Much like forbidden fruit, there's something about blanc de blancs that stirs the senses. And in a very real way, blanc de blancs is forbidden fruit to the Champenois. No wine made in Champagne elicits more varied comments from winemakers. To many, it is a question of style and complexity more than quality, to others it is simply a question of tradition.

Blanc de blancs remains a curiosity in some quarters because of the simple fact that it is made solely from chardonnay. In a region where the tradition and the art is in the blending, the debate over the status of a wine that is made with only white grapes, instead of the conventional blend of chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier, is ongoing.

Ask a handful of winemakers about it and you'll get answers ranging from, "It is the most elegant of all Champagnes" to "It is not really Champagne at all." The making of white wine from white grapes flies in the face of traditional Champagne wisdom. Some producers, such as Moët & Chandon and Veuve Clicquot, have elected not to make it at all, while others, such as Taittinger and Ruinart, have placed such faith in the category that their blanc de blancs are crafted as luxury cuvées.

Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blancs, Ruinart's star offering, is currently a 1988, while Taittinger's Comtes de Champagne is a 1990.

"It is a stylistic question," says Champagne Ruinart's Export Director Charles de Ponteves. "Chardonnay either defines the harmony of the cuvée, or it doesn't. For us, it is our style." All agree that it is the grapes that give any style of Champagne its character, but beyond that consensus, opinions diverge wildly. "Blanc de blancs is a small treasure; it is where we discover the elegance and finesse, the beauty of chardonnay," says Fabrice Rosset, the president of Champagne Deutz. Clicquot's Chef de Caves Jacques Péters disagrees: "It is the combination of grape varieties that gives Champagne its uniqueness," he argues.

The creator of Salon, perhaps the world's most famous blanc de blancs, saw possibilities where others once saw none. A wealthy Champenois who was something of a gourmet, Eugène-Aimé Salon was convinced that he could make a wine of extraordinary elegance and finesse by using only the chardonnay grape, and more particularly only chardonnay grapes from the grand cru village of le Mesnil-sur-Oger situated in the Côte des Blancs. At the turn of the century, Salon made a chardonnay-based cuvée as a sort of private stock that he shared among friends. It wasn't until 1921 that he produced his first commercial vintage under the Champagne Salon Le Mesnil label. Subsequently, the grande marque house that Salon founded on a whim has released 31 vintages, choosing to do so in only the most exceptional years, and never producing more than 7,500 cases in any given vintage (and averaging far less).

Every Champagne house that makes this single-grape wine has its own approach and sense of style. Salon, the only house that makes blanc de blancs exclusively, is currently represented by its 1988 vintage, a substantial wine that had more than eight years of aging before release.

Krug's very rare Clos du Mesnil is the world's most expensive blanc de blancs. The 1989, at $210 per bottle, is a rich, medium straw color; its texture is silky; and its bouquet is marked by warm, rich scents suggestive of cherries and almonds. In the mouth it is sharply etched, pure and very long – clearly something special, but also clearly chardonnay.

Philipponnat and Billecart-Salmon, whose blanc de blancs are particularly long-lived, have 1989 as their current vintage as well, while both Roederer and Deutz recently released their 1993.

By spring or early summer, Perrier-Jouët will for the first time release a blanc de blancs as its luxury Belle Epoque cuvée, an unprecedented step despite the house's reliance on chardonnay as a principal player.

"Our founders felt chardonnay was an essential part of our blend," says Perrier-Jouët's Chef de Caves Hervé Deschamps. "They invested heavily in some very fine chardonnay vineyards in the mid-1800s, but we've always needed all of our best chardonnay for our Fleur de Champagne blends so it has been a question of allocation, and not all chardonnay can be used as a blanc de blancs." In 1993, however, they had an amazing harvest from a small vineyard in Bouron-Leroy, just north of Avize and east of Cramant. "I couldn't resist the opportunity to make a blanc de blancs from this vintage," he recalls. The Belle Epoque Blanc de Blancs is an exceptional expression of chardonnay fruit, much like a fine Meursault only with bubbles. Packaged in the clear flower bottle usually reserved for the Belle Epoque Rosé, it has a deep aroma and flavor with hints of white flowers, citrus, pineapple and almonds. It is delicate, but very long with excellent structure. Only 20,000 bottles were made. The pity of it is Deschamps has no plans to make it again.

