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A Bevy of Bubbly
- Veuve Clicquot NV: Pear and hazelnut
aromas with a long finish.
- Bollinger NV: A full-bodied champagne
with green apple acidity and earthy richness.
- Dom Pérignon: The heavy-hitter with
robust layers of fruit, toast and oak.
- Roederer Estate: A California sparkler
that has loads of fruit and body.
What SIZE
Champagne?
-
Magnum 150cl equivalent to
2 bottles
-
Jeraboam 300cl equivalent to 4
bottles
-
Methusalem 600cl equivalent to 8
bottles
-
Salmanazar 900cl equivalent to
12 bottles
-
Balthazar 1200cl equivalent to
16 bottles - Wine Spectator
What the Label Means
When it says 'Brut' on the label, it means the
champagne is dry. 'Extra-dry' actually means there's more sugar content, and
is therefore less dry than Brut, and it tends to be more fruity-tasting.
'Ultra Brut' means no sugar has been added at all. 'Sec' means the bubbly is
sweet and 'Demi-sec' indicates an even higher level of sugar. If you're not
sure, go for 'Brut', the classic champagne style.
If there's a year on the label, it means the
champagne is vintage, from a particularly good harvest. 'NV' is non-vintage,
usually a blend and usually indicative of the producer's house style. A
label that says Ros refers to the champagne's natural pinkish hue that comes
from the skins of the Pinot grapes.
A label bearing the words 'Appellation d'Origine
Controlee' (AOC) means the champagne meets all the regulatory standards.
- Singapore
Business Time 28 Dec 2002
Bless the French, not just for giving us
the ultimate holiday wine, champagne, but also for finding a faster way to
get alcohol into the bloodstream. At this time of the year, a few glasses of
champagne can stylishly block out tone-deaf carolling, over-solicitous
Santas and one too many reruns of Miracle on 34th Street.
Champagne was created accidentally in the
late 17th century, when a bottle of wine fermented again inside the corked
bottle, trapping carbon dioxide and producing the bubbly. The French have
been making it ever since. The styles they've developed are based on factors
such as sugar content (from the driest extra, brut, to the sweetest, doux);
grape colour (most are a blend of pinot noir, pinot meunier and chardonnay;
those with chardonnay only are called blanc de blancs, those with just pinot
grapes are blanc de noirs); and whether the wine comes from just one year
(vintage) or is a blend of several years (non-vintage). Vintage champagnes
such as Roederer Cristal, Veuve Clicquot Grande Dame and Dom Pérignon are
usually the producer's premium bottlings, and cost more than $100 a bottle
('tis the season to max out your credit card anyway).
True champagne comes only from the
Champagne region of France; but nearly all other regions of that country,
and many countries around the world, often use the same grapes and
techniques to create "sparkling wines." (Unless, of course,
they're violating the trademark "champagne" that the champagnois
fight fiercely to protect.) And so, Italy makes proseccos and spumantes;
Spain, cavas; German, sekt; and New World producers, sparkling wine.
More than 95% of the 300 million bottles
of champagne produced every year are consumed within a week or two of
buying, while they're still fresh and fruity. But vintage champagne ages
well, acquiring honeyed, nutty aromas. So store champagne as you would still
wine: on its side, in the dark, at about 13C. You can keep it in the fridge
for about a month.
Opening any sparkling wine requires a
special twist, since the pressure inside the bottle is equal to that of the
tires on a city bus. Ensure that the wine is well chilled before opening the
bottle: 20 minutes in ice water works best, but three hours in the fridge
will do, too. Forget those giddy Formula One winners who spray one another
-- shaking the bottle before opening it could take out a few tree ornaments.
Just remove the foil and wire casing from the top, then keep one hand firmly
on the cork while using the other to slowly turn the bottle at its base. The
pressure inside the bottle will push the cork out by itself.
Tall, narrow flute glasses are best for
preserving the 250 million bubbles in each bottle. Those saucer-shaped coupe
glasses (modelled after Marie Antoinette's breasts) allow champagne to go
flat. You can even do away with the glass completely and sip through a straw
from a mini-sparkler, a seven-ounce bottle that several leading producers
now sell.
Champagne is a great aperitif to whet the
appetite -- just the sound of the cork popping gets most people salivating.
But it's also one of the most food-friendly of wines. It partners well with
tough holiday dishes that overwhelm other wines: olives, spicy hors
d'oeuvres, cheese, oysters, eggs, cream and vinegar. Champagne's
effervescence cleanses the palate with each sip. Try the shabby-chic
combination of champagne and potato chips -- champagne's acidity softens the
perception of the salt.
Leftover champagne should never
really be a problem -- unless an emergency intervenes, such as the tree
catching fire. In that case, re-cork the champagne with a silver stopper and
call the fire department. Then again, even a burning tree looks festive when
viewed through a glass of liquid pearls. -
Natalie Maclean 23 Dec 2002 Saturday
Post
The Krug family which has been
producing some of the world's best bubbly for 160 years tells why it's proud
that its champagne will always taste the same
Champagne and religion are an unusually well matched pair - and
not just because the best examples of this liquid luxury taste perfectly
heavenly. Olivier Krug, the sixth generation member of the famous family
that has been producing some of the world's best bubbly since 1843, has
described the winemaking process at Krug as a 'joint venture with God'. To
the cognoscenti, who view the brand as the undisputed king of the Champagne
crop, that's a statement of fact rather than an exaggeration.
