The 8 Best Blanc de Blancs Champagnes in 2024

By Dirk Smits

What are Blanc de Blancs Champagnes?

Blanc de Blancs (translation: a white wine made of white grapes) is a term that originated in Champagne. It is used to refer to Champagne made exclusively from white grapes, most commonly Chardonnay. Technically, Pinot Blanc and Arbane can also be used, as well as a number of other varietals permitted in the appellation, but these are less common. This makes Blanc de Blancs different from the majority of Champagnes that are a traditional blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. It is also different from Blanc de Noirs Champagne, which is produced exclusively from Pinot Noir and/or Pinot Meunier.

Nowadays, Blanc de Blancs has expanded its reach as a wine designation, and it can be applied to sparkling wines from any region made with 100% white grapes.

Typically, a Blanc de Blancs from Champagne will have elegant and fine aromas, crisp and clean with a lively acidity and a touch of minerality on the palate. In some cases, there will be a yeasty component developed during fermentation. However, the taste varies widely depending on the terroir the grapes were grown at, the winemaker’s style, the dosage (small amount of sugar added to the finished wine), and the amount of time the wine spends on the lees (dead yeast cells).

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1. Champagne Ayala 2015

Origin: Aÿ, France
Varietal: 100% Chardonnay
Price: $84.99
ABV: 12%

Elaborated in limited quantities, exceptionally during the most expressive year, this wine showcases the elegance and purity from the Chardonnay of the Côte des Blancs. Grapes come from Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Chouilly, Cuit, Cramant and Vertus. The dosage is 6 gr. per liter.

A subtle nose reveals lemon, crushed stone and toasted almond. The palate shows white fruit, Meyer lemon and freshly made bread dough, all wrapped in juicy acidity and a lively, fine mousse.

> For more information, visit Champagne Ayala official website.

2. Champagne Billecart-Salmon, Blanc de Blancs, Grand Cru

Origin: Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, France
Varietal: 100% Chardonnay (from Avize, Chouilly, Cramant, Mesnil-sur-Oger)
Price: $104.99
ABV: 12%

This wine was made with Chardonnay coming from the Côte des Blancs villages of Avize, Chouilly, Cramant and Mesnil-sur-Oger. The blend of two vintages was vinified in stainless steel and remained four to five years on the yeast before disgorgement.

The wine shows a light straw color with a delicate, abundant effervescence. It reveals a bouquet of spring flowers, lemon, wet stones and stone fruit. The palate is creamy with a chalky texture, a fruity full-bodied richness combined with racy acids and a seamless finish.

> For more information, visit Champagne Billecart-Salmon official website.

3. Champagne Doyard, Vendémiaire Brut Premier Cru

Origin: Vertus, France
Varietal: 100% Chardonnay
Price: $68.99
ABV: 12.5%

The Doyard family traces their winemaking roots in Champagne back to 1677 when a marriage license of Jean-Baptiste Doyard showed “winegrower” as the occupation. Maurice Doyard was the first in the family to make wine in Vertus under the Doyard label in 1927, officially signifying the domaine’s foundation. In 1979, Yannick Doyard took over, turning it into a beacon for precise, vinous, mineral-etched Champagne in the Côte des Blancs. Today, Yannick’s son Guillaume is at the helm, farming 24 acres of prime vineyards in Vertus and the Grand Cru villages of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Cramant, Oger, Avize and Aÿ.

This cuvée consists of 50% wine from the 2017 vintage, 30% from 2016 and 20% from 2015. It was finished with a dosage of 4 gr per liter.

The wine starts with aromas of green apple, spice, citrus and tangerine followed by hints of mineral and fresh bread dough. The palate is clean with white fruit, lemon zest and almonds, unwinding in an elegant, slightly chalky and saline finish.

> For more information, visit Champagne Doyard official website.

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4. Champagne Esterlin, Cuvée Cléo 2012

Origin: Épernay, France
Varietal: 100% Chardonnay
Price: $49.00
ABV: 12%

Champagne Esterlin is a cooperative founded in 1948 that now has 200 members cultivating and harvesting grapes on 232 acres spreading over 52 villages.

This cuvée consists of 100% wine from the 2012 vintage. It was finished with a dosage of 8 gr per liter. The wine was bottled in July 2013 and disgorged summer 2023. The vinification was done 50% in oak barrels from Burgundy and 50% in stainless steel tanks. It is made without malolactic fermentation.