"We have some spectacular chardonnay," Clicquot's Péters explains, "but for style it is important that we use that chardonnay as part of our vintage blends: what makes it so good on its own also makes it invaluable as a component in a complex blend." In other words, the demands of blending and economics are such that blanc de blancs will never be more than a specialty Champagne despite the exceptional quality of many of the wines produced solely from chardonnay.

Blanc de blancs counts for less than five percent of Champagne produced, a statistic that partly reflects the large percentage of black grapes planted in Champagne. Pinot meunier, relatively easy to ripen and grow, accounts for approximately 40 percent of the vines in the region, and pinot noir covers about one-third of the usable land in the region.

"For most houses in Champagne, the balance of the varieties in the finished wine is about one-third each in non-vintage wines," says Deutz's Rosset, "but chardonnay is only planted over about 27 percent of the region, so it is understandable that the very best chardonnay is at a premium. Our Brut Blanc de Blancs accounts for only perhaps six percent of our sales."

Growing the Wine To understand the role of blanc de blancs, one must better understand the history of the region.

La Champagne, in the valley of the Marne River, is 90 miles and a world away from Paris. The hills become more pronounced as one nears Reims, the sturdy town where Clovis, king of the pagan Franks, converted to Christianity in the year 496.

The kings of France were crowned here for more than a millennium, but wine was an important part of the culture of this valley for four centuries before Clovis. The Romans who conquered the area knew the land had special qualities. The hills of Reims formed what its early inhabitants called a "mountainous island" resting on a chalk plain and divided into two parts by the Marne River. Other than Reims, modern day Champagne remains a collection of small winegrowing towns and villages spreading out to the south like a giant fan.

Unlike Burgundy, just 100 miles to the south, the names of Champagne's villages seldom appear on wine labels, for the grapes destined for any one particular house are harvested from throughout the region: from the Montagne de Reims southeast of the city, which rises only about 300 meters before it crests then slopes down toward the river, the Valley of the Marne and the Côte des Blancs trailing south of the town of Épernay (queen city to Reims' king of Champagne title).

From these three regions, the mountain, the valley and the côte, or slope, come the grapes to produce Champagne. Each area has its particular soil, climate and character; combining them in an approach unique to Champagne is a veritable art form. In Bordeaux's best wines, several grape varieties are blended together, but generally from properties that, if not contiguous, are fairly close together. In Burgundy, the rules are more strict.

Chardonnay and pinot noir are grown in Champagne along with pinot meunier, a close cousin of the pinot noir. What makes Champagne so unique is that the three varieties, two red and one white, are nearly always blended together – with the exception of blanc de blancs – after pressing. Because the pigment of a grape is in its skin, the juice from these grapes remains white if they're gently pressed.

In Champagne, the most northerly of France's winegrowing regions, the growing season is long and temperatures cool, so getting grapes to full ripeness is difficult, and acidities run high. As far back as the 17th century, clever winemakers discovered that whatever difficulties the climate posed for growing grapes, it also yielded wine with a restrained richness of flavor. To a Burgundian, the grapes would be considered underripe, too low in sugar and too high in acidity. But the Champenois discovered they could ferment their technically underripe grapes once to yield a low-alcohol wine, then add the dosage, a mixture of sugar and yeast, and ferment it a second time.

