I’m a Champagne fan too and if a particular btl shines I’ll be the first to sing it’s praises. I find that a lot of Champagne I drink at tastings is solid but not memorable but sometimes…
Champagne keeps extremely well overnight, in my experience. No fancy corks or stoppers needed, not even a cork, IMO! The CO2 provides somewhat of a pressure gradient against ambient air with oxygen entering the bottle, and slows down the diffusion of oxygen by way of concentration gradient. I know it’s not a very elegant solution but works great: to store champagne overnight I simply take a strip of clear wrap(maybe 3-4 inches wide) and with one end cover the opening and with the other end(the tail) wrap it around the neck near the opening and make a simple tuck in to “knot” it. Place it in the fridge and the next day it will be like you picked up where you left off.
I usually give it a half hour to an hour out of the fridge to warm it back up a bit before drinking. I think you will be surprised how much “fizz” is left the next day if you simply wrap it like described above.
I don’t think that’s fair to say.
Plenty of distinctiveness in DP, Krug, Taittinger etc.
Also, don’t many growers blend both grape varieties and vineyards?
I love Champagne and have done many all Champagne dinners. There are many styles and it would be hard for me to think of a dish that does not pair well with some type of Champagne (especially red meat). I also think at this time there are many exciting younger or newly imported producers (e.g. Cedric Bouchard, Prevost, Olivier Collin, Eric Rodez, Bertrand Gautherot among others).
As to why it takes a back seat I will proffer my own theory - much like Riesling in my experience Champagne almost always delivers and therefore is much less variable than say Red Burgundy so some of the excitement and maybe focus is gone when it is served as an aperitif.
Ray,
Stop making so much sense.
As always it is about good wine vs. bad wine and not growers vs. houses. There are more bad growers than there are bad houses (mostly because there are thousands more growers than houses). If you look at a lot grower wines, you will find that that a lot of growers own vineyards in various villages and blend them all together in their lower level wines. It often isn’t until you reach the upper level that you hit a pure village wine and the single vineyards are at the top of the range (normally). The growers and houses really aren’t much different in that the best grapes go into the top wines and the most basic grapes go into the entry level stuff. All try to make good wines with what they have and some have better materials than others (regardless of whether they are a grower or house).
…and out of those ridiculous Marie Antoinette breast glasses.
When I open Champagne or sparkling wine with dinner, I always use a regular 20 oz. wine glass. When guests come to the house, I always serve sparklers in flutes. My guests would say to themselves, “she’s a wine geek and doesn’t have flutes?”
Regarding Champagne as a regular wine. Most people don’t. They think it is only to be served for an occasion. Don’t even bother to explain that it is a versatile beverage, food friendly, blah blah blah…just drink it yourself.
Personally I am happy that a lot of people don’t appreciate Champagne. Let’s keep the club exclusive.
Alex - many reasons for the issue you noted, including crappy Champagne served at these tastings and pre-set menus not suitable for Champagne because built around a red wine theme. I attended a Faiveley dinner at Taillevant in September and frankly I am glad they did not serve Champagne with the meal because it would not have paired with the food.
Turn the scenario around and imagine a dinner built around Champagne where a crappy red was the starter, the Champagne will win.
No, is he out on DVD yet?
Quite a few when originally released 
My thought was that that price range is a “gateway” for potentially more expensive wine collecting, but in the Champagne world just doesn’t exist and is generally not good.
We agree.
While not always readily available, older aged Champagne (French in general prefer to drink them younger) that doesn’t cost a fortune does come on to the market if you keep your eyes open for it, usually around holiday shopping season.
I’ll keep both eyes open.
! '90 CdM tasted with Bollinger '90 RD, made the predominantly Pinot based RD seem almost insipid in comparison— CdM was that powerful! Unfortunately with the CdM, I bought a boatload of my favorite Champ/food combo in fresh nigiri sushi, which was also annihilated by the CdM >
> .
Bolly 90 RD no bueno
I <3 sushi & Champagne, just have to pick a less potent version to accompany this kind of seafood (1981 Krug CdM would go well with sushi).
Not my favorite vintage
Well top notch Champagne usually is expensive, but then again, my long-time favorite paring with it… real-deal caviar is now likewise painfully expensive!
Personally I’d prefer multiple bottles of Champagne, and nothing else in a tasting/meal.
Hillbilly gotta have vittles.
With the bubbles, you get blitzed pretty fast and your palate gets satiated to the point tasting other wines later, is kind of a waste, imho.
Rock on.
If you read Kapon’s wine pr0n notes, they always start with/prefer to begin these multi-bottle extravagances with Champagne, and many other tastings follow this path. I’d pass on that as I don’t want to get buzzed too quickly…I prefer slowly building up to a, uh, ‘climax’; rather than getting all hotNbothered with a wham-bam-ty-ma’am type of imbibing from the get go
You gotta fight for your right to party.
Opened an 1985 Salon just this evening. More like a petillant white burgundy.
Golden copper in color. Extremely fine bead. Initially austire and oxidized, but really opened up with time. The fruit came to the forefront and overwhelmed the oxidation. Nutty, toasty, apples and citrus. Superb stuff.
Not at our house. We drink house, farmer fizz, WA, CA, cava. We drink it w all sorts of foods and without food. We drink it with steak frittes and crabcakes and Jules homemade chocolate truffles. We drink it out of flutes and Cabernet glasses. We drink it too cold, too warm, at room temperature and flat after we forget to seal it up.
So, there was an independent thread like this before, but what are some favorite Champagnes under, say, $50, from the group reading/writing here?
I’ve recently enjoyed Turgy and Roederer Premier at about $35, and bought a little Camille Saves 02 on the back of Brad’s enthusiasm (though haven’t taken delivery yet). The $40 02 Marguet was all mopped up by about Thanksgiving, unfortunately. Does the Agrapart line-up loom large in anyone’s cellar?
In the past week, we have enjoyed bottles of Pierre Peter Blanc de Blanc Cuvee de Reserve, Egly-Ouriet Brut, Soter 2005 Brut Rose, and Gloria Ferrer 2000 Royal Cuvee. All in the sub $50 price range.
Best part is that my wife concluded that we should be drinking more champagne/sparkling wine.
Of course, though I write from the perspective of a Burg geek. Variations in house style are not enough for me; neither is vintage variation. Grower champagnes, though, really light me up. But I admit I’m probably not in the majority.
Didn’t know you could still buy Egly-Ouriet for under $50.
What kind of glasses are you Champagne lovers using? I have been trying Burg glasses lately because a lot of the Champagnes are from PN.
What's your favorite or best GLASS for CHAMPAGNE/SPARKLING WINES? - Wine 101: The Basics - WineBerserkers" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;