The Champagne Esterlin Blanc de Blancs “Cléo” cuvée is a mature Champagne. To the eye, it is clear and limpid, crystalline with green reflections. It is rich and complex. It reveals aromas of citrus and white flowers while unveiling gourmand notes of honey, brioche and dried fruit. It elegantly combines and showcases the different expressions of the Chardonnay varietal.

READ MORE: GAYOT’s profile of Champagne Esterlin, which includes an exclusive video interview.

> For more information, visit Champagne Esterlin official website.

5. Champagne Louis Roederer, Blanc de Blancs 2015

Origin: Reims, France
Varietal: 100% Chardonnay
Price: $104.00
ABV: 12.5%

This Blanc de Blancs 2015 went through its second fermentation with lower sugar content than usual, thus creating lower pressure and as a result creating a rounder and smoother effervescence. Twenty three percent of the wine was vinified in oak casks. The wine was left on the lees for five years, disgorged and then left to rest for a further eight months to attain the perfect maturity. The dosage is 8 gr per liter.

The wine displays a light golden color, and tiny bubbles create a steady stream of effervescence. The delicate, refined bouquet reveals aromas of white flowers, stone fruit, lemon zest and a touch of iodized mineral. The mouth feel is elegant, showing citrus fruit, apple, vanilla, roasted spices and crushed rock.

> For more information, visit Champagne Louis Roederer official website.

6. Champagne Pierre Gimonnet, Cuis Premier Cru

Origin: Cuis, France
Varietal: 100% Chardonnay
Price: $66.00
ABV: 12.5%

Didier Gimonnet is the second generation of growers to direct this superb estate, with 68 acres of holdings in Grand and Premier Cru villages, predominantly in the Côte des Blancs. The winery is in the Premier Cru village of Cuis where Didier’s family has been growing grapes since 1750. Pierre Gimonnet, Didier’s grandfather, started bottling estate Champagnes in 1935. In addition to the 32 acres in Cuis, Gimonnet owns 26 acres of Chardonnay vines in the Grand Cru villages of Cramant and Chouilly, plus another three acres in Oger and seven in Vertus.

The current cuvée is based on the 2021 vintage (74%) with an addition of reserve wines ranging between the 2014 and 2020 vintages.

This Blanc de Blancs exhibits aromas of lemon zest, stone fruit, white flowers and crushed rock. The elegant palate is fleshy, with crisp acids and a doughy creaminess.

> For more information, visit Champagne Pierre Gimonnet official website.

7. Champagne Pierre Moncuit, Delos, Grand Cru

Origin: Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, France
Varietal: 100% Chardonnay
Price: $57.99
ABV: 12%

Champagne Pierre Moncuit is based in the superb Côte des Blancs village of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. While the Moncuit family can trace their origins as grape growers in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger to the last decades of the nineteenth century, it wasn’t until the early 1950s that Pierre Moncuit began bottling estate-grown Champagnes. Since 1977, all things related to viticulture and vinification have been under the direction of Pierre’s daughter, Nicole Moncuit, while her brother Yves runs the commercial side of the business.

Moncuit’s wines are all from single villages and single years, although not always mentioned on the label. This wine is from the family’s vineyards in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. It has a light straw color with very fine bubbles. Citrus, flowers and mineral emerge in the nose. The palate boasts elegant fruit, roasted almonds and juicy acidity, all culminating in an exquisite finish. The dosage is 7 gr per liter.

> For more information, visit Champagne Pierre Moncuit official website.

8. Champagne Pierre Péters, Cuvée de Réserve

Origin: Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, France
Varietal: 100% Chardonnay
Price: $72.00
ABV: 12.5%

The Pierre Péters estate, situated in the heart of the Côte des Blancs in the village of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, has been a family domaine for six generations and has produced Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Champagnes since 1919.

Champagne grower-producers’ wines come exclusively from their own vineyards. The domaine currently operates just over 46 acres of Chardonnay, mainly located in the villages of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Oger, Avize and Cramant.

This 100% Grand Cru Chardonnay non-vintage Champagne has an inherent complexity on the palate thanks to the addition of at least 40% reserve wine to the blend. Their perpetual reserve of wines, started in 1988, is inspired by the Soléra Method and is enriched with more than 20 different vintage years.

The wine has a very light straw color with green hues and a fine, consistent mousse. The nose offers fruity and flowery aromas complemented with spice, almonds and pastry cream. The chalky subsoil of the Côte des Blancs can be found on the palate, together with racy acids, white fruits and candied citrus.

> For more information, visit Champagne Pierre Péters official website.