Buying the tiny bubbles can be hugely confusing.
Cynthia from Cravings, who taught the champagne and cheese pairing class at Murray's Cheese, shared these five tips to help us boost our champagne confidence:
• Forget the flute: While flutes are best for taking sips at parties, Cynthia encourages the curious to taste champagne in a white wine glass. "When I am assessing a champagne at home I prefer to drink it out of a white wine glass. I can appreciate the aromas and taste better this way. There is more room to swirl the wine, and the whole tasting experience is altered."
• Go vintage: Champagne isn't produced in vintages every year. They wait for the very best. Cynthia says the greatest recent vintage years were 1990 and 1996. Before that, it was 1988, 1982 and 1979.
Cynthia served me my first glass of vintage champagne: a 1996 Jacquesson Grand Cru Avize ($59.29 at wittyswine.com). She calls it a "great value" since "it's from the best vintage since 1990, from a top producer." I call it a prefect treat for the hard-working holiday cook. Ask for this bottle, or ask a salesperson in a good wine shop for some help picking a vintage bottle.
• Keep an eye on the store: When your planning to spring for great champagne, Cynthia says it pays to visit the experts. Smaller shops likely do not have the proper facilities to store champagne properly. For New York City champagne shoppers, Cynthia recommends Astor Wines & Spirits and Columbus Circle Liquor.
• Dare to pair: While champagne is usually served solo before or after a meal, Cynthia says champagne pairings can be very successful. "Champagne is really so versatile since you can serve it as aperitif all the way to dessert," Cynthia says. Champagne is a good match for Asian food and ross go well with chicken or lamb. Cynthia said some vintage champagnes can even be paired with meat dishes.
• Think terroir: When you buy champagne, you're buying in to terroir. What is terroir? Terroir is a French word, borrowed in English to suggest that the flavors of a wine, coffee, cheese or other food depend on precisely where they are grown and produced, giving the food a "sense of place" or even a "personality." While some experts argue about the distinction between sparkling wines produced in the famed Champagne region v.s. those made in other spots, certainly the location where a food comes from has some role in its taste. Terroir adds to the romance of this treat. Enjoy!
(updated from 11.29.06)
1998 is also a vintage year, and will probably be easier to find than 1996.
However sticking with a Brut NV, is generally a truly reliable and less expensive route.
Regarding daring to pair, I personally think champagne goes with just about everything, from hors d'oeuvres to dessert to popcorn with a favorite movie.
And if you really want to take a less expensive route, go Spanish. They call their sparkling wine cava, and they're generally quite affordable. Freixenet, for example, makes a brut and an extra dry that are quite good and can usually be had for less than ten bucks.
That said, I've been to champagne tastings and can attest that higher end champagnes and champagne method wines [the excruciatingly correct term for anything not from the champagne region] are sublime, almost velvety compared to lesser bottles.
But THAT said, any decent bubbly just makes you feel festive when you drink it. One night my wife and I were in one of our favorite dive bars listening to one of our favorite blues bands and rather than order cocktails, we got a bottle of champagne. The bartender placed our bottle in an ice bucket on the bar, draped in a towel. The looks and sighs and even comments of admiration and envy showed how sparkling wines can elevate a moment.
I've been enjoying mimosas lately and popped open a bottle of "de monterat" the other day. I have no idea where I got it, but it was great. Maybe Trader Joe's or as a gift? Trader Joe's told me they don't carry it and I haven't had any luck finding it at any stores or even any references to it online. Any ideas where to buy it again?
One of ym good friends is a native of Antibes, and is very particular about what he will drink. During a cooking demo, the wine store (linked in my name) brought out a bottle of "champagne" to pair with the food my friend was making.
The champagne-like beverage is made in Santa Fe, NM, from french grapes bu a frenchman, and tastes like a high quality french champagne. It's also available for under $20, if I recall correctly.
It's avilable at the store linked in my name, but I cannot, for the life of me, recall the wine's name. If you're dying to know, give them a call. It's a worthy bottle for a reasonable price.
Rachel: You are looking for Gruet, it's a wonderful New Mexican winery, although I believe the grapes are grown in New Mexico. I wrote a post on it last year, click my name and it will link to the post.
I often serve the Gruet Blanc de Noirs at my sparkling tastings, and have taught it my class, too! A good choice. The only winery from New Mexico that is widely available on the market.
Go vintage if you rarely get to taste it and you want to splurge!NV (non-vintage) wines are more widely available and less costly, like JD said. You can get a good bottle starting at around $35.
By the way, the 96 Jacquesson Grand Cru Avize is a great example of a terroir wine. All the grapes come from three parcels in the Grand Cru village of Avize.