Perri’s Picks: Marie Weiss Champagne Brut NV

I was never really a Champagne guy. The bubbles were for holidays, weddings, or big promotions, not something I actually thought about. Wine made more sense. It changed with time. It gave you something to learn. Champagne always felt like the same drink in a different bottle. Fizzy and fine, but not much else.

That changed on a trip to Champagne with my wife for her birthday. And no, this wasn’t me casually flexing a romantic getaway. It was a stop between hanging with friends across Europe, Beyoncé tickets in Amsterdam, and a long detour through Epernay. Champagne wasn’t the destination. It was an accident.

Our guide was French but grew up in the States, so he understood both sides of my confusion. I told him I never liked Champagne. He laughed and said, “That’s because Americans drink bad Champagne.” Not cheap, just mass-produced. 

The everyday stuff. I remembered one exception: a friend with very good taste once gifted me a bottle of Pol Roger. When I mentioned it, the guide lit up. “Good taste,” he said. “Their vineyard is right here. Classic house. If you liked that, today is going to be a good day.”

He was right. We drank through the region and something finally clicked. I learned I like blends that lean Pinot Noir with enough Chardonnay to keep things bright. Toasted fruit. Floral nose. Calm behind the fizz. I wasn’t fighting the bubbles anymore. I was finally tasting what was underneath.

Back home, I went looking for that same feeling. At my local wine shop, I told the woman behind the counter this whole story. She didn’t know Pol Roger, but she knew the profile. She handed me a bottle of Marie Weiss and said, “Trust me.”

She was right too.

Marie Weiss comes from Ployez-Jacquemart, a small family house in the village of Ludes on the Montagne de Reims. It is a classic three-grape blend — half Pinot Noir, with Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay sharing the rest — but the taste is what got me. It’s balanced, a little creamy, a little spicy, with lemon zest and tea rose hiding in the bubbles. 

Ployez-Jacquemart makes a Brut NV built for long aging, but Marie Weiss is their drink-now bottle, the one that shows you what the house can do without needing time. It hits with that Pol Roger confidence but keeps things calm and approachable.

I poured a glass that night while making dinner. It tasted like a memory that took its time catching up.

I still wouldn’t call myself a Champagne guy. But I keep a bottle of Marie Weiss around now, just in case the day ever earns it.