Tag Archives: Champagne

Sweet and bubbly: The chocolate and Champagne lover’s Valentine’s wine guide

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The e-mail message from Natalie MacLean pointed me to her book Red, White and Drunk All Over in case I was planning to offer some Valentine’s Day tips about matching wine with chocolate.

Of course, there is that. And we’ll get to it in a bit.

But my Valentine’s takeaway from her book comes from the part where she describes her travels in the region of France that conceived and produces that quintessentially amorous variety of wine, Champagne.

Specifically, I mean MacLean’s quote of Louis XV mistress Madame de Pompadour, who discerned that Champagne is “the only wine that leaves a woman more beautiful after drinking it.” (Let’s forgive Jeanne Antoinette’s indiscretion in helping to spark the Seven Years’ War, huh?)

And what man hasn’t felt a little James Bondish with a flute of Bollinger (or less costly bubbly)?

MacLean describes the sensation this way:

Champagne may be a celebratory drink, but it’s also an intimate ritual that transports you into a private world. There’s an adagio of the senses: the sweating cold bottle, the glinting stemware, the frothy pour, the small wrist action of raising the glass, the ocean-spritz on your face, the mouth filling flavor.

In other words, Valentine’s Day without Champagne is like the Fourth of July without the fireworks.

Speaking of Bollinger, Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg at The Washington Post suggest paring a bottle of N.V. Champagne Bollinger Special Cuvee Brut ($55) with shrimp cocktail as a starter for Valentine’s dinner. As they explain, with their own notable quotable:

We feel about Bollinger, actually, the way Lily Bollinger felt about champagne in general. As she famously said in 1961: ‘I drink it when I’m happy and when I’m sad. Sometimes I drink it when I’m alone. When I have company, I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I’m not hungry and drink it when I am. Otherwise I never touch it, unless I’m thirsty.’

They cite a few other bubbly favorites, in addition to several non-sparkling wines for other phases of the meal.

At Wine Spectator Online, Laurie Woolever serves up four more sparkling selections, ranging from a Gruet Brut New Mexico NV ($14) to a Mailly Brut Rosé Champagne NV ($48). She throws in her own meal paring suggestions, including:

Roses, jewelry, chocolates—there are some occasions when it makes sense to stick with the classics, and Valentine’s Day is surely one of those times. If you’re taking the date-night dinner into your own hands, you can’t go wrong with a classic surf and turf, with some simple accompaniments and well-chosen white and red wines alongside.

And speaking of chocolate, here are MacLean’s top 10 wine/chocolate matchings for when you get around to dessert (her online matching tool supplies additional suggestions for you and your sweetie):

  1. Dark Chocolate and Banyuls, France
  2. Chocolate-Covered Biscotti and Recioto Della Valpolicella, Italy
  3. Chocolate-Orange Cake and Liqueur Muscat, Australia
  4. Chocolate with Nuts and Tawny Port, Portugal
  5. Milk Chocolate and Tokaji, Hungary
  6. Bittersweet Chocolate and Amarone, Italy
  7. Chocolate-Dipped Fruit and Icewine, Canada
  8. Chocolate Ganache Truffles and Sauternes, France
  9. Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake and Framboise, California
  10. Chocolate Hearts with Cream Filling and Cream Sherry, Spain

The Web’s latest wine buzz: Favorite bubblies, Zins and Oregon alternatives

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Tune in to what top wine bloggers and experts are decanting into cyberspace with handpicked highlights of their latest and greatest. This week’s episode brings us everything from favorite bubblies and alternative Oregonians to lovely Zins and expert wedding wine advice.

The New Year’s festivities may be over, but the party ain’t — not by a long shot — if you follow the directions of Food & Wine‘s senior wine editor Ray Isle, who serves up his picks for best rosé Champagnes and sparkling wines.

Strike anyone else as odd that we tend to reserve these wines for “special occassions”? Hey, not to get to touchy-feely about it, but any time can be a “special occasion” — depending on what you’re drinking, and who you’re with.

Granted some of Isle’s Champagnes can be a little pricey ($43-$175), but you can still get bubbly on a budget with his sparkling selections, including a personal low-cost favorite: Freixenet Brut de Noirs NV ($10). Pop that cork!

Speaking of New Year’s, Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg came up with a fine resolution: “… devoting more time and space to the questions you ask us about wine and about what to eat with the wines you drink.”

And they kick off the year with a wine Q&A that, among other things, tries to answer that age old question about what “fairly inexpensive (around $10 or under) smooth red wine and a crisp — not too oaky or buttery — white wine to serve” at a wedding.

They provide some characteristically sage advice, but I’m personally leaning toward that Freixenet above … at least for the honeymoon.

Zin lovers, this is for you.

Wine Spectator‘s Tim Fish review the 2005s, and finds that year to be “one of the best vintages in ages.”

A long, cool growing season produced wines that are generally well-structured, not overly ripe and have gentle tannins built for short-term aging.

Fish cites his favorites among 16 wines in two blind flights.

Catching up on Eric Asimov is always a treat, like, for example, this nice read on an alternative Oregon wine:

European wine prices, already creeping higher, are likely to shoot up in the next couple of months. Inexpensive California wines are not hard to find, but they are rarely good buys. What is the value hunter to do?

May I suggest an excellent alternative? Pinot gris, from Oregon.

