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Here's to a Happy, Healthy 2005
• by Joe Pollack
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Walter Huston wrote and sang about the days of December, the days that "dwindled down to a precious few," when people celebrated, or mourned, the year that was passing, and looked forward to the year that was about to arrive.
Toasting the holidays, or the New Year, always has been a part of life, and to mark it, someone would have invented or discovered Champagne by now, so we can be thankful for Dom Perignon, who did it a long time ago, almost by accident, as so many good things are invented or discovered. The French monk set the groundwork for so much happiness.
Dom Perignon lived in the province of France known as Champagne, and its two major cities, Reims and Epernay, are the heart of the province and home to many top producers. By French law, only bubbly wine made in the province can be called "Champagne." To the French, anything made anywhere else in France or around the world is "sparkling wine."
Americans have traditionally ignored the law, or the custom, or the courtesy. Even French companies, like Moet and Chandon, or Taittinger, or Roederer, who have operations in California, must label it "sparkling wine." And if it's important to learn what the French mean by "terroir" a couple of glasses of the French product, tasted against what is made on this side of the Atlantic, will show.
Roederer's California sparkler, made in Mendocino County, is my favorite of all the American-made sparkling wines. It's light, perfectly balanced, a perfect blend of pinot noir and chardonnay grapes with a tight, small, fast-moving bubble. It is crisp and very dry, with a long finish and a lovely flavor on the tongue. The company's French version is richer, with more yeast, more body and what one might call "weight." The California wine is a perfect aperitif, with some black caviar, perhaps. The French bottle is a perfect oyster accompaniment. The grapes may be the same, but they are grown in different earth with different climate.
Good sparkling wine is usually expensive – most are aged a long time, and that means keeping a lot of inventory in the cellars. The process of blending and making the wine is long and difficult and there's a great deal of hands-on work in the winery and the cellars, especially with wineries using old-fashioned techniques. Bottles must be turned several times a week, and even though most wineries use mechanical devices for this process, known as riddling, it still takes time and expense.
The great French houses make outstanding sparkling wine. Veuve Clicquot, Krug, Mumm, Piper-Heidsieck, Roederer, Taittinger and others did not come to this country to make inferior wine, and they do not. The better French Champagnes are expensive, and in general, the more expensive ones are better. I sampled some Krug and Veuve Clicquot sparklers recently. Two of the Veuve Clicquot were non-vintage, but involved wines made over the last five years. Two others were of the 1998 and 1995 vintage – for $47 and $125, respectively.
All are blends of pinot noir and chardonnay grapes, often with a little petite meuniere added. That's the traditional blend, and a rose sparkler is born when the grape skins remain in contact with the juice after the pressing. A bubbly that is labeled "blanc de blancs" is made from all chardonnay grapes. And in labeling, only in sparkling wines, "brut" means dry and "dry" means semi-sweet.
Worth it? That's a question to be answered by an individual's checkbook, but I thought they were special. The Gold ‘98 showed medium body, exquisite flavor and a crisp elegance while the older wine was slightly richer and with a hint of smokiness. Both were delicious, and so were the less expensive offerings, both non-vintage blends. The brut is $35, the demi-sec (slightly sweeter) is $2 higher and a superior dessert drink with fruit.
Krug displayed a 1990 vintage whose flavors practically leaped out of the glass. The flavors were big, very rich, yet smooth and elegant, and the going price is $170.
However, one can find good sparkling wine for the holidays for a lot less money, and the California versions from Mumm and Moet and Chandon are delightful. Korbel, an old standby with St. Louis roots, has its fans, and several Missouri wineries make very good sparkling wines. Stone Hill, for example, vintage-dates its sparklers, and a 1990 is a delight and a tribute to winemaker Dave Johnson that he can make such delicious sparkling wine from catawba grapes.
And then there's a new entry for this year – sparkling wine from New Zealand. Lindauer, using the delicious pinot noir and chardonnay grapes the island is famous for, has put them together (50 percent of each) and created a splendid, tiny-bubble sparkler for only $12. It's light and clean, with a smooth finish and a flavor that displays hints of apples in the aroma and on the palate, which probably shows the influence of some superior chardonnay grapes, but the result is elegant and excellent. Lindauer has been making sparkling wines in New Zealand for more than a generation but this is its first release in the United States. At that price, it's a great bargain.
And let's have a happy and a merry and a peaceful and a healthy 2005.
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