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Champagne, Champagne, Champagne for Everyone!
Yes, I issued the call for Champagne. And no, it is not because of the Friday night, lottery winning, huge job promotion, or an official ending of the COVID-19. Today, October 23rd, 2020 is the official celebration of the bubbles that became synonymous with success and life’s happy moments – today we celebrate Champagne, a quintessential celebration itself.
My appreciation for Champagne came long after wine became an obsession. I grew up drinking sweet bubbles of unknown pedigree under the name of “Soviet Champagne” – who would care about naming rights back then. So the first encounter with crisp, tiny, and ultra-acidic bubbles was not love at first sight. It is interesting that how I can’t name a pivotal wine, but I can easily name a pivotal Champagne – Krug Vintage, I don’t remember if it was 2002, 2003, or 2004, but that encounter with greatness during PJ Wine grand tasting in New York absolutely changed my perspective on the Champagne. And if you care to know, I even have my favorite Champagne of all times – 2002 Pol Roger Cuvee Sir Winston Churchill – pure magic.
Today, sparkling wines are produced everywhere. All countries, all types of grape (sparkling Tannat? no problems. Sparkling Shiraz? of course!), and literally all wineries. There are absolutely stunning bubbles produced in Italy (Franciacorta, Trentodoc), Spain, and the USA (if you ever had Roederer L’Ermitage or late disgorged Gloria Ferrer, you know what I’m talking about). But today, it is all about Champagne, in its pure form.
Champagne also has the capability of bonding the memories – as it is often linked to the special moments, just seeing that bottle of Perrier-Jouët, Cristal, Dom Perignon, or Bollinger can trigger the onslaught of happy thoughts. True, any wine can do this, but Champagne has some special powers.
In recognition of the holiday, I’m offering you a collage of some of my Champagne experiences:
I also can’t miss an opportunity to mention the sabering – opening of the Champagne bottle with a special sword, the saber (hence the name). Sabering has some ground rules and requires basic skills – it can be done with the saber, but it is even more fun to use a random object, such as a wine glass, a stapler, or an iPhone – but this should be a conversation for another time. Sabering or not, but the opening of the Champagne bottle often goes wrong – and I want to leave you today with a little compilation of such, well, accidents.
One of my favorite quotes of all times is not about Champagne, but about life – in the words of the singer Pitbull, “every day above ground is a great day”. Don’t wait for a special occasion – open that Champagne bottle today – as the present should always be celebrated.
Cheers!
Wednesday’s Meritage – Wine Quiz Answer, Global Champagne Day, Dishcrawl SoNo, Tempranillo Day and more
Arrayán Petit Verdot, Spain
Meritage time!
Let’s start from the answer to the wine quiz #78, grape trivia – Petit Verdot. In the quiz, you were supposed to answer 5 questions regarding the red grape called Petit Verdot. Here are the questions, now with the answers:
Q1: Explain the meaning of the name Petit Verdot
A1: Petit Verdot stands for the “little green”, as a reference to the small size of the grapes and the tendency to retain green (underripe) grapes even at the harvest time
Q2: Name four grapes, main blending partners of Petit Verdot in France
A2: We are talking about classic Bordeaux five here, the blending partners of Petit Verdot are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Malbec
Q3: True or False: Australia’s plantings of Petit Verdot far exceed the plantings of Petit Verdot in France
A3: True. Australia embraced Petit Verdot starting from the second half of the 18th century, increasing its plantings, where Petit Verdot plantings in France had being on the downturn for a while.
Q4: While Petit Verdot is a difficult grape to work with, two events were major contributors to the demise of Petit Verdot in Bordeaux. Can you name those two events?
A4: Phylloxera epidemic in the late 1800s and the frost of 1956. As a difficult to grow and not essential grape, Petit Verdot followed the path of Malbec, with a dramatic reduction in plantings after the cataclysmic events.
Q5: While it is not impossible to find a pure 100% Petit Verdot wines made in Bordeaux, those wines are rather the exceptions. What is the typical percentage of Petit Verdot in Bordeaux blends?
A5: It is very often 1% to 2%, and in general stays under 5%. There are exceptions, of course.
Bonus question: what was your personal encounter with Petit Verdot? Do you have any memorable bottles?
Australia, Spain and [interestingly enough] Long Island, New York come to mind when I think of single-grape Petit Verdot bottlings. Some of the wines were just purely spectacular, like 2007 Jamesport Petit Verdot from Long Island, or this 2007 Arrayán Petit Verdot from Spain.
I’m glad to report that we had a good participation in the quiz, and most importantly, we have a lot of winners! Patrick Kleiner (who has no web site), the drunken cyclist and Vino in Love are all correctly answered all 5 questions, so they are our ultimate winners and get unlimited bragging rights. Well done! I also want to mention Duff’s Wines and Eat with Namie as they both made only minor mistakes and got about 4.5 correctly out of 5, so they both get an honorable mention.
Now, to the interesting stuff around the web and the vine!
I don’t have much of the interesting reads for you today, so it is mostly various events announcements.
First, don’t forget that Monthly Wine Writing Challenge #4 (#MWWC4) is in its final hours – it ends today, on October 23rd. The theme is “oops” – send your submission over to TheWineKat, and best to do it on Twitter with the hash tag #MWWC4.
Next, it appears that this coming Friday, October 25th, is a Global Champagne Day 2013 (I’m sure TheDrunkenCyclist is oozing with joy :- ) ). You have an option of finding a good place to celebrate in style, or just crack open whatever sparking goodness your heart desires, and celebrate the celebration drink!
While you still have time to get ready, don’t miss the International Tempranillo Day coming up on November 14th. There are plenty of Tempranillo events happening all over the country, and the good Tempranillo bottle is so easy to find nowadays, you have no excuse to miss this celebration.
Last but not least, at least for the local Connecticut foodies, Dishcrawl event is for South Norwalk (SoNo) will take place on November 20th. Based on my recent dining experiences in South Norwalk, this event shouldn’t be missed! For more details and to get your tickets, please visit Dishcrawl site.
That is all I have for you for today. The glass is empty – but refill is on the way. Until the next time – cheers!
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