Cover Armand de Brignac champagne (Photo: Armand de Brignac)
Armand de Brignac champagne (Photo: Armand de Brignac)
1 / 1
A visit to Champagne reveals how some of the region’s most compelling houses are quietly evolving for a new generation of drinkers
Last year, the Champagne region in France marked the 10th anniversary of its inscription as a Unesco World Heritage site. It is a landscape where great names appear at every turn: storied hillsides, grand maisons and chalk cellars protected for their outstanding universal value—and rightly so. This is where champagne was born, the blueprint for sparkling wine everywhere and, to this day, the ultimate emblem of celebration.
I visited this month, when Reims was basking in unseasonable warmth. On Place du Forum, the city’s historic square, locals in t-shirts lounged in the sunshine while the air carried a softness that felt almost too early for the season. As one vigneron observed, the first buds were already visible—a sure sign that harvest would come early.
Against that backdrop, I found myself following a more contemporary thread: younger houses, fresher narratives and a keener sense of what luxury in Champagne looks like today. Three visits shaped the story. One house, at just 20 years old, remains a newcomer in a region that measures time in centuries. Another, founded in 1920, is still youthful by local standards, especially when many neighbouring labels date back to the 18th century. And for balance, I returned to an old favourite to see what had quietly shifted behind its familiar doors.
Read more: Maison Ruinart’s enduring dialogue with nature takes root at Art SG
Armand de Brignac
Above Armand de Brignac champagne
Armand de Brignac champagne
1 / 1
Armand de Brignac, celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, is easy to dismiss as pure spectacle: metallic bottles, camera-ready glamour and an inextricable link to American music artist and producer Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, its part-owner alongside Moët Hennessy. Yet beneath the gleam lies genuine tradition.
The champagne is produced by the Cattier family, whose roots in the Montagne de Reims stretch back to 1625. Today they own 33 hectares across some of Champagne’s most esteemed crus, including Chigny-les-Roses, Rilly-la-Montagne and Ludes. Their cellars—among the deepest in the region—descend 35 metres underground and still bear candle smoke from the early 1900s, when they served as wartime refuge for local villagers.
Now led by 12th- and 13th-generation family members Jean-Jacques and Alexandre Cattier, the house produces a range of prestige cuvées with both pedigree and precision: a refined multi-vintage Rosé, a pristine Blanc de Blancs, a rich Blanc de Noirs, the rare Vintage 2015—its only vintage release to date—and, pleasingly, a delicious demi-sec.
Large formats are a calling card, with even jeroboams hand-riddled. The style is fresh, poised and acid-driven. The philosophy is simple: with the right grapes, greatness need not wait.
In case you missed it: How Wagyumafia’s Hisato Hamada reunited with Armand de Brignac for a celebratory sequel to its Singapore pop-up
AR Lenoble
Above AR Lenoble champagnes
AR Lenoble champagnes
1 / 1
AR Lenoble offers a quieter lesson in terroir, élevage and elegant reinvention. Founded in 1920 by Armand-Raphaël Graser, the son of an Alsatian wine merchant, the house remained family-owned until 2023, when Ségolène Frère-Gallienne, co-owner of Château Cheval Blanc, took the reins. With directeur général Guillaume Truchot among her first appointments, there is already a sense of fresh momentum. Its motto—“A Blend of Convictions”—now feels especially well chosen.
Lenoble has long charted its own course. In 2000, it became one of the first Champagne houses to create a perpetual reserve, which now contains wines nearly 26 years old. In 2010, it went further, ageing part of that reserve in magnum, on the lees and under cork. From 2025, the base harvest will also appear on the label, marked with a “V” for vendange—V21, for instance, denotes the 2021 harvest.
The appointment of Julien Lardy as cellar master in 2024 may prove a quiet masterstroke. Burgundian-born and with experience at the illustrious Domaine Ramonet, he brings finely tuned precision to the wines. In the glass, they show clarity, finesse and remarkable balance—suggesting a house on the cusp of something rather compelling.
Don’t miss: The best burgundy red wine alternatives, according to Singapore’s top sommeliers
Dom Ruinart
A 9am tasting at Dom Ruinart with newly appointed chef de cave Caroline Fiot carried a note of poignancy. We raised a glass to the late Frédéric Panaïotis, who led the house as chef de cave for 18 years until his untimely passing last year.
The newly released Ruinart Blanc Singulier offered a striking example of a centuries-old house that continues to evolve and reinvent itself. This zero-dosage champagne delivers unmistakable maison style. Made from 100 per cent chardonnay, the cuvée has been a decade in the making. With 20 per cent of the blend drawn from a perpetual reserve—half aged in oak, half in stainless steel—it preserves Ruinart’s signature aromatic freshness. For now, it is available only in select markets.
As Ruinart looks ahead to its 300th anniversary in 2029, plans are already quietly underway. Special cuvées, I am told, are in preparation. For now, the details remain discreetly under wraps, to be revealed when the moment—and the audience—is just right.
In case you missed it: Burgundy back up: The best burgundy white wine alternatives, according to Singapore’s top sommeliers
Modern luxury in Champagne takes many forms. Armand de Brignac is bold, glossy and instantly recognisable. AR Lenoble is quieter, more inward-looking, with the sense that investment, craft and conviction may yet deliver one of the region’s most compelling next chapters. Dom Ruinart, meanwhile, honours time itself, proving that luxury need not be all spectacle; it can just as persuasively rest on patience, precision and vision.
Champagne’s story is being rewritten—gently, certainly, but unmistakably—by houses redefining what it means to be truly desirable in 2026 and beyond.
Nicola Lee, a graduate in Hospitality & Tourism Management, is the managing director of a property investment company. She is also a freelance wine and travel writer for The Singapore Business Times and Tatler Singapore, as well as a champagne enthusiast whose extensive collection has been featured on Channel NewsAsia’s ‘Remarkable Living (2019)’. A second-generation member of the Commanderie de Bordeaux, she is an ambassador for the Ordre des Coteaux de Champagne in Singapore and academy chair (SEA South) for The World’s 50 Best Restaurants.
