Break Out the Bubbly

by Julian Schultz
julian@oxfordwineroom.com

      Four festive holidays are a’comin’, ebullient good cheer will be a’hummin’, so break out the bubbly for Thanksgiving, Hanukah, Christmas and New Year’s.

  Holiday celebrations demand the beading, creamy, frothing, foaming, dancing sparklers. Move over you inert table wines! Our palates eagerly await the zesty, prickly effervescence of…..La Belle France’s CHAMPAGNE! (In France it’s Champagne from the Champagne region. In other countries the bubbly is sparkling wine.)

 Over the past 20 years, three times have I written an update of this column. To some readers, the column may ring familiar. If so, a review won’t hurt. Others reading it for the first time should enjoy an insight into the mystique of sparkling wine that engenders so much levity.

 The world’s sexiest wine is champagne. Champagne connoisseurs say it goes to your head, some argue to your legs, others insist it does wonders for everything in between.

 Champagne is a wine for all reasons. It livens office parties, holiday dinner tables and New Year’s Eve celebrations. We break out the bubbly on these occasions more than at any other times.

 Champagne is the wine of conviviality, wit and rejoicing. It casts an aura of romance and naughtiness. It is the symbol of high-spirited partying. Did you ever attend a party that was dull when champagne flowed? 

We pour it at college graduations, engagements, marriages, anniversaries, christenings and even divorces. For most of us, champagne connotes a good time, forbidden frolics, gay abandon, carefree dancing while the flood waters rise. Madam Pompadour said champagne is the only wine that leaves a woman more beautiful and desirable after drinking it.

 Some women have bathed in it; others have drunk it from a slipper. Mae West purportedly said that champagne makes the eyes seductive and swells the bosom. Aside from the sparkle of mischievousness and the roguish gleam champagne supposedly puts in the eye -- purely and simply, it tastes good. It is delightfully refreshing and rarely is a mismatch with food.

For many wine drinkers it is best when sipped as a relaxing aperitif. It always is good at receptions with hors d’oeuvres. It refreshes the palate between food courses. It satisfies as a light moderating dessert.

 With dinner, however, I don’t enjoy champagne. My taste buds protest that rich or strongly spiced dishes obliterate its light body and subtle, delicate flavors: The champagne usually up with a sour taste. Neither do I find champagne contributes to the flavor of food. There is some disagreement with my opinion, I know. 

Dry champagnes are labeled “natural” or “brut.” The natural has no discernible sweetness --- 0 to ½ percent. Brut has very little sweetness – perhaps ½ to 1½. Brut champagne of different shippers will vary in sweetness within that range, which is why some bruts taste sweeter than others. Learn the differences by trial and error or ask someone knowledgeable. Champagne with about 3 percent sweetness is labeled “dry,” which, yes, means…sweet! Enjoy it with a fruit based dessert. Even sweeter champagnes (“doux”) lack elegance and really aren’t worth attention. 

The fact that champagne labeled “dry” is not dry, blame it on English wine dilettantes about 150 years ago who, although preferring their champagne sweet, wished to emulate wine sophisticates who were drinking their wine dry. They insisted their champagne likewise be made dry. 

The astute merchants, knowing their customers’ characters and tastes, continued to make the fizzy wine sweet but identified it as dry.” The wine dabblers were satisfied. They had it both ways: Their champagne tasted sweet and was labeled “dry.” 

It followed that the wine intelligentsia renamed their wine “brut.” Later, when the champagne ignoramuses caught up with brut, the connoisseurs’ wine was made drier and was designated “natural.” 

I find drinking champagne with entrées to be a problem. It is tolerable with cold chicken or turkey, or with a light meal such as smoked salmon, pasta salad, sweet fish, berries and cream. Some do prefer it with spicy foods…such as Chinese, Mexican, Indian, Thai or Japanese dishes. They say the effervescence cleanses the taste buds and retards taste fatigue caused by the spicy cuisine, although not necessarily contributing to the dishes’ flavors.

  There are sparkling wines, incorrectly called champagne, and true Champagne. Be aware of the difference when you are buying for home consumption or when ordering at a restaurant.

            Pinot Noir, chardonnay and pinot meunier are the only authorized grapes for Champagne. They are grown in the Champagne district that is in north central France, about 90 miles from Paris. Only Champagnes from Champagne can be called by that name. Bubblies from other areas and countries are properly called “sparkling wines.” When America chooses to call its sparkling wine champagne, it must include the state of origin on the label, e.g., “Champagne of California.” With the exception of some magnificent California and our own Westport Rivers of Massachusetts sparkling wines, no other country even comes close to France in champagne grandeur.