Oregon pinot gris is one of the least-talked-about, best-value wines on the market today. Certainly you won’t hear much about it from Oregon wine producers, who don’t want to talk about anything but their precious pinot noir, which they can sell for much more money and which brings much more luster.

But don’t think Asimov has by any means given up on those Europeans.

Far from it, he celebrates a batch of “extraordinary” Barolos. In fact: “It was the best gathering of Barolos that I’ve ever been a part of, and I was humbled to have the opportunity to taste the old wines.”

He names names. (Think of all the money you saved on the Freixenet — here’s your chance to put it to good use!)

Consumers are smartening up and getting more kicks from champagne bargains

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“I get no kick from champagne.
Mere alcohol doesn’t thrill me at all,
So tell me why should it be true
That I get a kick out of you”
— Cole Porter

With all due respect, Cole, an increasing number of us do indeed get a kick from champagne. Or for that matter, from sparkling wines in general.

Particularly around that time of year when the confetti starts flying, the noise makers start making noise and New York’s Times Square holds its collective breath for the New Year’s ball to drop.

As this recent USA TODAY article proclaims: “Bubbles are back.”

Not since the buying frenzy of 1999, when people bought champagne in bulk to ring in the millennium, have U.S. champagne and sparkling wine sales been so high. Volume for 2007 is expected to hit 900 million glasses, up 4% over 2006, says the 2007 Impact Annual Wine Study.

Among the things driving the rise in sales is heightened consumer education about price, flavors and food pairings, according to the article.

So I thought I’d do my pre-holiday bit and bubble up a little know-how that could come in handy as you consider what sparkling wine to select.

A good place to start is this tempting list of bubblies — “from bone-dry and austere to very fruity to sweet” — brought to us by the San Francisco Chronicle. (Affordability alert: This NV Roederer Estate Anderson Valley Brut, from one of California’s several French-owned sparkling wine producers, rings up at only $23 but earned three stars.)

Speaking of affordability (or at least, relative affordability), Mike Steinberger at Slate reviews non-vintage champagne offerings, which unlike their vintage cousins are typically blended from wines from different years. Steinberger also cites the Roederer Estate Anderson Valley Brut, calling it “arguably the best-value bubbly on the market.”

At Food & Wine, Ray Isle continues the non-vintage thread with five of his favorites to look for this holiday season.

If you really can’t get enough of the stuff, Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg at The Washington Post offer some decadently tantalizing instructions on how to have A Sparkling Toast for Every Course.

Concluding our educational focus:

Happy New Year!

‘Turkey wine’ and other Thanksgiving wine bargains to the rescue

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Good news and bad news about Thanksgiving.

The good news: such a wide variety of delicious things to eat. 

The bad: such a wide variety of delicious things to eat — which can make pairing the right wine enough to give you mental indigestion.

But don’t despair.

Wine tasters around the nation are graciously coming to the rescue (tough work, but somebody’s got to do it).

Like white?

If you’re thinking of going with a white, for example, an eclectic  cast of tasters in Nashville — including reps of wine distributors, a wine collector, a sommelier and food columnist — came up with a tasty bunch of recommendations while chowing down with turkey, dressing, gravy and cranberry sauce to assure mouth-watering harmony.

Some of their selections fit nicely within the Wine News Review fairly frugal affordability index, or at least the holiday version of it.

Among their selections, Gewürztraminer, aka “turkey wine” because it goes so well with the main dish. One stood out:

2006 Covey Run ($8.99) — serves up a “delightful aroma of cooked cling peaches, white pepper and floral notes.” It was the tasters’ favorite: “The wine withstood competing tastes and was not as sweet as the others.”

Second was a 2006 Columbia Winery Cellarmaster’s Riesling ($13.99) — tasters agreed that its “fruit and perfume ‘rocked’ with the multi-flavored meal.”

Versatile Pinot

Stacy Slinkard, wine guide at About.com, offers a list of 10 Thanksgiving wine suggestions, nine of which are $10 or under.

Her number one recommendation is a California Kendall Jackson Vintner’s Reserve Chardonnay 2005, ($10), finding it a “delicious compilation of fruit and smoke, full-bodied and balanced.”

She also cites a few reds, including another Californian, a Rex Goliath Pinot Noir, ($9), which she finds supple and versatile enough “to go with everything from hors d’oeuvres to the main dish.”

To start off the festivities with some bubbly cheer, she suggests a Korbel Champagne Brut ($10), “a champagne stand by that is perfect for party goers.”

Don’t worry, be happy

While acknowledging the banquet-sized range of flavors to be found on a Thanksgiving table, Peter M. Gianotti at Long Island’s Newsday, takes a don’t-worry-be-happy approach: ” … drink what you like, whether it’s apple cider, brown ale or bourbon.”

But if wine is your Thanksgiving drink of choice, he recommends a diverse collection of whites and reds, including a nicely priced, “berry-driven” 2006 Kendall-Jackson Vintner’s Reserve Pinot Noir ($14).

Speaking of nicely priced, he suggests a couple Italian Proseccos for the celebratory sparkling wine selection: La Vendemmia ($10), Lunetta ($13).

Of course, there are many other wine tasters standing graciously by to take the wine anxiety out of Thanksgiving. Stay tuned to Wine News Review in coming days for more of their suggestions.

Tip: Print out this list, and for that matter the lists from the links above, when you head to your local wine shop. If none is available, ask the salesperson to recommend something similar, and similarly priced.