You may think it’s horribly predictable of us recommending a traditional method sparkling wine from Nova Scotia on the east coast of Canada, but you must remember that we need to cater to our more conservative customers too, so please bear with us while we sail through the fog of convention.

We’ve been looking for a well-priced Champagne or Methode Champenoise that offers a slightly richer, more ‘biscuity’ taste than our Veuve-Fourny Blanc de Blancs and have struggled to find one. Brighter minds than ours might be able to identify the reasons why (maybe the Champenois need to release their wines earlier for cashflow and therefore they spend less time on the lees?), but we didn’t expect to find what we were looking for on the east coast of Canada! However, this elegantly-presented, traditional-method sparkling wine stopped us dead in our tracks. It’s a vintage 2016 Blanc de Blancs, which fermented in oak barrels (like Krug) and spent 4 years on its lees, absorbing all those wonderful autolytic characteristics of nut, toast and biscuit. Don’t let your mind deceive you into thinking it’s unworthy due to its unusual provenance, because your tastebuds won’t be deceived. 12% alc. Drink now-2028.

Press reviews:

Jancis Robinson MW: “Notably savoury, Burgundian nose. Extremely frothy and rather yeasty. Complex and intriguing with richness from fruit and age rather than dosage. Tastes more mature than the two English 2018s I have just been tasting. Neat and satisfying but by no means in the first flush of youth.” 17 points

JancisRobinson.com (2017 vintage): “Beautiful fruit! And real complexity. Ripe melon and apple layered with patisserie, shortcake, cookie dough and sugared almonds. Richer and riper than I was expecting from the dosage. This is really very, very good! (Tamlyn Currin). 12% alc. Drink now-2026.” 17 points