Lately there have been more and more different Champagnes showing up in the market. This is a good thing. Recently I had one I had not tasted before, Alfred Basely Champagne But NV. I liked it a lot and at under $30 a bottle it is quite reasonably priced. Alfred Basely is a smaller producer based near Epernay. I couldn’t find out if the house grows all of their own grapes or buys some. Information on the blend was not available but I suspect it is weighted on the Pinot Noir side. The wine has a bit bigger body than that of most of the wines from the big houses with some fruit, lots of minerals and a bit of a citrus zip at the end. It struck me as being a particularly food friendly Champagne.
Why do you think it is that information on the blend is frequently not available? This is true both with regular wine as well as champagne. It strikes me as odd that when discussing wine, one of the first things we talk about is the grape variety. In fact, here in the US, this is primary. You go to a restaurant and ask for a glass of Merlot, for example. Yet wineries frequently don’t tell you what grapes they used, much less rough percentages. Are they perhaps afraid we will make our own at home?
There are a few possible reasons. In the case of the Albert Basely Champagne, they don’t have a web site. Frequently when the information is not on the bottle, it is on a web site. Also, most blends change from year to year. Most often the blend information, when given, is on the back label. This is also where all the legally required information is frequently put for wines sold in the US. If they change that label they have to have it re-approved by the ATF which can be a problem.