base, with 2011 and 2012 in supporting roles. It's clear that Vilmart wines flourish with some bottle age, so this is one to snap up.

This blend of 80% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Noir comes from premier cru vineyards in the heart of the Montagne de Reims, in the village of Rilly la Montagne. It's made by expert winemaker Laurent Champs, whose wines show taut control and complex structure. Malolactic fermentation is blocked, and the wine - from the 2020 vintage - shows natural ripeness and depth. Laurent says its balance of richness and fresh complexity is like a friend coming home to visit. The wine was matured in old oak, giving a softness and breadth on the palate.

This is the go-to aperitif wine in the Vilmart line up. It’s 70% Chardonnay and 30% Pinot Noir, all sourced from their premier cru vineyards around the village of Rilly la Montagne. The base vintage of 2022 is blended with reserve wines from 2020 and 2019. It is refreshing and wonderfully saline, with a brilliant lemon rind and grapefruit zippiness, suggesting it would be an excellent match with oysters.

Of all the recent purchases made by Jacques Devauges and the team at Lambrays, you can tell this is the one they are most thrilled at. They are now proud owners of 0.9 hectares of this little-known but utterly fabulous Nuits St Georges premier cru. The vines were planted almost 100 years ago in 1924. The wine shows old vine complexity, Vosne decadence, and Lambrays sophistication.

The 2022 Yquem is a powerful, intense wine. A blend of 80% Semillon and 20% Sauvignon, this is the first vintage bearing organic certification. There is such a fine interplay of sweetness and bitterness here, freshness and generosity. It opens with aromas of grilled pineapple, chamomile, and tangerine peel. There of flickers of confit citrus fruit and caramalised ginger too. Seductive and powerful this draws you in. In terms of numbers, at 160g/l of sugar this is the most concentrated in respect of sugar content after the 1945 yet the wine wears this so well with a real sense of energy and vibrancy running through the core. There is not much more to add besides this is a stunning Yquem that will repay careful cellaring.

The 2022 Yquem is a powerful, intense wine. A blend of 80% Semillon and 20% Sauvignon, this is the first vintage bearing organic certification. There is such a fine interplay of sweetness and bitterness here, freshness and generosity. It opens with aromas of grilled pineapple, chamomile, and tangerine peel. There of flickers of confit citrus fruit and caramalised ginger too. Seductive and powerful this draws you in. In terms of numbers, at 160g/l of sugar this is the most concentrated in respect of sugar content after the 1945 yet the wine wears this so well with a real sense of energy and vibrancy running through the core. There is not much more to add besides this is a stunning Yquem that will repay careful cellaring.