If Champagne is at the top of the world’s wine hierarchy (or at the very least, first among a handful of equals), then the all-chardonnay category within it, blanc de blancs, is arguably at the very top of the Champagne heap itself. Though many of my former wine writer colleagues would put in for vintage rosé or perhaps a prestige cuvée of any color or style, for me, nothing quite captures all that is special about wines from Champagne than one that is 100-percent chardonnay.

Mono-variety Champagne, however, is the antithesis of Champagne (see Champagne Introduction). The longstanding practice of precisely replicating the house’s style year after year requires a tamping down of any of a grape’s edges, rough or otherwise; a 100-percent chardonnay, whether vintage or non-vintage version, makes that goal unobtainable. Chardonnay, even in a climatically challenged growing zone like Champagne, is an expressive grape, one that is able to tell the story of vintage conditions, its specific provenance, and the grower’s vineyard and cellar practices in a nuanced way. I’ve always believed that it is chardonnay that lends Champagne its personality; not that pinot noir and pinot meunier don’t matter, just that chardonnay is the straw that stirs the drink.

Chardonnay provides the citrus, stone and tropical fruit, nutty, malty, beery complexity that any Champagne with any of it in it shows off. All-chardonnay versions can range from zesty and full of verve—and great with shellfish—to exquisitely nuanced and pretty, full bodied and rich. The older the blanc de blancs is, whether it’s a vintage-dated wine or simply a non-vintage bottle that has been around for a time, the more complex and layered it will become. I’ve had ones with 10, 20 and even more years on them that essentially drink like aged white Burgundy with a trickle of bubbles. They also tend to be the most long-lived wines in the Champagne family. And, aside from rosés and prestige cuvées (in some cases, blanc de blancs themselves), they are also typically more expensive than non-vintage and vintage Champagnes.