🍾 Ruinart Blanc Singulier Edition 18

Ruinart Blanc Singulier Edition 18 is a non-vintage white Champagne in the Brut Nature style from the house Ruinart in Reims (Marne).

According to the house, the cuvée is 100 % Chardonnay: 80 % wines of the 2018 harvest and 20 % from a perpetual reserve, half kept in oak casks and half in stainless steel. It ages 3 years in the cellars and the dosage is 0 g/l (Brut Nature); the edition reflects the unusual weather of 2018.

The house Ruinart was founded on 1 September 1729 in Reims by Nicolas Ruinart; its cellars lie in old chalk pits (crayères). According to the house, Chardonnay is its signature grape and appears in all its cuvées.

The boundaries of the Champagne area were set by a law of 6 May 1919: parts of the Marne, Aube, Aisne, Haute-Marne and Seine-et-Marne departments. The designation’s specification allows seven grape varieties, dominated by Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier; grapes are picked as whole bunches, that is by hand, and the yield is limited to 10,400 kg per hectare.

According to the Comité Champagne, Champagne is served chilled to 8–10 °C, and bottles are kept in the dark at a steady 10–15 °C, without vibration. An opened bottle is best closed with a sparkling-wine stopper and kept cold.

It is sold under the protected designation of origin Champagne: the bubbles come only from a second fermentation in the bottle, and the wine is aged for at least 15 months before sale (36 for vintage). Brut Nature on the label is an EU sugar term: less than 3 g of sugar per litre and no sugar added after the second fermentation.

Why it matters to you. No year on the label means it is not a vintage wine: the house may blend wines from different harvests. Blanc de blancs on the label means a wine made only from white grapes. The WHO reminds: there is no safe level of alcohol.