What Does “Blanc de Blancs” Mean?

Often you will hear expressions like "Blanc de Blancs," "Blanc de Noirs," "Millésime," and "Grand Cru," but what exactly do these terms mean? This can be important when you want to order wine online, or you end up discussing wine with friends. Well, the explanation is very simple. 

First, it's important to note that the terms Blanc de Blancs and Blanc de Noirs are usually used to talk about sparkling wines, typically from the Champagne region, although not exclusively. The terms Millésime and Grand Cru are used for any type of wine, whether sparkling, red, rosé, or white. 

It's also important to know that grapes can generally be divided into two types: white grapes and black grapes (sometimes called red grapes), which, as you might expect, defines Blanc de Blancs as the sparkling wine made from white grapes, and Blanc de Noirs as the sparkling wine made from black grapes. 

This is because the wine’s color comes from phenolic compounds in the grape skin. It is abundantly possible, then, to make a white wine or a clear, golden-hued Champagne from black grapes. Blanc de blancs lets you know that this wine was made from white grapes, not black ones. Blanc de noirs, by contrast, is a white wine made from grapes with black skins, but without there being any contact between the skins and the must. 

These terms are usually used for wines from the Champagne region, and sometimes also from the Bourgogne region, which narrows the spectrum down to a few types of grapes. 

So, in the Champagne region, we only find Chardonnay as a white grape, and Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier as black grapes, which already provides the hint that a Blanc de Blancs will be a wine made exclusively from Chardonnay, and a Blanc de Noirs will be a wine made exclusively from Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. 

In Bourgogne, in addition to the above, you will also find Aligoté as a white grape, so a Blanc de Blancs in this case can be a blend of both types. For black grapes, we find Pinot Noir and Gamay, although the latter is usually used in single varietal rosé wines, or blended with other grapes to complement the production of white sparkling wines. 

And what if the bottle doesn't indicate that it's a Blanc de Blancs, but it's made from 100% Chardonnay? Don't worry. It's normal for large wineries to have several wines with different qualities and commercially to only label one of them with the appellation, adopting different names for the rest. Still, it will be a Blanc de Blancs as long as it's made only with Chardonnay, and the same goes for Blanc de Noirs. 

And if I'm drinking a Crémant de Bordeaux made exclusively from Cabernet Franc, which is a black grape . . .  Am I drinking a Blanc de Noirs? Indeed, according to the theoretical definition, you would be drinking a Blanc de Noirs, although in practice these terms are not usually used for other regions outside of Champagne and Bourgogne. 

Finally, let's see what these other two terms that you frequently find when you buy wine online mean: the word Millésime denotes a specific vintage, so any wine made exclusively with grapes from a single harvest will be a Millésime wine, for example, a 2004. This is important because the wine from one vintage doesn't have to have the same characteristics as the one from the previous vintage, or the next; although they will be similar, in some cases, the difference can be significant. Wines that are not Millésime are bottled by blending different vintages precisely to always maintain a similar quality in the product, so that the variation is minimal and its characteristics similar. 

The term Grand Cru is used to denote that the wine is produced with grapes from specific plots that have been awarded this recognition and whose quality is superior to the rest. For this, there is a regulatory board that decides which plots deserve this appellation and which do not meet the quality requirements. 

Now that you know all this, you'll be able to surprise your friends the next time you share a bottle after you order wine delivery! From Bottle Barn, of course.