Stories

A glass before dinner is one of life's great pleasures. But it's also where most people stop — and there is almost nothing Champagne can't be drunk with.

Champagne can now be bottled above 13% for the first time. Don't expect 15% wines from 2026, but the fact that the line had to move at all says a lot about this summer.

His Majesty King Harald V died this morning, aged 89. A tasting note for Mailly Grand Cru Les Échansons 2015 — the cuvée named after the officer who looked after the king's glass.

Roederer holds back a slice of every Cristal vintage for another decade before letting it go. Four magnums in Reims, and what all that waiting actually does.

Joseph Krug spent his life arguing that a weak harvest is no excuse for a weak champagne. Twelve editions of Grand Cuvée tasted side by side, to see whether the house still wins that argument.

The earliest harvest on record is underway in Champagne. Today Krug is picking their most iconic vineyard — and the question everyone is asking is whether 2026 will be the new 1996 or 1976.

Cold water makes the sweetest shellfish — but nobody sits on a dock cracking crab in February. Three champagnes for the summer platter instead.

You've packed the food, driven to the middle of nowhere, and left the champagne in the fridge at home. Four bottles that will save you, wherever in Norway you've ended up.