              Champagne from Champagne is made by the superior and costly methode champenoise process, which means the wine is “fermented in this bottle.” The wine’s pinpoint sparkle from the second fermentation and its cleansing of dead yeast cells are accomplished without the wine’s ever leaving the bottle until decorked.

           Tiny bubbles – referred to as beads – rise majestically up the glass in a steady stream to a creamy foam when champagne is made by methode champenoise. Usually a tenacious collar of fine fizz remains around the edge.

  “Fermented in the bottle” on the label indicates the wine was transferred from the original bottle into a large tank under pressure for clarifying and was returned to a different bottle to complete the second fermentation. This is known as the transfer method; the wine loses some of its quality, sparkle and subtlety. It may be an excellent product, nonetheless, and is less expensive than if it were made by methode champenoise. 

A third method is called the Charmat method or bulk process and is used to make lower quality, lower priced wines. I find many of them thin, acidic and lacking character, and I drink them only when all escape routes are closed. Cook’s and Tott’s are among the exceptions and are quite good. 

Charmat method sparkling wine is clarified and second-fermented entirely in sealed, pressurized tanks before it is bottled. There is no second fermentation in a bottle.

  My early experience with Charmat wines was so distasteful that for years I shunned champagne. For comparatively little more money you can buy superior sparkling wines made in the United States and in foreign countries by the other two methods. 

With the holidays ahead – expense of gift giving and other niceties – you’ll want to save money. So…save that hard-earned green stuff and selected champagne from among many classy California methode champenoise sparklers. I’ve enjoyed Scharffenberger, Domaine Chandon and Firestone, and the not easily forgotten world class, delightful Massachusetts’ Westport Rivers stupendous Brut.

  Comparatively reasonably priced wines from Spain are Codorniu Brut de Noir, Freixenet Cordon Negro, Paul Cheneau Brut Blanc de Blancs and Segura Viudas Brut. They are above average quality and represent excellent value. 

Although the great classic French champagnes are expensive, some that always receive rave reviews are reasonably priced – for French bubbly, that is. Seek these out: Billecart-Salmon Brut, Bollinger Brut Special Cuvée, Veuve Clicquot Brut, Pol Roger Brut, Perrier-Jouet Grand Brut and Taittinger Brut La Francais. If you’ve got big bucks, an unlimited expense account or an affluent angel in your life, you will sip bliss with Roederer Cristal, Krug Brut, Bollinger Vieilles Vignes Blanc de Noirs, Dom Perignon and A. Salon Le Mesnil Blanc de Blancs. Don’t faint if you see substantial three figures before the decimal.

 Eager to try champagne now? First let’s discuss how to remove the cork properly from the highly pressurized wine to prevent broken lights, sprayed ceiling or visits to the ophthalmologist.

 It is estimated that a flying cork rockets from the bottle at more than 60 mph. The Guinness Book of Records reports that the world’s distance record for cork popping was a blast of 94 feet 6½ inches. So always point the bottle away from people you like; for Bin Laden directly at his diseased head.

 Place a napkin or towel over the bottle to prevent unplanned cork departures. Unwind and remove the wire hood. Grasp the cork (still covered with a napkin) in one hand and the bottle in the other. Tilt the bottle away from you and others at a 45-degree angle, and while holding it close to your body, twist the bottle – not the cork. Keep a firm grip on the cork with the thumb and let it ease itself out. 

You won’t get a loud popping sound, but neither will you lose bubbles or hose down your friends. Maintain the bottle at the 45-degree angle for about 10 seconds and watch the flume drift out, curling like a genie from the bottle. To turn it up too soon is to invite a geyser of spurting wine and a wet rug. At our house, I am warned to open sparkling wine over the sink, but preferably in the garage (away from her car), and sometimes I am chased into the yard. I get no respect when I am about to uncork the fizzy.

 For festive occasions, serve the best true Champagne or sparkling wine you can afford. Select them from those mentioned above. None will disappoint. 

Italy ships the renowned Asti Spumante, a sweet sparkling wine, made from the aromatic muscat grape, usually by the Charmat process. It is dancing effervescence on the palate and offers a rich, luscious aroma and sensual finish. Martini & Rossi, Gancia, Mirafiore and Cinzano are quality shippers. These sparklers are price friendly.

 It is not possible to list all the brands of available sparkling wines. Your best bet is to seek advice from your favorite wine shop, where the wine may already have been tasted. 

