Bubbly 101

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The New York Sun

With sparkling wine’s maximum moment just four days away, here’s a tip when you’re facing the plenitude of champagne now on retail shelves: Not every bottle with that hallowed appellation contains a wine of assured high quality. Better to buy a well-made, modestly priced sparkling wine from somewhere in the wine-making world than to overpay for a so-so product from the region of Champagne.


Once upon a time, such giant champagne brands as Moet & Chandon, Mumm, Taittinger and Veuve Clicquot were all but automatic choices for most buyers. More recently, however, so-called “grower” or artisanal champagnes have grabbed attention in America. This is due largely to the efforts of the dynamic, Washington-based importer Terry Theise.


Unlike the giants, which primarily use purchased grapes or even ready-made wine for blending into a house style, growers make champagne with their own (or mostly their own) grapes. Instead of a wine that is an amalgam of multiple vineyards from hither and yon in Champagne, growers offer you bubbly with the specific character of their own vineyards.


Is a grower champagne preferable to a standard brand that may contain no proprietary grapes? Not at all, but it does take a bit of an adventurous spirit and an understanding of where the difference lies to put your money down on a wine called, say, Chartogne-Taillet rather than good old Mumm Cordon Rouge.To identify a grower champagne, look for the code “RM (“recoltant-manipulant”) at the bottom of the label.The brands that rely on purchased grapes carry the negociant’s letters, “NM.” Cooperatives, of which the excellent Nicolas Feuillatte is largest, bear the letters “CM.” Be prepared to squint, since these codes are often in micro-print.


Like Caesar’s Gaul, all champagne is divided into three parts at steeply ascending price points: basic non-vintage (NV) blends; vintaged bottlings in worthy years, like the superb 1995 and 1996 designations; and the socalled luxury cuvees, defined by their deluxe packing and prices that can soar to several hundred dollars. Choosing from among the grandes marques, as the French call the standard brands, is a no-brainer, so I’ve focused my recommendations on lesser-known bubbly, all tasted in the last two weeks. I’ve also included a pair of sparklers made by the traditional method beyond Champagne’s borders. And not only because they suit a modest budget. Frankly, top-quality champagne is wasted on revelers too buzzed out to focus on it.This most intricately made of all wines both deserves and rewards your full attention, and that can be a challenge to give and receive on New Year’s Eve.


RECOMMENDED CHAMPAGNES


RUINART BLANC DE BLANCS ($67.95 at Zachys) Founded in 1729 in Rheims, this is the oldest of the champagne brands. Ruinart is now back in the running after a period of lacking an American distributor. Chardonnay is the specialty of this house, and it’s given the lightest, silkiest, cleanest touch in this blanc de blancs.


DELAMOTTE BRUT ROSE ($47.99 at Acker Merrall) With its pale orange tint, this bubbly delivers refined flavors of exotic fruit and a hint of cinnamon. It hums with a smooth flow of energy, yet is still elegant (rather than earthy, as rose champagne often is).


NICOLAS FEUILLATTE CUVEE PALMES D’OR 1996 ($89.99 at K&D) Many champagnes from the intense, ripe, and forceful 1996 vintage are not ready to drink. Some are not even released. Here’s one already showing its stuff: a middle of the road style, neither lean nor fat, with harmonious fruit and spice flavors. The bottle has a distinctive honey-combed style befitting a luxury cuvee.


PIERRE GIMONNET BLANC DE BLANC, BRUT NV ($34.99 at Harlem Vintage) Verve rather than weight is the M.O. of this sparkler from grower Gimonnet, owner of 64 vineyard acres. Didier Gimmonet, a partner in the firm with his brother Oliver, is briefly but sharply profiled by Lettie Teague in “Triumph of Small Champagne Growers” in this month’s Food & Wine.


CHARTOGNE-TAILLET, CUVEE STE.-ANNE, BRUT NV ($34.99 at Harlem Vintage) More intense and textured than the above wine. The citrusy element is more subdued. There are hints of apricot butter on the long finish. At a medium weight, this is lovely stuff.


SAINT-HILAIRE BLANC DE BLANCS 2002, BLANQUETTE DE LIMOUX ($8.99 at Martin Brothers) This southern French sparkler supposedly predates champagne. It is made from chardonnay, chenin blanc, and the local mauzac. Few New Year’s revelers will notice that this handsomely bottled liquid is not from Champagne.


ARIA CAVA BRUT NV ($11.95 at Sherry-Lehmann) A confession: Over the years, I tried but failed to get enthusiastic about Cava from Spain. None were bad, but they always seemed to lack the brio and purity that defines classic champagne. And then, at a lunch hosted by Wines of Spain, I savored Aria. It is light as air, as the name suggests, and needle-pointed with fruitness. Like the previous wine, Aria is a wine of celebration rather than meditation.


The New York Sun

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