Carried out in the bottle, this second fermentation creates a delightful effervescence. The complexity of the best Champagne is a product both of the terroir, and of the grapes and yeast that come together during sur lie aging. It is a process that calls for balance in flavor and structure, and a keen sense of tradition, for most of the great Champagne firms own only a small portion of the vineyards producing the grapes they need. Their skill is not that of the Bordelais winegrower who cultivates his grapes and makes his wine, nor is it of the Burgundian carefully searching out parcels of vineyards to make vineyard-delimited wine, rather it is in the blending and the aging of the broadly sourced grapes.

While few winemakers will admit it, a big part of the decision not to make a blanc de blancs rests with the demand for chardonnay.

As more houses have added luxury cuvées over the past decades, it has become more critical to have access to a good supply of very high-quality chardonnay grapes for blending purposes. At the same time, chardonnay has become a very fashionable grape. Some houses, such as Pol Roger with its Vintage Brut Chardonnay, are capitalizing on its worldwide popularity by emphasizing its presence on the label of their blanc de blancs.

"There is no doubt chardonnay is popular now, but ironically, blanc de blancs Champagne was more popular 15 or 20 years ago than it is today," says Henri Krug of Champagne Krug. While the house is now owned by the Rémy-Cointreau group, it is still run by the Krug family, as it has been for five generations.

"In 1971, we bought a small company with 20 acres of vines to secure the quality of chardonnay from le Mesnil-sur-Oger, which is the best white wine village in Champagne," Krug explains. "The property, which included the small Clos du Mesnil, had been an investment for many years before. The 4.57-acre clos was first planted and its wall built in 1698, so we know it had been considered special for at least that long, but both production and balance was poor, so we began replanting." Today, it is the only enclosed place in Champagne legally entitled to be called "Clos" on a wine label.

It took several years for the vines within the small vineyard to produce grapes of sufficient quality to vinify, but in 1979 Krug's investment paid off. "That year, the chardonnay from Clos du Mesnil was beautiful," Krug recalls. "We were so surprised we immediately decided to bottle it by itself as an experiment. Five or six years later it was fabulous. It is an exceptional property and so, without really intending to at the beginning, we ended up making this unique wine." "We don't really think of it as a blanc de blancs," says his niece, Caroline Krug, who represents Krug in the United States and is the sixth generation of the family to work in the firm, "it's just Krug Clos du Mesnil. This year, we celebrated the 300th anniversary of the planting of Clos du Mesnil, and it was a special time to reflect on just how unusual it is to make a vineyard-designated Champagne from this historic property." For all its distinctive, intense character, the Clos du Mesnil is still very much a blanc de blancs, one that shows the true power and intensity of which chardonnay is capable.

Many consumers who buy and enjoy fine Champagne think of chardonnay only as an element to leaven the richness of the red grapes, but a classic blanc de blancs clearly demonstrates an affinity with white Burgundy and the depth and richness a fine Meursault or Corton-Charlemagne can attain.

"In a sense, blanc de blanc is the easiest wine I make," says Thibault. "I just wait for the best years, source the best chardonnay and make it. We either make it or we don't, strictly based on the quality of the wine." The only French winemaker to have twice won the International Wine Challenge, Thibault is an intense, ruddy-faced man who, despite chain-smoking his way through the day, is considered by his peers to have one of the finest palates in the world. He needs it to finesse the blending of his different wines because each vintage yields 400 or 500 different lots, each vinified separately, each kept in its own tank.

French law sets the minimum time spent on the lees at 15 months for non-vintage and three years for vintage-dated wines. Even mid-level houses routinely give their wines more time to develop complexity, and the best firms routinely leave their non-vintage wines for three years, vintage wines for five years and prestige cuvées even longer before disgorging, topping off the bottles and packaging them for sale.

