Consolation. champagne s

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Consolation. champagne s"

Jeffery Stevenson
6 years ago
Views:

champagne s Consolation Champagne can bring people together like no other wine can, says Lettie Teague both to celebrate good times (like the holidays) and provide comfort in emotionally challenging

1 champagne s Consolation Champagne can bring people together like no other wine can, says Lettie Teague both to celebrate good times (like the holidays) and provide comfort in emotionally challenging times (like the holidays). By Lettie Teague Designed By Lilly A. Pérez When Thomas Paine declared, These are mainly excellent nonvintage bottles that over the past several months, Russia is the times that try men s souls, he wasn t cost as little as $35, but sometimes têtes de the single most important market for these talking about the American economy but the cuvée priced considerably higher. wines today. The elaborate bottles are one American Revolution. It was Christmas 1776 when he published that resonant phrase, Têtes de Cuvée reason (Russians love gilt and filigree, as a rule). Indeed, Russians adore famous said to give courage to the embattled troops. Têtes de cuvée, also known as prestige prestige cuvées like Krug and Salon, which In a similar spirit, this holiday season, I ve cuvées, are the top wines produced by now cost up to $500 a bottle, if not much been thinking about what sort of wine might a Champagne house or grower, made more. (Krug s special Pinot Noir based lend my friends consolation, if not courage, from the very best grapes in the very best Clos d Ambonnay debuted earlier this year in these uncertain economic times. years at least theoretically (more on that at $3,500 and quickly sold out.) later). They re also often objects of beauty, The obvious answer might seem to packaged in fancy bottles with filigreed Champagne makers claim that these high be Cheap wine, and lots of it, but my labels that would fit in nicely on a shelf prices have to do with the euro-dollar inclination is actually the opposite: I d rather of perfumes. In fact, that s where I once imbalance and the current scarcity of buy the best wine I can, even if it s just a kept an old beveled-glass bottle of G.H. wine (there s been an enormous upsurge single bottle, and share it with my friends. Mumm s Cuvée René Lalou, which looked in demand, not just from Russia but East I m not talking about a first-growth Bordeaux like a perfume bottle from Jean Patou. Asia, as well). And yet some producers or a grand cru Burgundy; those are wines I (René Lalou was discontinued for a couple have more than doubled the prices of their couldn t afford even when times weren t so of decades but was recently revived...in a prestige cuvées recently, merely to boost tough. I m thinking about Champagne. Of much plainer bottle.) the world s perception of them. A Seattle course I realize that Champagne is a luxury, wine retailer confided to me, We were told a token of celebration or prosperity which Têtes de cuvée are now sought after by that Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle deserves for many people is either untrue or unseemly wealthy Russians, who are more willing to be considered a peer to Dom Pérignon, these days. And yet, when I recall my most (or able) to pay the high prices than and that s why the Grand Siècle we re joyous dinners and parties, I recall that the Americans are these days. According to selling for $80 right now will cost $180 if we 2 Discover Magazine wine we drank most often was Champagne, the Champagne producers I talked with reorder it. This kind of fiscal maneuvering 3

