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champagnes are non-vintage. Vintage: when grapes from one particular year, usually because of its outstanding quality of fruit, are used to make the wine. These normally come at a much higher price and the vintage will appear on the label. Levels of sugar added to champagne from driest to sweetest: Brut Nature or No dosage (no sugar, very dry), Extra Brut, Brut, Extra Sec, Sec, Demi-Sec, Doux meaning sweet. There is also a fairly new category of champagnes called “grower champagne.” It is equivalent to “estate wine” – wine that comes from the grapes of the vineyards owned by the winery which makes it. Historically, big champagne houses purchase the grapes from vineyard owners from all over the region, monopolizing the industry. A few decades ago, some ambitious vineyard owners decide to challenge big champagne labels by launching their own bottling operations using grapes from their own land. You’ll recognize that category by locating the letters RM (short for Recoltant Manipulant) somewhere on the label. This category often offers slightly less expensive wines that embody more ter-
roir-driven style reflecting their distinct macro-climate characteristics and wine making techniques. The largest commercially produced bottle of champagne is 15 liters of wine (20 bottles). It’s called a Nebuchadnezzar. Wine in general has been firmly embedded in the evolution of human civilizations playing a crucial part in our culture – both arts and sciences. Champagne’s notoriety in particular has been unmatched. From its “devilish” accidental birth and its turbulent, shaping years of adolescence guided by the historic, dynamic personalities like Dom Perignon and Madame Veuve Clicquot, its presence at the courts of despotic Tzars, all the way through Marilyn Monroe’s champagne filled baths and Jay-Z’s Cristal-infused rapper orgies. Let’s not forget though that aside from all the glitter, foam, and “blinking’ controversy, champagne at its best can be a sensually riveting experience offering a plethora of styles and wide range of flavors. In its youth, it offers bright and invigorating aromas enhanced by its magically tingling effervescence. With age, especially in older vintage champagnes when the bubbles dissipate and
the flavors develop rich, decadent notes, champagne drinks more like a still wine. Once I enjoyed a 55-year-old bottle of Bollinger and it was epic. So whatever the occasion, whether outrageously bombastic or poetically intimate, enjoy your champagne with reverence and thoughtfulness because a lot labor has been invested in each bottle. Author’s favorite sparklers for the holidays: Vintage Champagne: Bollinger RD (recently disgorged), Philipponnat Clos des Goisses Rosé Champagne: Billecart-Salmon Brut Rosé, Krug Rosé Brut Grower Champagne: Ulysse Collin “Les Perrières” Blanc de Blancs, Val Frison “Goustan” Blanc de Noirs Non Champagne/Méthode Champenoise: Raventos I Blanc Cava Spain, Roederer Estate L’Ermitage (vintage) Anderson Valley California, Schramsberg Blanc de Blancs (vintage), Antech-Limoux Crémant de Limoux Cuvée Eugénie France (vintage), Domaine Longlois-Château Crémant de Loire France
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