Armand de Brignac is a well-worn joke among wine trade toffs — a maverick Champagne brand laced with symbolism that walks tall and gaudy amongst beige company. Maybe it feels like a righteous target — a bottle that’s shiny with new money, honed by rap power, and priced into a liminal dimension way beyond affordability. Maybe. But as the dust settles after its historic inaugural vintage release, the way we interpret this marque says more about our unconscious bias and ignorance than we may care to realise.

This story does not begin in the vineyards of Champagne but in the five boroughs of New York.

Seeds long sewn germinated into artistic expression when kids began beating out rhyme in circles on pavements. They threw out couplets dense with attitude and lingual skill, whip-sharp with observation and wit. Some could parlay for hours without missing a beat.

In itself, this was nothing new. Shakespeare’s layered verse, his technique for owning language and creating meaning, was always rap-esque, albeit without an audible beat. He expertly layered myriad meanings into rhyming couplets, inverting power with his wit, expressing the agony, love, betrayal, bigotry, irony and injustice of the human condition. This is a technique familiar to kids that rap, making beats-driven rhymes in the projects.

Whilst farm boys tipped sleeping cows, Jay-Z tipped dozing junkies. Fathers in the projects were few and far between. Some kids found unimaginable success as rap artists, yet when they reached out for the accompanying iconic accoutrements of established wealth, they found their patronage was not necessarily welcomed.

Champagne was the obvious choice for any self-promoting drinker wanting to stand out in the projects. It spoke of another world. Brilliant marketing has turned Champagne’s concupiscent froth into a sexual cipher, its very presence symbolising wealth and success and fun.

Jay-Z subsequently adopted Cristal Champagne as his trademark drink. In doing so he helped to raise the brand to stratospheric heights.

And were the bigwigs at Louis Roederer (who make Cristal) grateful? A 2006 article from The Economist asked director Frederic Rouzaud whether the brand's rap links could negatively affect the company. He answered thus,

Far from embracing rap patronage and owning a little bit of street-washed cred, Cristal’s management seemed to see Jay-Z’s patronage as an embarrassment, a slur.

“That was like a slap in the face,” Jay-Z said a little later on. “I released a statement saying that I would never drink Cristal or promote it in any way or serve it at my clubs ever again… I felt like this was the bullshit I’d been dealing with forever, this kind of offhanded, patronising disrespect for the culture of hip-hop.”

Then he wrote a track about it:

“That Spade shit,” was, of course, Armand de Brignac — the champagne brand which he’d bought by 2014, and in which he may have invested in far earlier. LVMH subsequently bought a 50% share in 2021.

Long-respected Champagne stalwarts, the Cattier family oversee production at Armand de Brignac. They were already making a more affordable gold-bottled Champagne before Jay-Z’s involvement, and they had the back-wines to go high-end if they wanted to. The fruit is sourced from across Champagne. Dosage wines are oak-aged. The MO has always been an assemblage of three vintages in the bottle. In October 2024, Armand de Brignac unveiled its first-ever vintage — a milestone moment for the house that cemented its place in Champagne history.

Since that debut, collectors and critics alike have continued to debate what Jay-Z’s golden bottles mean for the future of luxury Champagne — and whether Armand de Brignac has rewritten the rules of prestige drinking in its own image.

Armand de Brignac is loud and it’s proud and it’s righteous — this is art born of revenge; a manifestation of grabbing the power you were born without and making a statement that hits the target when it hurts. Armand de Brignac is victory in a bottle. It is bold and it is expensive. But we don’t need to buy the wine to enjoy the refreshing audacity of the message.

That being said, the recent vintages have proven exceptionally good — and they’re things of a certain casino-chic beauty. Every label is numbered, and each number is hammered in by hand in pewter, wrought in the South of France.

THE WINES

Armand de Brignac Brut Ace of Spades Gold 12.5% abv

Dosage 8 grams of sugar per litre and spends 3 years on lees. This is an assemblage of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier over three different years, it is fresh, voluptuous, fruity, complex but not complicated, and delicious. Dosage is made with aged oaked Champagne. There is an overall impression of richness with candied lemon, apple charlotte and nectarine, a savoury saline edge with a delicate toast and a gorgeous bitter note on the finish that drives you back for more. This wine retails for about £300 and is wonderful with scrambled eggs.

Armand de Brignac Blanc de Blanc Ace of Spades Silver 12.5% abv

Dosage 8 grams of sugar per litre and spends 5 years on lees. 100% Chardonnay with a blend of 2018, 2017, and 2016 in bottle from a mix of the best terroirs, blending both fruitiness and restraint. This has more finesse and elegance but remains so consumer-friendly in that it is round, rich, and easily enjoyed — it is definitely playing to the crowd. Deliciously creamy with a good spray of white blossom, almond, lemon sherbet, grapefruit, dried apricot, vanilla and a long saline-enriched finish. Gorgeous with sushi. £650.

Armand de Brignac, Ace of Spades Rosé 12.5% abv

Dosage 8.5 grams of sugar per litre and spends 3 years on lees. Pretty pale copper, peony colour. Very fresh, dry and fruity with strawberries, cranberries, morello cherry, cream, pastries, cinnamon biscuits, and even violets. Such a crowd-pleaser — ridiculously tangy and moreish with a beguiling saline-laced savoury character that brings balance and intrigue. Goes on forever too. Divinely decadent supped with paprika-laced lobster bisque. £435.

Armand de Brignac, Blanc du Noir Assemblage Number Four 12.5% abv

Dosage 6 grams of sugar per litre and spends 7 years on lees. 100% Pinot Noir with a blend of 2013, 2014, and 2015. Only 7,380 bottles produced, and each is numbered — some collectors even request specific digits. This is exceptional and perhaps the standout of the range. Profoundly complex, long, opulent and gorgeous, it greets the nose with orange marmalade, red apple, honeyed peach, nutmeg, endive, carraway, creamy lemon curd and that fresh, moreish stony salinity in the mouth and a salty lemon-sherbet finish that tempts you back for more and more and more. Democratic and enjoyable: no one could take against this deliciously complex yet approachable Champagne, though the price is a tad hard to swallow for this enamoured, poorly funded scribe. £1,055.

Armand de Brignac, Blanc du Noir 2015 Vintage in magnum 12.5% abv

1,258 magnums only. Dosage 6 grams of sugar per litre and over 7 years on lees. 70% Pinot Noir and 30% Pinot Meunier. 2015 was a warm year with a dry finish that concentrated flavour and a nice cool harvest. This was the brand’s first single vintage — long in planning, and perfectly timed. Disgorged in early 2024 after seven years on lees, it delivers richness and freshness in equal measure. Round and opulent with toasted almond, crème anglaise, ginger, Cointreau, cinnamon and strawberries. Honeyed peach and cinnamon make for a lovely textural, saline-laced finish, replete with violets once again. This could last 50 years in magnum and released at around £2,000.

Armand de Brignac, Demi Sec 12.5% abv

Dosage 35 grams of sugar per litre (low for demi-sec). A blend of 2019, 2018 and 2017. A luscious, unctuous blend of 65% Chardonnay and 35% Pinot Meunier that spends three years on lees. This endlessly rich offering brings a bounteous smorgasbord of lemon, lime, bitter orange, bergamot, Earl Grey, blueberries and blossom. Ideal paired with foie gras, curry, or lemon meringue pie. £370.