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  • Country ranking ?

    1 079
  • Producer ranking ?

    2
  • Decanting time

    10 min
  • When to drink

    Now-2025
  • Food Pairing

    Seared Scallops, Roasted Quail & Sauteed Fresh Water Fish

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FINE Champagne Magazine, the only international publication devoted to champagne, have annually assessed the vast offering on the international markets since 2010 producing the ranking of ‘100 Best Champagnes’. On the debut year, Armand de Brignac Brut Gold was celebrated as the best champagne of the year. 

The first release from Armand de Brignac, the Brut Gold remains the most iconic cuvée in the range. Rich with the old world traditions of champagne blending, it is a trio of vintages from some of the most lauded terroirs in the region, resulting in a prestige cuvée that expresses vibrant fresh fruit character, and layers of complexity.

Peach, apricot and red berry aromas are followed by crystalized citrus, orange blossom and hints of brioche. The palate is rich with cherries, exotic fruits and a touch of lemon, vanilla and honey. The mouth feel is soft and creamy, with a hint of toastiness, from the unique Armand de Brignac dosage which is aged for one year in French oak barrels. Drinking beautifully now or can be rested under ideal cellaring conditions, until 2025.

Ideal as an aperitif or pairs perfectly with seared scallops, roasted quail and fresh water fish.

Blend: 40% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay, 20% Pinot Meunier

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The Story

Armand de Brignac Gold Brut is the iconic, flagship tête de cuvée from the 11th generation Montagne de Reims champagne growers, the Cattier family. Reflecting the rich traditions of blending in Champagne, the assemblage comprises 40% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Meunier and is a trio of vintages; 2009, 2010 and 2012.

 

To taste, the Armand de Brignac Gold Brut reveals peach, apricot and red berry aromas, followed by crystalized citrus, orange blossom and hints of brioche.  The palate is rich with cherries, exotic fruits and a touch of lemon, vanilla and honey. The mouth feel is soft and creamy, with a hint of toastiness, from the unique Armand de Brignac dosage which is aged for one year in French oak barrels.

 

Ideal as an aperitif or pairs perfectly with seared scallops, roasted quail and freshwater fish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Wine Information

Champagne Armand de Brignac is a range of prestige cuvées that offer uncompromising quality and taste, crafted by 11th generation champagne growers, the Cattier family. Drawing upon more than 250 years of experience in the region, the father and son winemaking team dedicate intense attention to detail in the creation of the Armand de Brignac champagnes. They source fruit from the vineyards showing the highest quality of the harvest, taking solely the first and freshest portion of the cuvée press and blending a unique trio of vintages for each assemblage.

Each metalized bottle is finished by hand, with the application of French pewter labels, polished, and housed in a wooden lacquered gift box, ensuring every single bottle is unique. A small and highly skilled team of just 14 people touch a bottle of Armand de Brignac, from pressing the fruit to the bottle’s departure from the cellars in France.

 

 

 

 

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Average Bottle Price

2023 2020 2018
315€ +6.8% 295€ +39.8% 211€

This data comes from the FINE Auction Index, a composite of average prices for wines sold at commercial auctions in 20 countries. The average prices from each year have been collected since 1990. This chart plots the index value of the average price of the wines.

Tasting note

color

Medium, Green-Yellow and Bright

ending

Long, Pure and Round

flavors

Tropical fruits, Citrus, Vanilla, Creamy, White fruits and Honey

nose

Intense, Seductive, Tempting and Rich

recommend

Yes

taste

Average in Acidity, Low alcohol content, Good texture, Perfectly balanced, Concentrated, Youthful, Medium-bodied, Fresh, Harmonious, Round, Dry and Silky tannins

Verdict

nice but not special and Well-rounded

Written Notes

Three magnums - all showed lovely complexity. Somehow these bottles delivered much more intensity, richness, complexity and refinement than I have experienced before in Armand de Brignac Brut Golds. Lovely refined white flower nose with some honeydew melon and lemony notes. The palate was smooth and silky with great concentration. Lingering finish shows lovely toasty brioche notes. Very refined and impressive! – JL 93p (Dec 2023) 

  • 93p

Pale straw yellow. Apples, minerals, elegant nose, detailed, brioche nose. Fresh acidity, apples, lemons, minerals, nuanced, detailed, long. 91

  • 91p
Rich and concentrated nose full of lively ripe fruitiness. Open and voluptuous nose with spices, cinnamon and red berries. The generous fruitiness continues on the palate. The structure is stylish and firm with velvety elegant mousse. Fascinating and mouth-filling experience that it drinking well already now but possesses aging potential for 10 to 20 years maturation. A lot better than I expected. 94 points
  • 94p
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Information

Origin

Reims, Champagne

Soil

Clay and limestone.

