1996 in champagne. what happened?

by Edouard Bourgeois
November 21, 2025

Ratings for 1996 often use words like "exceptional" and "grandiose," with some comparisons to 1928. What made 1996 objectively unique was the high average potential alcohol (10.3%) combined with high total acidity (10g/litre)—figures rarely seen together. As Charles Philipponnat noted, this is a significant jump from the 9.3% potential alcohol common forty years prior.

Acidity and potential alcohol work together for balance, but typically, when one is high, the other is low. In 1996, both figures were high. Bruno Paillard called it a 'naughty boy' vintage due to its unpredictable nature and the anxiety it caused producers while waiting for acidity levels to drop. However, the result for those with patience is "fantastic."

While acidity is key for aging, the true test is time. Over two decades later, the remaining 1996 bottles reveal which producers succeeded. The best examples are still complex and alluring, where the high acidity is balanced by a wide range of aromas, from brioche to stone fruit. Unfortunately, some other bottlings show only residual acidity, resulting in unbalanced and tart wines.

I recall opening a glorious bottle of 1996 Cristal for my son's birth seven years ago; the wine was still vibrant and charged.

Another fabulous example was made by Krug. As Olivier Krug said, "It’s a year where a good house or a good winemaker will make a good wine... It’s a tricky vintage." Other industry professionals have shared similar sentiments, noting that some vintners either opted out of making a vintage bottling or failed to achieve balance, resulting in wines that are already clumsy or tired.

The 1996 vintage often draws comparisons to its predecessor, 1995. These were the last two great Champagne vintages following the 1988, 1989, and 1990 trio. The 1996s are powerful wines; the best combine weight from ripeness with tension from acidity, providing the interest, complexity, and structure needed for long-term aging.

Interestingly, more houses released 1995 as a vintage Champagne than 1996, with a ratio of roughly 60% (1995) to 40% (1996).

Given its unpredictability, the safest bet for 1996 Champagne remains to go with producers you trust.

While looking for pictures of 1996 Champagne on my IPhone, I also found several other wines from various regions where the 1996 vintage truly shone, as seen in images below;jbgories

Edouard Bourgeois 7/13/23 Edouard Bourgeois 7/13/23

What's Pressoir drinking - Pedres Blanques 2019

What’s Pressoir Drinking

by Edouard

7/12/23

Edouard Bourgeois
June 14, 2023

Just last week, I spent a couple nights at a dear friend’s in Montpellier. Known on his Instagram account as the punny name @accordhedoniste, he always finds ways to taste me on some eye-opening wine discoveries from tiny productions and under the radar producers. Together, we opened many fun wines including a mind-blowing bottle of “Pedres Blanques”. This wine is like nothing else. Driven by the talented Japanese couple of Rié and Hiro Shoji, this tiny domaine makes the epitome of what we refer to as a unicorn wine. After working for Fred Mugnier and Domaine de Chassorney in Burgundy, Rié and Hiro settled in Collioure, France where they founded Pedres Blanques, (“White Rocks” in Catalan), in 2017.

The young Japanese couple have since then produced just a handful of vintages that are really difficult if not nearly impossible to find, such as the 2020 vintage of which they only produced 230 magnums.

Their holdings cover 3.5 hectares of vines acquired from a retired vigneron in Languedoc-Roussillon, just above the town of Collioure and the vineyard is planted with 50 year old Grenache on granite.

Collioure is a charming little town in the Roussillon, France. It faces the Mediterranean Sea and this is where I spent many of my summer vacations as a kid for as long as I can remember. These family gatherings were filled with excitement and impacted my childhood with memories of fresh seafood, warm smells of wild rosemary and thyme, so exotic and unfamiliar to me who grew up in cold and rainy Champagne. I also remember the powerful wind, locally known as “tramontane” that would blow all kinds of flotation devices from the neighboring beaches. It really felt like Christmas in July when all the kids, me included, would gather on the other side of the beach to collect them!

The proximity of “La Grande Bleue”, the Mediterranean Sea, coupled with the forceful wind, can be felt in Pedres Blanques. The wine magically encapsules this brininess, a feature I rarely see in a red wine. I was also blown away by the energy and the life in the wine. Every time I would bring the glass to my nose, a new aromatic layer would unfold, revealing notes of smoke and stone before expressing aromas of tart cherries and clove with hints of candied, ethereal Grenache. A wine so profound, you can smell it for minutes and keep finding new accents.

On the palate, the personality is felt right away. While certainly not shy, Pedres Blanques sings loud and clear, but it is also pitch perfect. The acidity is the structural element of this well built but elegant wine and in a region that is so hot, with so many heavy wines, this is quite a masterstroke that should be pointed out.

Luckily for the Shojis, this arid and windy area leaves no chance for frost to strike and there is very minimum rot pressure which allows them to farm organically. They do not need to use copper either, but they do have to do everything by hand or with a rototiller. Unsulfured, the wine is raw but squeaky clean and you should not miss an opportunity to taste it.