Champagne needs little introduction, nor does it require a celebratory occasion to pop open — but this Champagne Day, held annually on the 4th Friday of October, we can think of a few exceptional examples worth discovering.
Year after year, results from the Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA) attest to the quality of Champagne, and the 2025 competition was no exception with 18 Gold, six Platinum and three Best in Show medals awarded to this classic region.
Champagne’s three Best in Show medal winners are of particular note: Barons de Rothschild, Rare Collection Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut 2014, Lanson, Noble Brut 2008 and Rare Brut 2012. We haven’t featured three Champagnes for our Top 50 Best in Show in recent years, but all three wines impressed the Co-Chairs. It’s the second consecutive year we see 2014 vintage for Chardonnay in Champagne receiving the highest accolade. The wine is incisive, darting and mouth-watering, the judges noted.
Scroll down to see a top selection of 96-97 point Champagnes from DWWA 2025
Vintage Champagnes saw a majority of top medals awarded, with 20 of the top 27 (Gold, Platinum and Best in Show winners) awarded to sparkling wines from a vintage. The 2018 vintage stands out with five Champagnes awarded 95+ points from this vintage.
Magnum bottles also saw a huge success this year with two wines receiving top medals. Platinum-awarded Henriot, Cuve 38 Réserve Perpétuelle Edition 6 Blanc de Blancs Brut NV was praised for its complexity and pure understated elegance, while Gold-awarded Saint-Réol, Brut Grand Cru 2008 was described as refined and nuanced.
Below find a selection of 96-97 point Champagnes, well worth discovering, from the 2025 Decanter World Wine Awards, with many more to discover at awards.decanter.com
Champagne Day: 96+ point wines to try
Best in Show
Barons de Rothschild, Rare Collection Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut 2014
Best in Show, 97 points
For the second year in succession in our Top 50 Best in Show, the strength of the 2014 vintage for Chardonnay in Champagne (and notably on the Côte des Blancs) is gorgeously evident in our winning Blanc de Blancs. It wasn’t an easy summer (July was cold and wet) but great Champagne, remember, is made by a long, lingering and luminous growing season, with heat an almost optional extra. A fine spring and a glorious September teased Chardonnay to the sort of delicate perfection that you can taste in this bottle. Even the mousse is delicate, while the aromas evoke the wet-stone, seashore and seaweed notes typical of Extra Brut rather than the sweet creaminess of luxurious Brut Blanc de Blancs. The palate is incisive, darting, driving, aquiline and mouthwatering. As you sip, once again it’s wet stones, spring leaves and plant sap that come to mind: fine vineyards, clearly. No hurry to drink: this bottle would love a little more time in a cool cellar. Alcohol 12%
Lanson, Noble Brut 2008
Best in Show, 97 points
In contrast to the 2014 Champagne vintage described above, the 2008 vintage was looking like a dud – until a fine August and a wonderful September saved the day. The lesson is the same, though – great Champagne is the consequence of a painstaking, incremental ripeness that inches rather than races towards harvest. This wine is a classical blend of 70 per cent Chardonnay with 30 per cent Pinot, and its decade-and-a-half on lees have paid huge dividends. It’s hard to get the kind of aromatic complexity you’ll find here – that refined synthesis of fresh autumn fruits with bread dough, baking fruit tarts, nuts and preserves – in any other way, and it’s achieved with great assurance and panache. The palate is layered, but after the aromatic symphony you may be in for a surprise: this is very darting, athletic and lively in the mouth, and the resonant acidity is almost a pole of interest on its own. Yes, it’s fully aged – but there’s no hurry to drink, either. Alc 12.5%
Rare Brut 2012
Best in Show, 97 points
We haven’t featured three Champagnes for our Top 50 Best In Show in recent years (though this was the case in both our 2019 and 2020 DWWA competitions), but this blend of 70 per cent Chardonnay and 30 per cent Pinot Noir proved as hard to ignore as its two peers. The 2012 vintage pattern differed from those of 2008 or 2014 – but still demanded both patience and fortitude. April frosts were cruel this year, and for those whose vineyards jumped that hurdle, the cold spring weather that followed was unencouraging. Late summer, though was very dry, and just warm enough to create the nervy ripeness blenders love. You can almost smell that tension in the aromatic restraint of this Champagne, but keep looking and you’ll find much to relish, too, including flowers from the Chardonnay and root spice from the Pinot. Age mingles the two seamlessly. Once in the mouth, this is a Champagne of structure and proportion, and it’s here, too, that you can see the skill and restraint with which all the elements have been chamfered and jointed into place. Alc 12%
Platinum
Deutz, Amour de Deutz Brut 2014
Platinum, 97 points
A delicious interplay of honeyed toast, ripened fruit and smoky savoury notes with a soothing, creamy mousse and svelte acidity. Exuding charisma and typicity with a thrilling swirl of oyster shell minerals at the end. Alc 12%
Esterlin, Cléo Blanc de Blancs Brut 2012
Platinum, 97 points
Everything that a vintage Blanc de Blancs should be: exquisite vertical tension on the finely beaded mousse, seamless acidity and a gorgeous flavour profile of honeyed brioche and lemon confit with a lick of apple crumble. Alc 12%
Esterlin, Éclat Brut NV
Platinum, 97 points
Rapturous orange blossom, yellow apple and lemon tart aromas linger deftly over the nose and harmonise delicately with the creamy mousse. Smooth and subtle with a decisive freshness from the acidity and crunchy mineral finish. Alc 12%
Henriot, Cuve 38 Réserve Perpétuelle Edition 6 Blanc de Blancs Brut NV Magnum
Platinum, 97 points
A triumph of complexity: rippling beads of smoky saline and vibrant lemon tension drive through the centre and resolve with abounding ripened white peach and toasted nuts, ending with a succulent chalky finish. Pure understated elegance. Alc 12%
Mandois, Clos Brut 2012
Platinum, 97 points
A succulence of smoky lemon, honeyed yellow apple and quince fantails over the nose uniting with the plush toasty warmth of the palate, weaving around the racy lime zest acidity. Finely textured, long and immersive. Alc 12.5%
Telmont, Blanc de Noirs Brut 2015
Platinum, 97 points
Bursting with red fruit and floral splendour wrapped around a sweet vanilla pastry cream cushion. Mouth-filling and rich with an orange rind acidity to sustain and a zing of gingerbread spice on the long finale. Alc 12%
Gold
Piaff, Blanc de Blancs Brut NV
Gold, 96 points
Blissful aromas of pear, peach and lemon panna cotta magnify over the palate, flirt with the chalky mineral acidity and unite on the glistening seashore ending. Alc 12%
Taittinger, Prélude Grands Crus Brut NV
Gold, 96 points
Opulent tropical and stone fruit interweaves with lush hazelnut and creamy brioche which spills out onto the silky palate. Poised and fresh with an expansive mousse. Alc 12.5%
Veuve Clicquot, La Grande Dame Brut 2018
Gold, 96 points
Whistle clean strawberry fruit aligns beautifully with a throng of plush peach, apple tart and ginger biscuit characters. Lifted and driven with a buttery texture and chalky finish. Alc 12.5%
