Essi Avellan MW

The 2018 Champagne vintage benefited from a "spectacular growing season." Photography by TechAnimationStock / Shutterstock. Essi Avellan MW introduces a tasting of 2018 Champagne shared with Simon Field MW and Anthony Rose and featuring “exceptional” cuvées from both grandes marques and grower-producers. This is an extract from an article first published in WFW90. For full tasting notes and scores for all 37 wines tasted by the panel, subscribe to The World of Fine Wine.

Photography courtesy of Wiston Estate. Essi Avellan MW introduces a fascinating and encouraging tasting of English and Belgian sparkling wine shared with Simon Field MW and Anthony Rose. This original tasting unfolded in a particularly intriguing context, as our regular Champagne panel, Simon Field MW, Anthony Rose and I, was invited to evaluate a diverse selection of English and Belgian sparkling wines.

Because of the technical demands of its wines, Champagne has often been associated more with the skill of the people and technology behind the bottles than with the land itself. Yet in the 1980s, amid a period in the wine world dominated by industrialisation, a handful of quality-focused grower-producers began championing terroir-driven Champagne, laying the foundation for the nuanced, expressive wines we celebrate today.