2 gives credence to critics who contend that the high prices of têtes de cuvée have more to do with marketing than actual wine. As Roberto Rogness, the outspoken manager of Wine Expo in Santa Monica, California (a.k.a. Champagne World Headquarters ), opined, The high prices of prestige cuvées pay for the four guys in suits who walk into my store to sell me those Champagnes. Types of Champagne Champagnes are created in a variety of styles. Don t know what to look for? Find out which style suits your tastes. Blanc de blancs; a Champagne produced from 100% Chardonnay grapes. Blanc de blancs have become very popular as an apéritif due to their light, dry taste. They are also ideal for light first courses including seafood and soups. Blanc de noirs: a Champagne made from 100% Pinot Noir and/or Meunier grapes. Typically, these wines are full-bodied and deeper yellow-gold in color. They are ideal for full-flavored foods, including meats and cheeses. Pink or rosé: accounts for less than 5% of Champagne produced. Rosé Champagne is made through one of two methods. The first method involves adding a small amount of red still wine from Champagne to the original blend. The second method involves exposing the must to the skins of the red grapes when pressing. Non-Vintage or NV : makes up 85 to 90 percent of all Champagne produced. Each is composed of several different years and different blends as well as different vintages, rather than from a single harvest. Vintage: one in which all grapes used have been harvested from a single year. There is no law governing when a year is a vintage. Instead, each house decides for itself whether it will produce a vintage Champagne in any given year, though it is only produced when the harvest is particularly distinguished. However, in a good year, only a fraction of the total Champagne made is declared as a vintage Champagne. Cuvées de prestige: made from blends of the most subtle wines. Most Champagne houses consider their cuvées de prestige to be their top-end Champagne. Cuvée de prestige Champagne may or may not be vintage and is typically aged for an extended period of time. 4 Discover Magazine Rogness carries only Champagnes from small growers (whose salesmen are, one assumes, more casually attired). Brand vs. Wine Indeed, many people perceive Champagne as a brand, not a wine. Even my most wineknowledgeable friends, the ones who can name every premier and grand cru vineyard in Burgundy (and the little lieux-dits besides), talk only in terms of famous names like Salon, Krug and Dom Pérignon, rather than key subregions like the Côte des Blancs or small producers like Pierre Gimonnet et Fils. That may be why the wine fanatics who frequent Veritas restaurant in New York the same men who spend thousands of dollars on a bottle of Burgundy will rarely spend that much money on Champagne: There just isn t the same sense of connoisseurship. There s the feeling that if you come into the restaurant and order Dom Pérignon, you may not know very much about wine, says Veritas s wine director, Tim Kopec. It s not like you came in and ordered a great bottle of Échezeaux. A Champagne producer s name, or brand, in this case, is synonymous with an identifiable style. Krug is characteristically toasty and rich; Salon is minerally and can resemble a great white Burgundy. Styles are achieved through a series of blends. First, there s the blending of grapes: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier (though some Champagnes may be made from just one or two grape varieties). Second is the blending of vintages; even the most basic nonvintage cuvées are a combination of several years. And, with the exception of growers who make wines with grapes from their own vineyards, a Champagne may be a blend of grapes from all over the region of Champagne. (Most big Champagne houses have comparatively small vineyard holdings and buy a lot of their fruit.) How It s Made A prestige cuvée is, presumably, the apogee of the masterful blend. Presumably is the operative word, though, as there are no guidelines or restrictions as to what a prestige cuvée must be. It may be a vintage wine or a nonvintage cuvée, it may be made from grand cru grapes, premier cru grapes or grapes that aren t rated at all. It may be a rosé, a brut or a Blanc de Blancs. It s all up to the individual producer. In a country as highly regulated as France, this seems surprising. How can Champagne s producers be trusted to make their best wine, that costs the most money, if no one is monitoring it? In St-Émilion, by contrast, château owners have to put their cru classé properties up for review every 10 years. I put the question to Ghislain de Montgolfier, who is not only the scion of Bollinger Champagne but also the president of the Union des Maisons de Champagne. All prestige cuvées are the very best wine that the house makes, from the very best grapes, he replied. However, hedging a bit, he added, A prestige cuvée can be whatever the Champagne house decides it should be. The first prestige cuvée, Champagne Louis Roederer Cristal, was, fittingly, the inspiration of a wealthy Russian, czar Alexander II. The czar was a big fan of Champagne, but he wanted something special, something all for himself. That s why Roederer produced Cristal in 1876, creating not only the first prestige cuvée but also the first Champagne to be sold in fancy packaging (crystal bottle, gold label the signature cellophane wrapping came later). The clear crystal bottle wasn t just for decoration but also bomb detection: A lot of people wanted to kill the czar, and hiding an explosive in a Champagne bottle was a possible way. (Alas, Alexander only had a few years to drink his Cristal; he was in fact killed by a bomb in 1881 but not, it should be noted, one in a Champagne bottle.) Though the czars disappeared with the Russian Revolution in 1917, Cristal was not offered to the general public until 1924; the most famous tête de cuvée in the world, Loires Cognac Bordeaux Languedoc-Roussillon Dom Pérignon from Moët & Chandon, debuted 12 years later. Although it came out in the middle of the Depression and cost twice as much as the basic nonvintage wine, Dom Pérignon made an immediate impression and has been a hit ever since. Oddly, Dom Pérignon wasn t the inspiration of a Frenchman either, but an Englishman, Laurence Venn. Sadly for all subsequent Venns, their clever ancestor didn t claim royalties for the idea, as Dom became one of the greatest success stories in the history of wine not only is its name famous, but it is made in such large quantities that no one at Moët will confirm how much is actually produced. (I ve seen the number placed at Champagne Sancerre Poully-sur-Loire Burgandy Rhone Chablis Jura Alsace Savoie Provence one or two million bottles, though Dom is still an allocated wine.) And yet, regardless of whether these numbers are true (again, no one at Moët will confirm or deny), the fact is that Dom Pérignon is a remarkable wine, even more so if the production numbers are truly that high. As that same Seattle wine merchant said to me, If they re making that much wine and the quality is that good, they should be proud. Even my friend Daniel Johnnes, wine director of the Daniel Boulud restaurant group and a profound Burgundy snob, conceded upon tasting the 1993 Dom Pérignon Oenothèque ($450), It s one thing to make a few hundred cases of French Wine Champagne is one of many wine making regions in France. It is a practice to be named after the region of production. 5

