Champagne and Rosés (Part 1)

Have you ever wondered if the tv producers had a title for the show before they thought about the content? Well this blog is a bit like that. Title first, what to write second. The phrase came to me about 3 months ago when I was trying to think of some ideas for hen party wine tastings and its stuck with me ever since. In my wide experience of wine I can't believe I've never seen it used before in a wine context. It's such a clever pun I'm rather proud of it.

Sort of!

If you are looking for an alternative hen event then I think my Champagne and rosés tasting would make a great party. Most ladies I've met love fizz and they love rosé too. Combine them for a perfect evening. It doesn't even need to be a hen party. Get in touch. Plug over! But what combination and styles of wine would you choose?

My tastings normally take the form of 8 wines so we will work on getting together 8 wines for this theoretical tasting, 5 Champagnes and 3 rosés. In part 1 of this blog I will discuss those 5 Champagnes. I use Champagne as a title only in the loosest form. Yes, there will be Champagne but not all as there is so many different types of fizz it is a shame not to include some other styles. Boo you say and I say I do have a budget to work to you know.

Wine Number 1
I think the tasting should start with a simple house Champagne made by one of the countless co-operatives in the region. There are many, many to choose from but one of the better ones I have tried is Antoine de Clevecy from Sainsbury's, currently £20 but I have seen it cheaper. It gets off to a great start and everyone's taste buds tingling with the bubbles from the fizz.

Wine Number 2

English Sparkling Wine

For my second wine lets stay home. In England we make some jolly good sparkling wine, some say Merret (see my earlier blog) using the same 'traditional method' as in Champagne. If you've never tried it why the hell not as I have been banging on about it for ages. Joking aside if you are not in the UK it is not likely you will come across it. But if you are in the UK proceed immediately to your wine merchants or Waitrose or Marks & Spencers or The English Wine Shop (online) and get some Chapel Down, Denbies, Gusbourne Estate, Camel Valley, Ridgeview, Bolney Estate, Halfpenny Green (near me), Three Choirs or one of several other winemakers making great fizz.

Even Tesco are in on the secret and in my research I found this lovely review by 'ohbeeone' of the Chapel Down Classic Cuvee at their website.

Point 1. It is not Champagne. Point 2. It is a wonderful sparkling wine. Light fragrant. Not at all thin or sharp. Surprisingly long and horribly moreish. These people make great wines. I have always tended to avoid English Sparkling as it is relatively expensive, so why not have the real thing. This was a mistake. The wine is not an imitation.

Wine Number 3
I am thinking a Cava from Spain, again made using traditional method. There is an argument for Prosecco from Italy which is very popular at the moment. I am not a huge fan of Prosecco but I would serve that first if you were to include it as it tends to be a touch sweeter due to its tank (sometimes called Charmat) method of production.

Wonderful Cava from Freixenet...

....or from Codorniu

For me Cava is one of the worlds great wines but is massively overshadowed by Champagne even though it can be absolutely delicious. The two dominating brands are Freixenet and Codorniu and they make a
number of different styles and are widely available not to mention great value. I am constantly amazed that they do not get more attention.

Wine Number 4
Wine number 4 should be either a 'blanc de blancs' or 'blanc de noirs' Champagne just as a point of difference. As the name suggests these are Champagnes made entirely from white grapes (white of whites) which are made entirely from Chardonnay or from black grapes (white of blacks) which are made from a combination of Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes.

How about some 1998 Krug Blanc de Noirs.
Available for £1695 (a bottle not a case!)

A Blanc de Noirs we could try is Pierre Darcy from Asda. It is a bargain at £17 and has a distinct biscuity flavour. For a Chardonnay only Champagne check out Sainsbury's own which is made by Duval-Leroy.

