Taittinger

Style

Taittinger's blends carry an unusually high proportion of Chardonnay for a large house — typically around 40% in the non-vintage brut. The house owns extensive vineyard holdings on the Côte des Blancs and uses them to define its style, which leans toward elegance and aromatic lift rather than weight.

Cuvées

• Brut Réserve — NV, roughly 40% Chardonnay.
• Prélude Grands Crus — NV from 100% grand cru parcels.
• Brut Millésimé — vintage Chardonnay/Pinot blend.
• Nocturne — a sec-style bottling at around 17.5 g/L dosage.
• Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs — the prestige cuvée, vintage 100% Chardonnay from grand cru villages of the Côte des Blancs (first vintage: 1952).
• Comtes de Champagne Rosé — vintage rosé prestige cuvée, Pinot Noir–led.

History

The house began in 1734 under the name Forest-Fourneaux and was acquired in 1931 by Pierre Taittinger, who gave it its modern identity. Taittinger briefly left family hands in 2005 (sold to Starwood Capital), then was reacquired by the Taittinger family the following year. It remains under family direction today.

Cellars

Taittinger's Reims headquarters sit above the 13th-century chalk cellars of the former Abbey of Saint-Nicaise, destroyed in the French Revolution. The cellar network is part of the UNESCO inscription.