Book review: The Champagne Guide Edition VII by Tyson Stelzer
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Tyson Stelzer promises a warts-and-all book in which ‘no punches are pulled’. The Champagne Guide
The indefatigable Tyson Stelzer’s latest edition of his The Champagne Guide (Edition VII) has been released and it is—astonishingly—more than 50% bigger than the previous edition.
Weighing in at 3.4kg, it gives the Oxford Companion to Wine a run for its money. It’s more than two inches thick and weighs more than a magnum of Champagne, Stelzer says. (Alas, not having a magnum to hand I’ll have to take his word for it.)
This book is a breathtaking achievement. That it’s all the work of an Australian who lives in Brisbane, a long way from France, is all the more remarkable.With 880 pages and nearly half a million words (enough for six average-size novels, he says) it is a tour de force.
There are 1,260 wine reviews from 142 producers, and 43 of the producers are new to the book. The profiles are in-depth, and what were lengthy chapters in the previous edition are even longer now. Louis Roederer gets 28 pages!
Champagne vineyards and buildings are especially photogenic, and the book is richly decorated with colour photographs taken by the author himself. The superb cover artwork is by a family member, Dr Cameron Stelzer.
No doubt some readers will go straight to the back of the book where all wines tasted are listed by point-score (out of 100), from the top down. There you find that 10 wines have been anointed with the perfect score, two from Billecart-Salmon, two from Louis Roederer, two from Krug, one each from Bollinger, Dom Pérignon, Salon and Veuve Clicquot.
It’s a pity—albeit understandable—that most of these are well and truly gone from the shelves, but that is understandable and I share the author’s passion for mature Champagne.
The Champagne Guide Edition VII The Champagne Guide
Three of these older 100-pointers are from the great 1996 vintage, incidentally: 1996 Krug Vintage, Salon S, Roederer Cristal Rosé Vinothèque, Bollinger Vielles Vignes Françaises, and Dom Pérignon Plenitude 2.
Stelzer promises a warts-and-all book in which ‘no punches are pulled’, and on the bottom of the list we find several wines below the ‘faulty’ 85 points.
The real value of the book, however, is the house profiles and the great depth of insight they reveal into the producers themselves.
Is there any good value left in Champagne? Stelzer states blandly that discount supermarket brands ‘were never worth drinking anyway’, and there are no recommended wines left in his single-$ category (under EUR €25 or AUD $60). In the next category, EUR €25-50 (AUD $60-100), there are 40 ‘best wines’ (scoring 94 points or more) including four wines with 96 points: Bollinger Special Cuvée, Jacquesson Cuvée 735, Lanson Gold Label Vintage 2008 and Marc Hébrart Mes Favourites Vieilles Vignes 1er Cru.
This book is a breathtaking achievement. That it’s all the work of an Australian who lives in Brisbane, a long way from France, is all the more remarkable.
The Champagne Guide Edition VII, by Tyson Stelzer. AUD $119.95
Distributor: Hardie Grant. Available in bookstores and fine wine shops in Australia and the UK, or direct from stelzer@winepress.com.au
A leather-bound limited edition is available from the author.