"Chardonnay takes a long time to mature," Rosset says, "and in a blanc de blancs you have to select wines keeping in mind you won't have the faster maturation of the other varieties. At Deutz, we wouldn't necessarily use the same chardonnay in a blend with pinot noir as we would use on its own. [Chardonnay from the villages of] Avize and le Mesnil on the Côte des Blancs are outstanding. Cramant and Oger also make great chardonnay, and these are wonderful by themselves, while others, especially chardonnay from outside the Côte des Blancs, work better in blends." Since the days of Eugène-Aimé Salon, there has been a natural bias for chardonnay from the Côte des Blancs because this is where, historically, chardonnay has grown best. It is an area of deep chalk soil with a climate that is conducive to chardonnay, a grape that is less prone to frost damage than is pinot noir. Though all three Champagne varieties are planted throughout the region, pinot meunier is best suited to the Vallée de la Marne, which is warmer, and pinot noir is generally most at home on the slopes of the Montagne de Reims. But Rosset says there are exceptions: "Many of us have been convinced that outside the Côte des Blancs, the chardonnay wasn't suitable, didn't have the power for a blanc de blancs, but I've been wrong. We're beginning to find good chardonnay from outside the area that adds a special quality to a blanc de blancs. Some that is particularly good comes from Villers-Marmery, a village on the western edge of the Montagne de Reims that only covers about 200 acres. I don't think it would be best as a blanc de blancs by itself because it doesn't have enough elegance and finesse, but it adds an interesting quality of richness to the blend." Rosset made his discovery when Louis Roederer purchased Deutz in 1993. "In the spring of 1994, when I first tried the blanc de blancs with Monsieur Lallier [the former owner], I was so impressed with the quality of the wines and the blend, I said to him 'You know, your blanc de blancs is wonderful, but it has an unusual nutty quality.' He explained that it came from the Villers-Marmery, and I've been a believer ever since." Deutz is not alone in turning to the Montagne de Reims for chardonnay that offers a particular quality to blanc de blancs. "Chardonnay from the Montagne, when it is mature and ripe," says Ruinart's de Ponteves, "brings the qualities and characteristics you would normally find in a pinot noir." This generous quality makes it possible for Ruinart to make a blanc de blancs as its prestige cuvée.

"Montagne chardonnay adds a degree of structure and complexity to Dom Ruinart that we wouldn't otherwise have," he explains. "All our wines are defined by chardonnay – we like its aroma and finesse – so it is logical for us to seek chardonnay's ultimate expression in our prestige cuvée. Still, it is difficult to reach that complexity with chardonnay from the Côte des Blancs alone, so when we don't have good chardonnay from Montagne, we don't make Dom Ruinart.

"Chardonnay is an exclusive grape in Champagne," de Ponteves explains further, "and, as a chardonnay house, we appreciate that. We want the elegance of aroma and style that chardonnay gives, but it isn't available in all chardonnay. The best chardonnay grows mostly in grand cru and premier cru villages. The grapes you find in lower vineyards are noticeably less good." Despite the difficulties of obtaining top-quality chardonnay in sufficient quantity, Rosset believes in blanc de blancs. "Making it is an old tradition in Champagne, and we like tradition. There is the quest for perfection and it adds prestige to one's portfolio. I think, too, the Champenois have a great appreciation for their grapes, and blanc de blancs allows us to discover the beauty of chardonnay – its elegance and finesse." Just as with still wines, chardonnay as blanc de blancs shows up in many different guises. Many houses focus on depth, age and complexity, while at Champagne Mumm, youth, lightness and freshness are stressed. Its signature blanc de blancs, Mumm de Cramant, is a single-vintage wine made exclusively from grand cru chardonnay from the prized village of Cramant in the Côte des Blancs. The wine is sold as a non-vintage Champagne, however, because Mumm's concept of showcasing the wine's youthful freshness means they often release it two years after the vintage rather than the minimum three years required by French law for vintage-dated Champagne. Fruity and youthful, Mumm de Cramant is unique among the top houses' bottlings.

