Few wines deliver more pleasure, or create more confusion, than champagne. So, lets try and sort it out in time for you to enjoy a glass or more of some of the delicious bubbly coming our way this year!
The best sparkling wines come from France, the U.S.and Australia; and fall into two categories: There's champagne, and then there is everything else. Champagne is better, and just about everything else is cheaper — often a lot cheaper. Unfortunately, some producers of the cheap stuff have casually appropriated the term "champagne," which has given rise to considerable acrimony in the wine biz. The French justifiably argue that the right to use "champagne" on a wine label should be theirs exclusively. That way, when consumers see "champagne" on a bottle, they can be certain that the wine inside came from the Champagne region, which is conveniently located in France.
But we digress. Practically no one would deny the appeal of a good, dry sparkling wine or sparkling rosé. The wines are beautiful in shades of golden straw and copper, with festive cascades of tiny bubbles. They often have more citrusy fruit flavours than other wines, because of the blend and the climate where they come. They should not be sweet, and if you see the word "Brut" on the bottle it will assure you that the wine is dry. Perhaps most surprisingly of all, dry sparkling wines are a perfect complement to a wide variety of foods.
When faced with a grocer's shelf groaning under dozens of bottles of bubbly, it helps to know a few tricks for finding the good stuff. For starters, the better sparklers from outside the Champagne region will usually say "Brut Sparkling Wine" prominently on the label. If you look closely, you will also find "méthode champenoise" or "méthode traditionnelle" or "méthode classique," which means that the wine was fermented in its bottle (essential for higher quality). In the U.S. and Australia, some producers simply say "fermented in this bottle" or "traditional method." That's a good thing.
Avoid sparkling wines that say "champagne" but are not from Champagne. "California champagne" is an oxymoron, and the phrase should be outlawed, as it has been in Oregon. The best California producers, such as Domaine Chandon, Domaine Carneros, Iron Horse, Mumm Cuvée Napa, Piper Sonoma, Roederer Estate and Schramsberg, will say "Sparkling wine" or "Brut Rosé" or occasionally "Blanc de Noir(s)." Technically, a blanc de noir should not be pink, but some very good ones are.
Excellent, inexpensive sparkling wines are also made in the Loire Valley, and a handful of decent examples come from Spain. Good stuff until the real thing comes along. For once you have tasted a good champagne, it will be difficult to settle for anything less. All the major champagne houses make a brut wine, and the best ones, such as MUMM or G H Mumm to be exact, make various styles including rosé and demi-secs(half dry meaning half sweet). G H Mumm is one of the 20 or so great champagne houses known as Grande Marques. Others include famous names like Moet and Chandon, Pommery, Bollinger and Perrier-Jouet - the last one incidentally owned by Mumm. It was founded in 1827 by three German winemaking brothers,
Jacobus, Gottlieb and Phillipe who named the company PA Mumm after their father Peter Arnold Mumm. In 1853 Georges Herbert Mumm took over the company and it has been known as G H ever since.
In 1875 the distinctive Cordon Rouge representing the red ribbon of the Legion d'Honneur was added to the bottle and in 1881 Mumm became the first champagne to be exported to the United States. By 1902 it was the leading champagne house in the world making three million bottles a year - amazingly one million of these went to the US.
Mumm is now the official champagne of Formula One and it is the champagne that is sprayed around by Schumacher, Alonso et al on the winners podium.
I've always thought this to be a terrible waste of good champagne, but somehow spraying a bottle of lemonade around wouldn't have quite the same image.
I haven't tasted Mumm Cordon Rouge for a few years now and was very pleasantly surprised. Loads of bubbles, toasty and with a brilliant mousse. Apple and papaya flavour and a crisp clean finish. This is really classy stuff.
Brut champagnes are made in both vintage and non-vintage styles. The vintage wines are the rarest, most expensive and hedonistic, but the non-vintage brut, as with other champagnes, offer the best value.
With any sparkling wine, a certain amount of caution should be exercised when opening the bottle. Chill it to refrigerator temperature; the quickest way is to plunge it into a bucket of ice water for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the foil, then carefully undo the wire capsule. I like to keep a dish towel draped over it in case it jumps the gun. Gripping the cork through the towel, twist the bottle until you hear the whoosh of air escaping. Do this gently and you won't see the precious liquid spraying about the room. Use tall, flute-shaped champagne glasses if you have them; if not, find the narrowest, most vertical glass you can. This preserves the bubbles.
For food, think salty to begin with (fish cake, caviar, spring-roll and dry sheep's-milk cheeses for example). Any rich seafood (crab, lobster or scallops) makes a splendid entrée. And you can keep drinking your bubbly right into dessert. The pretty flavours you'll find in a demi-sec will work especially well with fruit and cake.
So go for it! Light some candles. Put Lionel Ritchie on the stereo. And while you're at it, pour another glass of the bubbly stuff.
Bubble, bubble
Here are a few sparklers sure to please your date. Note that prices are approximate, so shop around for the best buys.
• Jacobs Creek sparkling rosé (RM 110) The best budget pink sparkler in the country. Vibrant color,rich bubbles and a sweet inviting bouquet. Toasty cherry fruit highlights a crisp, yeasty finish.
• Jacobs Creek Sparkling chardonnay/pinot noir (RM110). Orlando Wyndham does a nice job with this fruity, forward chardonnay/pinot noir blend. Clean and flavorful, it's a classic Australian sparkling wine.
• Mumm Cordon Rouge Brut champagne (RM200). For the price, Mumm makes killer champagne, fruity and full-flavored, with delicate apple scents and a tangy bite. Very popular around town right now, especially by the glass. Though not a complex wine, its sweet, powerful fruit makes it a surefire palate-pleaser.
• Mumm Cordon Rouge Brut Rosé champagne (RM200). Soft and sensual, with ripe flavors of sweet cherries and plenty of vanilla toast. It's a big, forward, yummy (that's a technical term) flavourful bubbly.
• Mumm Cordon Rouge Demi-Sec N/V (RM200). A treasure! Delicate layers of fruit, honey and biscuit create a textured wine, complex, fragrant, medium sweet and toasty, with a nice long, elegant sweet finish. For the quality, it is well-priced.
