Champagne A. Bergère was founded in 1949 at Fèrebrianges, in the Côte de Sézanne south of the Côte des Blancs. It is now in the hands of Adrien Bergère, the third generation, and works some 65 hectares spread across the Côte des Blancs, the Vallée du Petit Morin and the Côte de Sézanne.

Chardonnay is the house grape and the reason for its reputation. Every parcel is vinified separately so that the differences between the chalk of the Côte des Blancs and the warmer, more generous soils further south are preserved rather than blended away at the outset, and each cuvée is given extended ageing on lees.

The Blanc de Blancs Solera is built on a perpetual reserve — a solera begun years ago and topped up with each successive harvest, so that every bottle carries a trace of every vintage that came before. It gives the wine a depth and a rounded, patinated quality that a straight non-vintage assemblage rarely reaches, without losing the cut that pure Chardonnay provides.

An unusually complete Blanc de Blancs for its price, and one that rewards being treated as a wine at table rather than only as an aperitif.