Bright and lively, this is one of my favorite non vintage Bruts. Crisp and balanced, with smooth, exuberant, Chardonnay-driven style; racy, elegant, and totally charming; long and memorable.

The current release of Taittinger’s non-vintage Brut 'la Française' is comprised of a cépages of forty percent chardonnay, thirty-five percent pinot noir and twenty-five percent pinot meunier. It is aged between three and four years sur latte prior to disgorgement, so I suspect that this is from the base year of 2015. The wine offers up a bright and classy bouquet of apple, lemon, chalky soil tones, bread dough and a gently smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is crisp, full-bodied and very nicely balanced, with a good core, elegant mousse and lovely length and grip on the fairly complex finish. This is a very good iteration of Brut 'la Française'.

Smoke and toast accents lace crushed raspberry, candied lemon zest and apple blossom notes in this firm, aperitif-style Champagne. Lively. Drink now. 72,000 cases imported.

(roughly 40% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Noir and 30% Pinot Meunier; 9 g/l dosage; L3348NA09100): Light gold. Poached pear, peach, orange and honey on the fruity nose. Broad and fleshy on entry, then tighter and more tangy in the mid-palate, offering juicy citrus and orchard fruit flavors with subtle ginger and toasted grain nuances. Shows a supple, round character on the finish, with the ginger and peach notes repeating. Note that this bottling is labelled as "Reserve" for every country aside from the United States. In fact, I tasted a bottle labeled as such here in New York this fall, from Lot L3348NA9200. How it wound up here, I've no idea.