Was 1996 a good year in Champagne?
Champagne 1996 scores 96 out of 100. The highest levels of sugar and acidity in living memory, acidity reaching 10.0 g/l. One of the most structured vintages of the twentieth century. Some bottles now show premature oxidation or razor-sharp unbalanced acidity.
Alternating warm and cool spells, then north winds that dehydrated the fruit into extraordinary concentration while cool nights held the acidity. A bumper 10,332 kg/ha.
What drinkers rate it
92.9 out of 100 from 261 ratings, the most recent in 2026.
Should you buy the 1996?
The recorded drinking window closed in 2025. Bottles can still show well when they have been stored properly, but you are buying a mature wine and should treat provenance as the deciding factor rather than the price.
Whatever you pay, ask the seller when the bottle was last moved and how it has been kept. Storage history changes what a mature bottle is worth far more than a few pounds on the shelf price.