Many like to experiment with fruit in their glass. I do not like for other flavors to interfere with blend, so I prefer to drink it sans fruit.

Dom Pérignon is one of the wines that Gary Westby is recommending that his customers purchase as an investment, because its value is likely to increase over time more than can be said about

Compared to blue-chip wines like Bordeaux, têtes de cuvée are affordable.

3 Many like to experiment with fruit in their glass. I do not like for other flavors to interfere with blend, so I prefer to drink it sans fruit. Burgundy; it s another thing altogether to make a million bottles of a wine this good. Dom Pérignon is one of the wines that Gary Westby is recommending that his customers purchase as an investment, because its value is likely to increase over time more than can be said about mortgage-backed securities. Westby is the Champagne buyer for K&L Wine Merchants, located in a San Francisco suburb, which is one of America s leading purveyors of Champagne. Compared to blue-chip wines like Bordeaux, têtes de cuvée are affordable. Compare a 1996 Dom Pérignon priced at $150 to a 2005 first-growth Bordeaux that sells for thousands of dollars, and the value is staggering. Mannie Berk, whose Rare Wine Co. in Sonoma carries many old Champagnes, agrees, particularly in regard to the most famous têtes de cuvée. I bought all the 1996s that I could, Mannie reported. They are a great value. Defining Value in Champagne Value might seem like an odd word to describe a $150 wine, yet I considered what the two men had said: If the têtes de cuvée were truly profound, were they not only a value in investment terms but also in their capacity to uplift and console? And furthermore, could they do that much more than nonvintage Champagne? I decided to taste and compare. I began collecting wines, both têtes de cuvée and nonvintage Champagnes. When I d amassed a fair number of bottles, I called my friends both wine professionals and passionate amateurs and asked if they wanted to assist in my mission. The collective response was near instantaneous: Yes, of course. I love Champagne. No one asked for names or vintages, as they surely would have had I been tasting Bordeaux or Burgundy. One did have a specific request, though. I want Krug, said one friend, a former four-star chef. But everyone else petitioned to taste everything. My first tasting was fairly informal; I d been invited to visit some friends in the Hamptons. Although they themselves are wine pros, their other guests were merely avid Champagne drinkers. Yet no one present, including a morning-television star (whom I assumed could well afford têtes de cuvée), drank what they called fancy Champagne. They were just too expensive, the TV star said. I d brought prestige and nonvintage cuvées from Taittinger, the grande marque Champagne house, as well as Pierre Peters, a small grower in the Côtes des Blancs region of Champagne. Both turn out great Chardonnay-based Champagnes, albeit on a much different scale. (Peters s output is about 13,300 cases, while Taittinger makes about 25 times as much.) I poured the têtes de cuvée and nonvintages from both producers. There was some initial skepticism about the Peters: Who, or what, is Peters? several dinner guests wondered, though their skepticism disappeared when they tasted the wines. The Pierre Peters nonvintage Blanc de Blancs ($60) was roundly admired for its purity and finesse, while the prestige cuvée, the 1999 Pierre Peters Cuvée Spéciale Blanc de Blancs Brut ($100), was deemed equally fine, with more richness and depth and a wonderfully floral aroma. Both were quite good, we concluded, though the prestige cuvée had the edge. These bottles are turned a half-quater every day to help the yeast settle in the neck. This makes it easier to remove the yeast. The choice between the three Taittingers My next tasting, with a group of selfproclaimed was much easier, as it turned out. The basic Champagne addicts, yielded nonvintage ($45) was sweet and a bit coarse, more mixed results. Overall, it was better while one of the two têtes de cuvée, the news for nonvintage drinkers than buyers of 1998 Comtes de Champagne Blanc de têtes de cuvée, though several producers, Blancs ($220), was enticingly bright and such as Pol Roger and Jean Milan, made pure. The other tête de cuvée, the 2003 great wines in both categories. Comtes de Champagne Rosé ($350), was truly seductive, a beautiful, albeit rather Pol Roger, a small, consistently high-quality low-acid, example. Champagne house based in Épernay, Top Ten Affordable Champagnes Reasonably-priced Champagnes can be terrific. Here are 10 of the best POL ROGER BRUT RÉSERVE AYALA BRUT MAJEUR Did you know? Champagne is made from both red and green skinned grapes. It is the skin that determines the color of the wine, which is why the grapes are peeled prior to production. Chardonnay Grapes Pinot Meunier Grapes Pinot Noir Grapes BOLLINGER SPECIAL CUVÉE MARC HÉBRART CUVÉE DE RÉSERVE BRUT CHARLES HEIDSIECK BRUT RÉSERVE GOSSET GRANDE RÉSERVE BRUT GUY LARMANDIER VERTUS BRUT PREMIER CRU PHILIPPONNANT BRUT ROYALE RÉSERVE JEAN MILAN CARTE BLANCHE BRUT ALFRED GRATIEN BRUT CLASSIQUE 0 $10 $20 $30 $40 $50 $60 $70 $80 6 Discover Magazine 7

