What is ‘blanc de noirs’? – Ask Decanter

Champagne vineyards near Cramant. Credit: Barmalini / iStock / Getty Images Plus

Sometimes found on the labels of Champagne and English sparkling wines, the French phrase ‘blanc de noirs’ literally means ‘white from blacks’.

As the name suggests, it refers to white wines made only from dark-skinned grapes.

In Champagne and for many English sparkling wine producers, that means Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier.

At the other end of the spectrum, ‘blanc de blancs’ is produced from only white grapes, with 100% Chardonnay being the most common style in Champagne and beyond.

Blanc de noirs: how is it made?

Despite being made from dark-skinned grapes, these wines usually have a pale colour – allowing some with a faint gold or rosé hue – because they are made from the clear juice of the grape pulp.

Put simply, blanc de noirs are made in a similar way to white wine, where contact with the skins, which are the primary source of colour in wines, is minimised from the beginning of the winemaking process.

But why doing so? Some producers argue that dark-skinned grapes tend to impart more body, texture and aromatic complexity to the wine while maintaining the crisp freshness of a white wine.

Read more about wine colour

And it’s not a method used solely for making the base wine for sparkling wines. Increasingly, producers are exploring the idea of making still white wines from dark-skinned grapes.

In the 2024 Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA), four of the award-winning