The Ace of Spades is often considered the highest and most valued card within a deck. The same can be said of Champagn Armand de Brignac (ADB, also known as Ace of Spades), one of the rarest and most prestigious range of champagnes on the planet.

This bold product is hand-crafted every step of the way, using more than 13 generations of experience to redefine how we celebrate life’s most cherished moments.

Those who do enjoy ADB’s champagne – particularly Jet Linx clients through the Elevated Lifestyle program – will be rewarded with an experience unlike any other. Jet Linx Elevated Lifestyle partner, LVMH, after purchasing 50% of ADB in 2021, is proud to offer another top-tier champagne to its elite portfolio of beverages that includes Dom Perignon, Veuve Clicquot, Krug and Moët et Chandon.

If you think this champagne looks familiar, you’re not mistaken; ADB has made some splashes in headline news in recent years. In 2006, rapper and business mogul Jay-Z (a.k.a. Shawn Carter) drew interest when he flashed an eye-catching gold bottle of champagne in a 2006 music video for “Show Me What You Got.” In 2014, he purchased the brand outright, becoming the sole owner. Finally, in February of 2021, LVMH purchased half of the brand, paving the way for a global distribution framework and adding another luxury brand to a portfolio with a proven track record of success.

“For years we have been following the fantastic success of Champagne Armand de Brignac and admiring their ability to challenge some of the rules of the Champagne category,” said Philippe Schaus, President and CEO of Moët Hennessy.

With Champagne Armand de Brignac, tradition meets innovation, forming a groundbreaking, convention-busting path for those bold enough to follow it. Champagne Armand de Brignac (ADB) appeared on the market in 2006, but its story goes back generations with the Cattier family in Champagne, France. First founded in 1763, the 12th- and 13th- generation wine growers, Jean-Jacques Cattier and his son, Alexandre, craft the prestige cuvées behind ADB. While the family has a history of making champagnes under license, they produce around 100,000 bottles of ADB each year, representing only a small proportion of the family’s total annual sales of one million bottles.

In the late 1990s, the Cattier family sought to produce a spectacular wine for the upcoming millennium. They began saving their finest reserve wines, which would be released in 2006 as the first production of ADB. What makes this champagne so special is that the Cattiers have the freedom to choose the best fruit from the beautiful patchwork of terroirs in the region.

Each year, they search for the plots that present fruit with the most remarkable character – regardless of cru – from what Mother Nature provided. The 33 hectares of vines, based in the Montagne de Reims, included the villages of Rilly-la-Montagne, Chigny-les-Roses and Ludes, some of the most lauded soils in Champagne.

A group of just 18 highly-skilled people touch a bottle of ADB champagne, from pressing the fruit, to the moment the bottles leave the cellars. Each step of the process is led by the human touch, from handpicking the grapes to polishing each bottle and hand-applying French pewter labels. Without the pressures of volume, the team behind Champagne Armand de Brignac focuses on each small detail, to ensure ultimate quality at every step.

After the grapes are harvested and hand-picked for quality, only the very first portion of the cuvée press is used. This process selective process only leaves 1/3 of the press, and the remaining 2/3 are discarded. The high price tag attached to a bottle of ADB results from the intense selectivity and meticulous attention to detail, which ensures the juice abounds with vibrant fruit character, soft texture and balanced acidity.

Unique to ADB is the blending of a trio of vintages. Each assemblage brings together the unique characters from three distinct harvests, while maintaining a powerful lineage from blend to blend. Each bottle of ADB is finished with a precise dosage, which comprises the finest base wine of the harvest, aged for one year in new French Oak.

The Cattier cellars are among the oldest and deepest in Champagne, with three styles of arches represented in the caverns: Gothic, Renaissance, and Roman; Armand de Brignac is aged in a special, gated section of the deepest part of these cellars, 119 steps underground. On top of that, the Cattiers’ vineyards also boast a list of environmental certifications – they possess the highest level of the French Haute Valeur Environnementale certification, as well as the Viticulture Durable en Champagne, both of which certify their vineries as sustainable.

The Bottle: Beautiful Inside and Out

As an example of the extreme care and quality that each bottle receives, a standard dressing chain can complete up to 2,500 bottles per hour. Only 20 bottles can be completed per person per hour in the ADB winery, and as a result, no two bottles are the same.

ADB also offers the most extensive collection of large format bottles of any prestige champagne house, from its 1.5-liter magnum to the highly rare, and made only by special order, 30-liter Midas – which contains the equivalent of 40 bottles of champagne.

BRUT GOLD

TASTING NOTES
Peach, apricot, red berry aromas, followed by crystalized citrus, orange blossom and hints of brioche. Palate is rich with exotic fruit, cherry and a touch of lemon, vanilla and honey. Ideal as an aperitif or pairs perfectly with seared scallops, roasted quail and freshwater fish.

ASSEMBLAGE
40% Chardonnay, 20% Pinot Meunier, 40% Pinot Noir/Pinot Nero

ROSÉ

TASTING NOTES
Strawberry, currants and cherry on the nose, with floral hints and a touch of sweet almond. The red grape dominance brings a structured palate filled with black fruits, cherries and hints of baked pastry. Ideal as an aperitif or pairs well with truffled veal, duck confit and wild salmon.

ASSEMBLAGE
50% Pinot Noir, 40% Pinot Meunier, 10% Chardonnay, multi-vintage

BLANC DE BLANCS

TASTING NOTES
Lightly-buttered, baked pastry notes are followed by aromas of pear, hazelnut and a hint of gingerbread. On the palate, flavors of guava, gooseberry and peach are complemented by sweet spices and a fresh mineral finish. Beautiful paired with carpaccio of shellfish or scallops, sashimi, grilled sea bass or a light cheese.

ASSEMBLAGE
100% Chardonnay, multi-vintage