4 makes not only a reasonably priced, cheap way to find true love. The nonvintage My final tasting, this time with my friends gorgeously balanced nonvintage wine ($35) but also an impressive prestige bottling, Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill ($185). The 1998 release was particularly rich and version proved a pale imitation in both taste and appearance. Surprises Charles and Kareem Massoud, the fatherand-son winemaking team at Long Island, New York s Paumanok Vineyards, ended on an appropriately emotional note. The family Exportation of French Champagne Sales to top 8 Principal Export Markets in Millions of Bottles complex, with a nutty, biscuity character, My next several tastings went much the had invited some people to dinner, and I d and it was a steal compared to some of the same way: enormous initial excitement offered to bring Champagne. Like everyone têtes de cuvée I tasted later that cost twice ( Champagne! ) followed by distinct deflation else, the Massouds did not drink prestige as much. (The bottle, however, is decidedly or tremendous surprise. How could that cuvées very often, but they professed nonshowy; in fact, it s a bit dreary, draped in tête de cuvée be so ordinary? my friends excitement at the prospect. black to honor the late, great British prime wondered. Or, How could a nonvintage minister. I m guessing it s not a big seller Champagne from an unknown like Alfred I decided to bring the nonvintage Louis in Russia.) Gratien be so good? Roederer Brut Premier ($47) and the 2002 Louis Roederer Cristal ($289), along with a On the other hand, the 2002 Perrier-Jouët Over and over, I was struck by the extremes few other Champagnes. I served both the Rosé Fleur de Champagne ($300) was a of emotion that Champagne incited in Roederers blind and, though I didn t give thrill both to taste and to behold (the bottle people. The lows were much lower, and my friends the name of the producer, I told is famously festooned with enameled the highs were higher, when something them one was a nonvintage and the other garlands of flowers). It was amazingly turned out to disappoint or to wow (like was a prestige cuvée. I m not good at this, lush perhaps not profound, but flat-out the $ Champagne Salon prestige Charles protested, though he identified the delicious. Or, as one of my friends (a wine cuvée or the $55 nonvintage Philipponnat prestige wine straightaway: This one has professional) declared, I could absolutely Brut Royale Réserve). Perhaps this is why a more doughy, yeasty character, he said be seduced by this wine. In fact, I could fall Champagne is a wine of emotion rather of the Cristal. Kareem preferred the high- in love with someone who brought me this than reason (unlike, say Bordeaux); it s love toned aromas of the nonvintage wine and wine, she added. And I d say $300 is a and not intellect. found it to be more complex as, in fact, The Champagne Making Process The Champagne-making process is an intricate handson method, carefully developed and cultivated over hundreds of years. First Fermentation. After the grapes are pressed, they are stored in stainless steel vats though occasionally this is done in oak barrels to undergo the first fermentation. This process yields a still wine months Second Fermentation. Once the blend is complete, it is bottled, and a mixture of sugar and yeast, known as the liqueur de tirage, is added. The bottle is closed with a crown cap and laid down, horizontally, in a cool, dark cellar. The minimum amount of time the wine ages is 15 months for non-vintage and three years for vintage, but most Champagne is aged for longer than these minimal rules stipulate. Varied 2 months 8 weeks by hand 8 days by machine Harvest. The Champagne-making process begins with the vines. Only Blending. After the first fermentation is complete, Riddling. After aging, the yeast deposit remaining three varieties of grapes are used the still wine is blended by the cellar master with from the second fermentation is encouraged in the production of Champagne: various other base wines. This produces a blend that down the neck of the inverted bottle through a Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and will match the house style, and can include as many series of quarter or half-quarter turns, during Chardonnay. During the harvest, as 70 different base wines each adding a distinct which the bottle moves from a horizontal position grapes are carefully picked by hand quality to the blend. For non-vintage Champagne, a to an inverted one. This process, called riddling, and sorted to remove any damaged certain amount of reserve wine (wine set aside from takes an average of eight weeks by hand, or eight fruit. As quickly as possible, the previous harvests) is added as well. It is this carefullymanaged task that lends a consistent character to each days by machine. grapes are then pressed in large, low presses. Champagne house. 8 9 Discover Magazine 15 months Disgorgement and Dosage. Once settled, the sediment is removed by immersing the Champagne bottleneck in an ice-cold brine that freezes the residue into a small ice block. It is then removed from the bottle, either by hand or automatically. Then, a small amount of sugar dissolved in wine is added before the final cork is inserted in the bottle. This solution contains a specific measure of sugar that will define the sweetness of the wine. 2-3 months

