Taking a Chance on Bubbles

Today, a little known shipment of 21 cases of wine showed up at my door step at work. It was a shipment I have been waiting for anxiously for a year and one that I hope would change the views of a very popular wine category in most wine galleries, Champagne.

Yes, folks. The "bubbly", the "sparklers" and to a certain segment of the population who only seems to be overtly concern with how much it costs rather than the taste of it, "Rapper Juice." (God, If they ever show one more bottle Cristal Champagne being horrendously misused for a multitude of ways except consuming responsibly, in an apparently over used motif signifying one's wealthy position in life, in a music video so help me I will buy a gun and proceed to Jackson Pollack my brain and skull all over my ceiling so I do not have to watch it)

(Proceeding to count to 20 and humming a zen tone)

Contrary to popular belief or should I say populist belief, good wine does cost money. But it doesn't have to cost you an arm and a leg. Established Champagne houses would have you believe that the best Champagnes come from the cellar not the vineyard. Supposedly, here in the dark recess of the ground, the wizards know as blending masters (BM) call upon ancient arts of alchemy to convert crushed grape juice from the noble Pinot Noirs, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay vines from a wide range of years to produce a true Champagne product. Okay, I admit that some of these BMs can produce good wine but there is only so much you can do with mediocre grapes. In short, the BM's job is to homogenize the wine, using the stronger years to hide the flaws of the weaker years thus maintaining a continuity of quality in the product that will perform reliably.

Contradicting what these massive champagne houses amazing PR machines have put out that blending non-vintages is the true nature of Champagne sparklers, why the heck are we paying $180-$250 a bottle for the vintage stuff like Dom Perignon and Veuve Clicquot Le Grande Dame etc.

I say thee nay! As a little green, dyslexic jedi grandmaster once said, "there is another."
The secret then is to track down the source of these better vineyards which provide the quality crop. The vineyards owned by generations of winemakers whose knowledge of how the terroir affects their crop in ways only time and patience can teach. Where flavor and longevity are as distinctive as the very years they are grown. Imagine paying a third what you would pay for a Tete Cuvee from the major negociant Champagne houses and getting the same quality sparkler and many times even surpassing those. My friends I give you the best values in Champagne, the "grower" Champagnes.

The names like Vilmart, Aubry, Pierre Peters, Gaston- Chiquet and Lallement to name a few were growers, whose champagnes I had been tracking since I learned of their existence over 5 years ago.

I actually had a friend take a Henri Billiot Cuvee Julie (named after HB's first grand child and was all 1999 fruit although it doesn't say on the bottle and was the first of his champagnes to actually see any oak aging.) to a party for Thanksgiving and opened it up next to 2 other big dogs the Cristal and the Dom Perignon P. The crowd favorite was the Billiot.

So I say we celebrate this coming holidays and New Year even though the dollar is tanking and gas will hit $100 a barrell. We never ever have to sacrifice hedonistic flavor and quality if you have Grower Champagnes in your hand. Cheers!

What's in a name

It's been several months since I've launched The Wine Zen Fine wine courses. I've tried to make the classes as informative as well as entertaining in order to shed the skin of "snootiness" that surrounds the subject of wine.

First up, let me be clear that I do not claim to be a "Zen Master" nor do I wish to put out the notion that I know all there is to know about wine. I am merely pointing out that I am actively seeking out new information and wish to pass it on to others. Only when we realize that we are wanting in knowledge can we hope to grow in it.

I am glad to say that as an idea it has done its part in promoting the appreciation and consumption of this often misunderstood and feared beverage. However, there is only so much one individual can do.

Hopefully this blog will give me a more efficient channel to all who seek to learn about wine and I hope we can all have fun learning about wine.