According to another Krug-conspirator, whose
remark appears on the company's website, 'Krug is the Champagne that God
gives his angels when they have been especially good'. To those of us who
may not be in such good standing with the Higher Authority, $195 or so will
also do the trick. That's the suggested retail price for a bottle of Krug
Grande Cuvee, the company flagship that combines grapes from its own
vineyards and up to 50 different villages for anywhere between six and 10
years to produce a blend that remains remarkably true to the standards set
by founder Johann-Joseph Krug.
The Krug winemaking philosophy is rooted in a
commitment to quality and a particular style that - year in and year out -
results in a full-bodied, well-structured and beautifully balanced product.
'We are quite serious people in the way we make the product,' says Olivier
Krug, the company's business development director. 'Because what makes Krug
different is the taste.'
Together with father Henri and uncle Remi, the
family triumvirate has the task of finding a blend that best reflects the
distinctive Krug style. 'The taste is the balance between - on the one side
- intensity, complexity, length and power and on the other side, finesse and
elegance,' says Mr Krug, who was in Singapore recently. 'Your mouth remains
fresh and there is a very long aftertaste.'
Using three traditional grape varieties - Pinot
Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier - in different proportions to extract the
best result and maximum complexity, Krug comes up with a vintage-quality
blend each year. 'There is no formula - you have to learn from your own
taste experience,' says Mr Krug. 'The challenge is to produce the same wine,
regardless of where the grapes come from, year in and year out. It's seven
years before we release the wine, and you won't be able to tell which year
it comes from.'
In exceptional years, the Reims-based company
produces a single vintage (that is, dated by year) that represents the
pinnacle of the Krug house style. The current vintage is the 1988, which was
actually released two years after the 1989 vintage and which, says Mr Krug,
will be drinking well even 40 to 50 years from now. The 1990 vintage,
meanwhile, is due to be released next year.
'The 1988 is not a better Krug,' he says. 'It
reflects a desire to make a single vintage with different grapes from
different villages for a particular year. It is also the answer to people
who say that Champagne doesn't age, when it fact it will still display
exuberance and plenty of character years from now.'
While the vintage champagne is priced perhaps 20
per cent higher than the Grande Cuvee, it is Clos Du Mesnil (Krug's single
vineyard, single grape Champagne made with Chardonnay from the village of
Mesnil-sur-Oger) that will really put a dent in your wallet - a bottle of
the highly rated 1990 vintage, for example, will set you back about $700.
Krug's unique style, passed down through the
generations, is due in large part to several factors in the winemaking
process. First, the selection of grapes is vital - anywhere up to 70 per
cent of the crop is rejected. Next, the first fermentation is conducted in
small oak casks. 'This gives the finesse and intensity of taste,' says Mr
Krug. Of course, this also adds to the cost of production. This specific
process is said to give aged Krug Champagne the character of fine white
Burgundy, especially when it has lost some of its effervescence. Next, comes
the blending process, followed by an extra long ageing process - up to twice
as much as other Champagne houses.
Mr Krug reels off a few great vintages of the past
- '85, '73, '61 and '55. 'The 1928 was a really great, great, great year,'
he says. 'My great-grandfather kept quite a large stock, so a lot of people
got to taste it. In fact, we know that Krug - as far as old vintages are
concerned - is one Champagne that people buy to drink, not to keep.'
Krug produces about half a million bottles a year,
which is a mere 0.2 per cent of the total Champagne industry. Around 85 per
cent of the production is consumed outside France, with its biggest markets
being Japan, Italy, the UK and the US. 'There is little to improve,' says
Mr. Krug. 'But we will open our eyes to make sure that the quality is
perfect.'
It goes without saying that Mr Krug is a major
proponent of matching food with champagne. 'I like to have only one type of
Champagne with a meal,' he says. During a weekend brunch at the Raffles
Grill, the featured vintage was the 1988, which was teamed with a variety of
less than traditional Champagne dishes like steamed duck and lobster
porridge - there wasn't an oyster or a dollop of caviar in sight.
'You can have plenty of different food with it
because it has so many facets,' says Mr Krug, who maintains that his Rose
Champagne is perfect for Singapore food. 'Its fruity aromas and dry spices
in the mouth make it suitable, as long as you don't have excessive
spiciness,' he says, adding that to ensure optimum freshness, Champagne
should be served at between 8 and 10 degrees Celcius.
Mr Krug adds: 'My competition is not coming from
within the Champagne region - someone who has the money to spend on a case
of 1988 may think about spending it on some other luxury item, like a
vacation.' Of course, Krug is not the kind of Champagne to be splashed
around indiscriminately, he says.
Because of its quality, consistency and exalted
position within the industry as the creme de la creme of Champagnes, the
people who already drink Krug will not change, says Mr Krug. The company's
website quotes noted wine authority Serena Sutcliffe on the subject: 'Above
all, the Krug taste is a fixation, an obsession of the noblest kind.'
The world may have changed irretrievably since
1843, but Krug Champagne will always taste the same. If the company's
founder were to sample the current product, says Mr Krug, he would surely
approve. 'If our great-great-great-grandfather was here today, we are
convinced he would say that yes, this is his Champagne.' - Geoffrey
Eu Singapore
Business Times
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