the wines that didn t quite accomplish that had at least brought me together with this season in liberal quantities, if sharing with friends.

5 Never feel intimdated by your provider s expansive selection. Experiement, branch out, but most of all, enjoy it. did most of my friends. When I revealed the identities of both bottles, everyone laughed. the wines that didn t quite accomplish that had at least brought me together with this season in liberal quantities, if sharing with friends. Ten Top Prestige Cuvées These bottles often represent the best of the best in Champagne. Têtes de cuvée come in a variety of styles, and in vintage as well as nonvintage bottlings. The nonvintage showed beautifully (big and rich, with great length) and the other, well, my friends GASTON CHIQUET SPECIAL CLUB $75 even if it wasn t as great as it should have been (soft and a bit sweet), all agreed it was a privilege just to taste Cristal. It was like Thomas Paine, by the way, was not only a successful political writer (his pamphlet Common Sense was the most popular 2002 JEAN MILAN SÉLECTION TERRES DE NOËL BRUT $ PIERRE PETERS CUVÉE SPÉCIALE BRUT $100 someone offering to drive me around in a Maserati, Charles exclaimed. Mission: Accomplished If there was a lesson to be learned, some 70 wines later, it was that there are great piece of writing in America in 1776, or as one source rather oddly described it, as popular as the Super Bowl is today ), he was also a wine drinker. Indeed, Paine was known for his love of the fortified wine Madeira, which he was said to have 1996 DUVAL-LEROY CUVÉE FEMME $ VILMART ET CIE COEUR DE CUVÉE BRUT $ CHARLES HEIDSIECK BLANC DES MILLÉNAIRES $ POL ROGER CUVÉE SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL $185 bargains among nonvintage Champagnes, as well as truly profound têtes de cuvéesome famous, some not, all offering some ingested in liberal quantities while working on his treatise Rights of Man. And so, in the spirit of Paine, if not precisely with the 2002 PERRIER-JOUËT ROSÉ FLEUR DE CHAMPAGNE $ DOM PÉRIGNON OENOTHÈQUE $450 form of vinous transcendence. And even 10 Discover Magazine same beverage, I ll be drinking Champagne Sources: Center for Wine Origins Champagne s Consolation Top Ten Prestige Cuvees CHAMPAGNE SALON $500 Champagne Statistics, Top Ten Affordable 11

Introduction to the Practical Exam Stage 1. Presented by Amy Christine MW, DC Flynt MW, Adam Lapierre MW, Peter Marks MW

Introduction to the Practical Exam Stage 1 Presented by Amy Christine MW, DC Flynt MW, Adam Lapierre MW, Peter Marks MW 2 Agenda Exam Structure How MW Practical Differs from Other Exams What You Must Know