Brown Brothers Pinot Noir Chardonnay Pinot Meunier NV

At the top end, Australia's cutting edge bubblies, like Arras, come up against the French originals in both price and quality. At the bottom, any number of clean, fresh, but fairly bland bubblies do the trick. In the middle ground, Brown Brothers impresses because skilled winemaking adds a patina of complex flavours and textures around exactly the right type of fruit flavours. This comes from the classic Champagne varieties grown in cooler parts of Victoria's King Valley and Whitlands Plateau.

Chris Shannahan - chrisshannahan.com, 14 December 2011