"Blanc de blancs needs age," Heidsieck's Thibault says flatly. "It is not the light, frothy, apéritif-only wine many consumers think it is. Our style is for a richer, deeper flavor. It takes a long time for the chardonnay to mature and develop its flavors." Rosset agrees. "You can drink a blanc de blancs young or you can age it and achieve different flavors, just as you do with fine white Burgundy. Start with a good blanc de blancs and you have aromas of green apple or watermelon, then with age, you develop connotations of honey and floral characteristics and hazelnuts and brioche and smoky notes and sometimes even tropical fruit." Whatever the vintage, most blanc de blancs from the top houses age exceptionally well. Henri Krug believes his 1979 is now finally coming into its own, and Daniel Thibault maintains even his currently available 1985 Blanc des Millénaires, as good as it is, will improve with time.

No wine better illustrates the power of chardonnay and the amazing longevity of blanc de blancs than Krug's Clos du Mesnil. At a recent tasting celebrating the 300th anniversary of the vineyard, Caroline Krug poured three vintages of the wine with dinner. Two things were clear: the best blanc de blancs take a long time to mature and, despite its reputation as a light wine, a great blanc de blancs makes a stunning companion for food.

The 1983 and 1981 vintages are still amazingly youthful, showing no signs of age other than a slight deepening of color to medium straw and the development of some of the hazelnut and citrus qualities one finds in maturing white Burgundies. The 1989 Clos du Mesnil, however, remains my favorite vintage from that decade. Although it is youthful and showing plenty of fruit, it is already exhibiting a nutty, citrus aroma and velvet texture. It is very dry and crisp with a quality of dried cherries and dried white flowers both in its aroma and flavor.

The difference with the best blanc de blancs is that, with their high acidity, they age even more slowly than still wines. Acidity gives Champagne in general, and blanc de blancs in particular, an advantage as food wines because they pair well with rich dishes that need a wine that can cut through a high fat content and still not overwhelm delicate flavors. Blanc de blancs with shellfish is a spectacular combination, but it also works well with oysters, caviar and any other dish that demands a clean, sharply etched wine with considerable complexity.

Standing in the chalk-walled cellars that stretch for miles beneath the streets of Reims, wrapped in a blanket to ward off the chill, Thibault's judgment about the complexity and ageability of blanc de blancs was confirmed for me again with a single taste of the 1983 Charles Heidsieck Blanc des Millénaires, an extraordinary wine only now nearing its peak. As striking as it is, it is also scarce. "We only make the wine in exceptional years," Thibault explains. "We then age it on the lees for at least five or seven years or more before releasing it. That makes it expensive as well as unusual." "I'd like more Blanc des Millénaires to sell," says François Bannier, the director of marketing for Charles Heidsieck, "but Daniel's palate is excellent, as is his wine. That means he is strict and only makes it in exceptional vintages. After 1985, we will release a 1990 – there is no 1986 and no 1988. After that, we have a 1996, and it is a wine that Daniel thinks needs 25 years to reach its true maturity. It's not exactly a wine with which we can cover the market." Some might argue that blanc de blancs is too esoteric for general consumption. "I don't think most American drinkers have made the association yet between chardonnay and blanc de blancs," says Hervé Rousseau, proprietor of Flûtes, New York's popular Champagne bar. "Blanc de blancs seldom is requested here because most people don't know to ask for it, but once I get someone to try several Champagnes, they begin to sense the elegance and luxury of some of the blanc de blancs. Then, they ask for it again." Rousseau's personal favorite is Charles Heidsieck's Blanc des Millénaires. "It is scarce, but worth the search because it has great finesse and complexity," he says.

Made in small quantities and only in particular years by a limited number of houses who believe in it, blanc de blancs seems destined to remain just outside the Champagne mainstream. Considering its extraordinary elegance, its range of compatibility with food and its propensity for aging, perhaps it is a wine best left to those of us who truly appreciate it for what it really is: white gold in a glass.

Senior Editor Lyn Farmer produces a radio program on wine.