The sparkling wine producers of the Champagne region of France have waged a quite successful legal campaign to prohibit any sparkling wine from other than the Champagne region of France from using any word even resembling "champagne" to describe their product, claiming consumers would be fooled. Yeah, sure.
Here in the United States, we have not accepted that, so you can get quite decent methode champenoise bubbles for a quite decent price. Yes, made exactly the same way as in France. Proseccos and cavas are also generally made by the methode champenoise though, being EU, they're not allowed to say so. Even sparkling wines made in other areas of France can't use the term methode champenoise though that's how they are made. The French producers in the U.S. (Piper Sonoma, Domaine Chandon, etc.) also avoid any mention of "champagne" although they all use the methode champenoise in their production. I bought some Domaine Chandon at Costco today for $9.99 a bottle. Good stuff.
If you don't want to spend as much and are planning to serve it in champagne coupes (supposedly modeled from Marie Antoinette's breasts - I have seen what are supposed to be the originals, which I don't believe for a minute), charmat bulk process (it will say that on the label) is acceptable for mass imbibing.
The individual houses in Champagne blend their products to give a consistent individual taste, year after year - and do it quite successfully. What you like is an individual decision, de gustibus as it were. WSC preferred Pol Roger. Personally, I prefer Veuve Cliquot, but, as I say, it's up to your individual taste. I certainly wouldn't turn a Krug down!
Another little trivia piece from an amateur winemaker. Ordinary Champagne is made from Chardonnay - a white grape - and Pinot Noir - a red grape. As you are well aware, Champagne is a white wine, not a red. That's because the color in red wine comes from the skins. Red wine is fermented on the skins, the fermentation process extracts the color from the skins. If you press the wine before fermentation on the skins, you get white juice.
The late British economist, John Maynard Keynes, toward the end of his life was asked the question "if you could live your life over, would you do anything different?" "Yes," was the answer, "I would drink more Champagne."
I'll drink to that.
Jonathan Hayes
-------------- Original message from Anthony Calabrese <[email protected]>: --------------
Antoine, I agree that hopefully the price of champagne will come down. For everyday drinking, I have been making due with Spanish cavas and Italian proseco (which to be sure is made from a different process than champagne), with an occasional Argentine.
Does anyone know Churchill's view of non-French sparklers? Or at the time, was the market pretty much limited to France?
"Towards the government I feel no scruples and would dodge paying the tax if I could. Yet I would give my life for England readily enough, if I thought it necessary. No one is patriotic about taxes." -- George Orwell, Wartime Diary, September 8, 1940.
Suspicious message? There’s an alert for that. Get your Hotmail® account now.
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ChurchillChat" group.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected]
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/ChurchillChat?hl=en
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
