Bubbly?

Are you having a little bubbly for the New Year? I recently took a class about Champagne. It was a 2-weeker in November. It was fun to taste some different champagnes and learn about the process and what to look for when making a purchase.

Did you know that ~55% of the market is controlled by LVMH? Who’s that? Louis Vuitton / Moet Hennessy. They do make some great champagne. From what I learned, consistency is the name of the game there. If you pop open a bottle of Moet & Chandon, it will taste how you would expect it should. We also tasted “grower champagne.” In other words, made by the little producers.

I was going to write about how you could tell if your bottle of champagne was produced by one of the little guys. But it’s so much easier to have you link to an article already written by the guy who taught the class. Here’s a photo of where the itty-bitty “RM” is on my bottle.

What do you eat with champagne? Pretty much anything. It’s one of the most versatile wines. But a great pairing is anything salty and deep-fried. Yes, we had potato chips with our champagne on the first night of the class. And do you need to serve it in a flute? Nope. In fact, it’s better to not serve it in a flute. That way you can smell it and let it warm up a little so you can taste it better. If you want to read some good articles about champagne, I’m suggesting to go to The Wine Company page with links to their champagne posts.

So no matter what you are doing tonight, bubbly or no bubbly. Have a wonderful New Year!