Vineyard size

33 hectares

Winemaker

Jean-Jacques Cattier and Alexandre Cattier

Value For Money

Very good

Fake factory

None

Drinking temperature

6-8C

Inside Information

Armand de Brignac cuvées derive their light, racy effervescence from the quality of our Chardonnay grapes, while Pinot Noir lends strength, boldness, and depth of palate. Finally, Pinot Meunier adds roundness, nuance, and fruitiness to the cuvées of our range. For Armand de Brignac, these grapes are selected from only the finest vineyards in La Marne, including Grand Cru - rated villages like Cramant, Avize, Oger, and Choilly, and Premier Cru towns including Ludes, Rilly-la-Montagne, Villers Allerand, Taissy, Villers Marmery, and Mareuil-sur-Ay. Harvest & Pressing In keeping with Champagne's reputation as a celebratory wine, harvest is a joyous time in the vineyards. This is the time when the grapes are finally ready for their transformation into wine. One might even say that some of the harvest revelry is imparted through the 250 million bubbles in each bottle of Armand de Brignac. The harvest generally takes place during two weeks in September, although weather sometimes dictates a change of dates. By law, all Champagne grapes must be picked by hand; for these two weeks the vineyards are filled with workers, including the members of our family, who join the house staff in the fields. At the harvest celebration, all take time to enjoy the chateau’s reserve wines, paired alongside traditional country meals. These traditions date back centuries, when our vineyards were owned and tended by King Louis XV’s officers and royalty savored the best wines made by each chateau.

Although many of Champagne’s producers now use industrial-grade, high volume presses, we employ a traditional Coquart press for Armand de Brignac. This ensures a slow and high-quality yield is extracted from our carefully hand-sorted grapes; each bottle is made from a small fraction of the first pressing of the grapes. To earn its classification as a prestige cuvée, Armand de Brignac is made from the most exquisite, richest wine from each harvest. This enables the Champagne to become more complex and subtle as it ages. Blending & Ageing After the grapes are pressed, our chateau's father-and-son oenologues create the signature blends that embody the quality and uncompromised individuality of Armand de Brignac. For each bottling, three distinct vintages from outstanding harvest years are blended together to comprise the final cuvée. The art of blending Champagne varietals and vintages is the most important part of the craft, and allows our winemakers to preserve the house's character from year to year. When our master oenologues have achieved the perfect formula, Armand de Brignac is bottled by one craftsman using a traditional device. Although this painstaking process limits our output, it enables our expert artisans to ensure that each bottle of Armand de Brignac meets the highest standards of quality and craftsmanship. After our Champagne has been bottled and sealed, the bottles are stored in a special gated section of the cellars designated for its ideal conditions for ageing these blends. Descending more than 119 steps (over 30 meters) underground, the cellars are considered among the deepest in Champagne and maintain a constant cool temperature conducive to the slow, natural ageing process necessary to create the extraordinary and subtle character of Armand de Brignac. Remuage & 

Dégorgement: After ageing for four to five years in the chalk cellars, the bottles are placed in traditional wooden racks to undergo remuage – a centuries-old riddling process. During remuage, each vessel is turned slightly by hand every day to sift out the sediment which settles in the bottlenecks. A full month of gradual riddling is necessary to completely and perfectly purify the wine without disturbing its natural ageing process.

 

“Bright gold with a strong bead. Highly perfumed bouquet displays pear, nectarine, honeysuckle and sweet butter, plus an undercurrent of spice, ginger and lemon pith adding energy. Fleshy pit fruit and soft citrus flavors provide very good palate coverage and offer pungent spice and candied floral qualities on the back end. Nervy minerality adds lift and cut to the long, gently smoky and subtly sweet finish, which leaves candied orange peel and floral notes behind.” -Stephen Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar

 

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