Apparently, we’ve been drinking champagne All Wrong:
A wine expert has revealed why you shouldn’t drink Champagne out of a flute [glass, not musical instrument — K]. Master Sommelier Olivier Krug, from Krug Champagne, was a guest on the ‘Got Somme’ podcast hosted by Angus O’Loughlin and Carlos Santos, and suggested using ‘proper’ glassware — such as a pinot noir or chardonnay glass — to taste all the elements of the champagne.
Whatever.
I’ve never cared for champagne: too gassy, mostly crap-tasting inferior wine, it’s a triumph of marketing over quality.
“Ah but Kim, you’ve just never tried the really good stuff!”
LOL. I remember once going to a brand promotion party at some mansion in Newport RI and being given a glass (or two) of their “premium” plonk — from memory, it retailed for $420 a bottle, in the 1980s — and thinking that it tasted like inferior fizzy apple juice. I’ve forgotten the brand; Dom Perignon? Moët et Chandon? Taittinger? Bollinger? But it wasn’t Veuve Clicquot, which really does taste like inferior fizzy apple juice.
Frankly, I find that champagne / sparkling wine works best as a component of the brunch staple, Mimosa (or Buck’s Fizz, as the Brits call it), as long as the drink contains much more orange juice than champers.
[Side note: don’t bother using freshly-squeezed OJ in a Mimosa: ordinary pasteurized crap works just fine, in fact Tropicana may be even better fit for purpose than the pricier-than-gold squeezed.]
And if you’re going to mix champagne with anything, you may as well save your money and use Korbel or the like, rather than the aforementioned overpriced Frog Appellation Controlée* stuff.
Okay, I’m just a Bloody Peasant and you’ve bought into the whole Champagne thing: here are a couple of places to get a “best of” list: 18 Best Sparkling Wines to Drink in 2023 and 12 Best Sparkling Wines From All Over the World.
All that said, one of my favorite apéritifs is called a Golden Dream: peach-flavored schnapps and (any) sparkling wine 50-50%, with a tiny drizzle of brandy (poured gently over an inverted teaspoon so as to lie on the surface of the drink). Be warned: drink this lovely stuff in moderation, or extreme shit-facery will soon follow. Cheers.
*For the non-cognoscenti, only sparkling wine produced in France’s Champagne area may be called “champagne”; all others must be labeled as “sparkling wine”, regardless of quality. It’s all part of the marketing.
JHC.
Golden Dream is close to Rocket Fuel, best drunk on the Papegaaiberg at nine on a Sunday morning to get over your Chateau Box babelas. (Sparkling Sauvignon Blanc and Klippies in about the same proportions as Spook en Diesel. “Like drinking sump oil and acetone, only not as posh.”)
Considering that my two ambitions are to tour the Alps in a classic sports car with a traveling companion with an ass of iron and no sense of smell, and to tour the alps in a classic touring car from schloss pension to schloss pension with a traveling companion with soft hands and no sense of outrage, The Papagaiberg and rocket fuel might be a superb libation for the second tour.
Using a flute glass came about to let the sediment drop to the bottom. As for the good stuff? I toured Champagne in the early 90s and tasted lots of Champers. The tastiest Champagnes were from the little vintners, and far more reasonably priced than the stuff from the big houses. Your chances of getting those in Dallas are almost certainly zero.
Hear, hear for mimosas! My wife recently invented the Jackpot Mimosa–equal parts sparkler and ruby red grapefruit juice with 3 maraschino cherries. Get your daily vitamin C with a nice kick at the end.
There are lots of tolerable Spanish and South American cavas out there, suitable for impromptu “champagne” cocktails. Which are tasty for washing down some good homemade Tex-Mex vittles.
Wife 2.0 loves mimosas, and we use the mini OJ bottles from the grocery store mixed with a $7.99 Prosecco from CostCo. (I’m a spicy Bloody Mary guy myself – George’s spicy with some ghost pepper vodka.)
Remember, democracy is only democracy if it comes from the Democracié region of France. Otherwise it’s just sparkling mob rule.
LOL Dave
Wow. Well, I drink whiskey from a coffee mug while sitting in my backyard. I hope that’s acceptable, I’d hate for the dog to have a poor opinion of my drinking style.
