2021's summer sparkle

Laurent-Perrier cellars

Numbers are becoming more and more significant in Champagne. But there are many non-champagnes among these 86 tasting notes on this summer's releases.

Numbers, numbers, numbers will be increasingly important for champagne drinkers.

I have been campaigning for more information on champagne labels for 30 years, ever since I had a column in Wine Spectator in the US. My tiresomely repeated argument (most recently in this 2012 article) has been that wine drinkers who pay champagne prices are owed some way of knowing what they are paying for. For too long, the great majority of champagne on the market...