Wide sparkling wine choices and knowledgeable wine managers await wine savvy connoisseurs at Friendly Discount Liquors, Whitinsville (Bill and Patty Giannopoulos); Mass. Liquors on Chandler St, near June, Worcester (Wendy Leo); O’Hara’s Discount Liquors on Boylston St, Worcester (Jim and Mike Vasiliadis).

 There are other fine wine shops that can satisfy your needs, I am sure, but I have bought wines at these shops and can attest to their fair prices and to the expertise of their wine managers.

  When dining out, Jim Nicas sommelier/maitre d’ at the Castle Restaurant in Leicester, and Jay Visnjic Food & Beverage Manager at C.P. Whitney’s restaurant in the Crowne Plaza, are your best resources for help in selecting the appropriate bubbly. Paul Bonetti at Caesar’s Bistro also will please you with recommendations. 

Some champagne is made from 100 percent chardonnay grapes, and the label reads “Blanc de Blancs” (white wine from white grapes). The wine is crisp, light, delicate and fruited and should be drunk young. 

Champagne that is made from pinot noir grapes is full-bodied, usually complex and shows big fruit in bouquet and flavor. The label will read “Blanc de Noirs” (white wine from black grapes). These wines will improve with age.

The popular, medium-bodied champagne is the classic blend of two-thirds pinot noir (a slight amount of pinot meunier may be added) and one-third chardonnay. This style embodies the best attributes of the aforementioned two methods.

 Taste from a bottle of each style side-by-side and enjoy an unforgettable champagne learning experience.

 Is the dinner a special occasion? Is the champagne properly refrigerated? The best way to cool down sparkling wine is to immerse the bottle in an ice bucket filled with ice cubes and water. Within 30 minutes the temperature will be at an ideal 45 degrees. In a refrigerator the wine takes about 90 minutes to chill thoroughly; if not removed after many hours it may become too cold, repressing the froth and masking the wine’s aroma and flavor. 

If the sparkling wine is too warm, be careful. You will release a fountain, and possibly the cork will fly from the bottle before you are prepared. To ensure that the wine at the top of the bottle is chilled, place the bottle upside-down in the ice bucket for about 10 minutes.

  What about glasses? Tall narrow glasses – flute or tulip shaped -- contain and preserve the wine’s bubbles and bouquet at their narrow lips. 

The traditional saucer-shaped coupe glass came into prominence because of France’s queen Marie Antoinette. She decided to drink Champagne from a glass formed in the shape of her own breast, borrowing from a tradition dating back to Helen of Troy when milk was served from containers in the shape of a woman’s breast. The coupe glass isn’t satisfactory; it permits bubbles, froth and aroma to escape too soon because of its wide opening at the lip of the glass. 

Finally, we enjoy the ambience that surrounds champagne. As it flows creaming, sparkling and foaming into the glass, everyone’s mood seems to soar. The hostess brightens, the host sparkles; the demure person to your left is now seductively eager to see your etchings; the guy on your right is surprisingly ribald with obnoxious, uninhibited repartee. 

Ripples of laughter and merriment rise to the twinkling bubbles and clinking glasses around the exuberant table. Dead yesterdays and unborn tomorrows matter not in these moments of levity and cheer. 

So hurry to your favorite wine shop and buy a few bottles to have handy for that sudden dinner party.

Wine Picks: Rutz Cellars Maison Grand Cru Chardonnay 1999, around $27, 100 percent Russian River fruit. Smooth as a baby’s bottom, yet oaked just enough to ensure vanillin/nutty/citrus complexity; commingled with apple and butterscotch; underlaid with nuances of grass and toast. Some tasters detected pineapple and a whiff of smoke. Unanimously accepted by our tasting group as top-drawer quality, standing tall with Burgundy’s best. 

Delicato Shiraz 2000, around $9-$10. Hands down winner as the best Shiraz in the country at the California State Fair Wine Competition. Judged blind against 128 other California Shiraz (and Syrahs), it got a Gold Medal (95 points) and was awarded the “Best Syrah of California” trophy. 

 For my money it is worth at least twice the price. If you like aromas of blackberry pie, sweet/tart pomegranate and soft scent of violets added to flavors of cherry, plum, black pepper and toasty oak, and given added complexity from its blend with merlot and petite sirah, then scoot to your favorite wine shop. Tell them Julian sent you; if unconscionably it isn’t in stock – tell the manager to get with it! And get with it quick!

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julian@oxfordwineroom.com