I’ve never been able to drink champagne – too much fizz. Can’t stand the stuff. The wife used to get sparkling apple juice for the kids on New Years Eve, I couldn’t tell the difference between that and the real stuff on a blind taste test. Utter crap, all of it.
I’ve never appreciated any sparkling wine, except for a red one from Northern Italy that had hardly any sparkle. The rest of the time, it’s been the $9.99 Costco plonk (price has gone up along with everything else. I hesitate to look at Two Buck Chuck — Is it Three Buck Chuck yet, or are they still able to make their price point? That plonk is great for marinating a brisket if you’re going to put every sauce and condiment in your refrigerator to give it flavor. Just be sure to braise it low and slow after marinating it long after the TV chefs have disowned you, turning away with nausea.
a girlfriend’s nephew referred to the sparkling apple juice as “Fuzzy Apple juice.”
Dom Perignon……
I’m so old I can remember buying the stuff for only slightly into the three-figures.
It’s the Heckler & Koch of champagnes.
John D. MacDonald used to write the Travis McGee series, and he liked the “Black Velvet”, which is a 50/50 mix of champagne and stout.
It always struck me that mixing it with fizzy wine was just a way to waste a perfectly good stout.
I think I have had two bottles of the 1999 Dom Perignon. Once was on New Year’s Eve in 1999 to celebrate Y2K coming and the other was when I proposed shortly there after. At the time I think it was about $100 a bottle.
At breakfast or brunch, I prefer a Scotch Breakfast. Replace the vodka in a Bloody Mary with a peated scotch such as Laiphroig 10yo. mmm mmm good
JQ
These alleged experts have been wrong on many subjects from diet to weather to economics to healthcare that the word expert has lost its value to me. when I hear the word “expert” now, my first thought is that the person is an over educated imbecile.
JQ
So true – an expert is someone more than 50 miles from home, so those who really know him can’t out him for what an opinionated dumbass he usually is.
An expert is someone who used to be a pert.
I happen to like Champaign or sparkling wine. If you don’t like it, that’s okay. It leaves more for me.
But I’ll repeat what I’ve always said: “Free American citizens are allowed different tastes than you or I.”
“More than fifty miles from home on an expense account with a Curriculum Vitae instead of a mere Resume”
I like that thought.
As far as all these experts are concerned, unless they are teaching how to develop one’s palate, I’m not interested in hearing much of what they have to say. This goes for spirits as well as pretty much anything else where one’s sense of taste is part of the equation (e.g. fine food, cigars, etc.). Help me understand how to develop my own tastes and we’re good. Help me understand what makes a quality ______ and we’re good. I’m even ok with the occasional opinion on what they prefer so long as it is part of their transfer of knowledge not some heavy handed sermon. The expert should help newer people develop their tastes not tell them what they should and should not like. If anything such so-called experts are really nothing more than preening egotists demanding people genuflect at the altar of their expertise. I tend to enjoy denying such people those demands.
Champagne has always been rather meh to me and overrated on a good day. Mimosas that are heavier on the OJ are fine, but if you want fizz with your booze there are certainly better ways to get it. I’d rather a Prosecco than champagne anyway. Then again, I’d rather a rum/Jack and Coke or a Moscow Mule (with a bonus ounce of Amaretto added) than Champagne.
Not a fan of the stuff myself either, but I’ve found Veuve to be…good enough to ring in the New Year at the stroke of midnight. Wife likes it, and I can tolerate one full glass of it so there’s that I guess. I’ve tried Dom (also on Y2K) and got through about 2 or 3 sips and yeah, whatever. I’d rather have a cold Coke Zero if I want something fizzy. Now back to my morning Ardbeg.
If forced to drink a fizzy wine, I much prefer an Asti Spumante over any overpriced frog swill.
Truth be told, the French do, too. I have read that the “Brut” apparently favored so universally in America is NOT the one the French drink, as they tasted the Dry Champagne favored by Americans and declared it to be Brutal. The champagne favored in France is not brut, but at most “extra dry”, which is sweet.
Glad to see someone else who doesn’t “get” champagne. Horribly harsh beverage in my opinion, but always seems to in evidence when the “right” people are engaged in one of their usually useless activities.
And the cheap rotgut varieties are no worse than the spendy cachet brands.
Add Crem de Cassis to Brut Champagne , and it is good. Chambord might work, too, but I can’t keep that in the house long enough to find out.