Wine Number 5
Our final 'Champagne' should definitely be from one of the Grandes Marque houses, the 24 member association of the best known names for quality in Champagne. If money was no object then definitely Cristal made by Louis Roederer, Krug or a Ruinart would be fantastic. Sadly in a normal tasting my budget cannot stretch to those heady heights (unless of course someone would like me to) Canard-Duchene is great, as is Laurent Perrier and Piper Heidseick but my Champagne of choice would be Pol Roger, favourite of Sir Winston Churchill. It is a really fine Champagne with brioche aromas and a dry apple and mineral flavour. Delicious!

Pol Roger White Foil -
My Grand Marque Champagne of Choice

And that completes Part 1 of my Champagne and Rosés blog. In part 2 I have the difficult task of finding 3 rosé wines to complete the tasting. If you would like enjoy this tasting with your friends and me to host it or would like to organise any other kind of wine tasting please do get in touch.

In the meantime please see my website www.gloryofwine.com for more information and follow me on both Twitter and Facebook.

Enjoy your wine. Cheers!
Simon

What's in a Name? - New World versus Old

Firstly some housekeeping. I flagged up at the end of my last blog that I would be writing about my local vineyard next. Unfortunately I have not yet had chance to do the tour of the place with the owners and I would like to wait until I have done that before I write about it even though I know it well. Hopefully next time.

On Day 1 at wine school the first thing you learn is about how, historically, winemakers name their wines. Well actually, that is not quite true. The first thing you learn is that white wine is not made from white grapes and red wine is not made from red grapes and that rosé is definitely not made by mixing red wine and white wine together.

What I mean is that old world wines from France, Italy and Spain most prominently name their wines based on place rather than the type of grape variety. This is why we get Rioja, Chianti and Beaujolais instead of Tempranillo, Sangiovese and Gamay. In the new world winemakers make the name of the grape variety pre-eminent so we talk about the Chardonnay of Australia, Chenin Blanc of South Africa or Pinot Noir of New Zealand.

It's not an exact science but it is a good rule of thumb. I say this because there are some new world wine areas that are increasingly synonymous with a particular style of wine. Perhaps the best example these days would be Marlborough 'Sauvignon' from New Zealand.

Australian Burgundy anyone?

In fact if we go back some 25 years plus it was common place for the new world producers to use French names on their bottles so we had Australian Burgundy or Chablis for example. Even in Europe this practice existed to a certain extent. Spanish Cava (which I have to say is a fabulous way to start an evening) was commonly called Spanish Champagne, I suspect primarily to encourage British consumers to buy when in the Costas on the early package holidays of the 1960s and 70s.

Of course this practice no longer exists due to the European Law Protected Geographical Status regulations which protects the status of many local specialties including many British ones including Melton Mowbray Pork Pies and Stilton cheese. See, Europe is not all bad.

For Australian wines the process took a little longer and only on 1st September 2010 did the practice become illegal although in reality Australian winemakers has stopped using French names when their wine became all the rage in the 1980s.

Over the last 20 years in the time that I have worked in the hospitality trade the knowledge of the general public about wine has increased about 100 fold. These days virtually anyone who drinks wine will know what grape varieties they like to drink. And they will ask for wines by grape variety. I am confident that of the many people that come in and ask for a glass of Merlot if I offered them a glass of St Emilion (leaving aside price issues and I do know that a lot of St. Emilion is blended with Cab. Franc and a little Cab. Sauv) many would say 'no thanks just the Merlot please'. And that really is a great shame because the best wine will always be French.

A classic selection of French wines - How many grape varieties can you see named?

With the massive advancement of Australian, Californian and more recently Chilean and New Zealand wines the vast majority of the public know only grape varieties and not the classic regions and I for one am very sad about that and am making it my aim to encourage people to learn more.

One of the common questions I ask my staff, and they always forget, is what grape variety is Chablis? It causes so much confusion and discussion. In fact I am too embarrassed to repeat the answer one of my staff gave to me to this question. But hey, I'll never give up trying to educate. Oh, and of course it is Chardonnay by the way.

If you enjoy what you're reading why not book a wine tasting with me. See my website at www.gloryofwine.com or follow me on twitter.

Until next time thanks for reading and enjoy your wine.

Cheers

Simon