Debate a Bubble - Champagne News and Reviews

Ironman gives way to grapes

Ironman makes way for champagne

Last week I received an e-mail from a friend of mine in Champagne and it made me realise again how everything in the Champagne region revolves around champagne.

With the mild winter and absence of early Spring frosts, the vines are developing apace and it has recently been announced that the harvest, which would normally take place in the second half of September, will in fact be happening this year in late August.

This is early by anyone’s standards and it seems that global warming is having an effect in Champagne as everywhere else. However the purpose of my friend’s e-mail was to tell me that the change in the dates for the harvest has meant that the dates of a major sporting event have had to be moved too, so as not to clash with the harvest.

Why is Cristal so expensive ?

At practically every champagne tasting I organise some one asks me this question, or a variation - sometimes it’s the price of Dom Pérignon, or Krug that intrigues them.

Perhaps people want to know what each constituent element costs so as to arrive at the price in the shop or in the bar , but of course, it doesn’t work like that. Rule No. 1 for companies that sell luxury goods is never to justify the price with logic; a ) it can’t be done and b) when you buy a luxury product you’re buying a dream, an emotion, as much as the product itself and that emotion is beyond value. There’s nothing wrong with that either. To my mind champagne is all about making you feel special and cheap champagne is a contradiction in terms. After all, luxury is only luxury when it’s just out of reach and no one would want to buy a Ferrari if it were the same price as a Ford and everybody had one.

However, there’s another answer to the question which is that the most expensive champagnes cost what they do because they have to.

In order for you to understand what I mean by this I should explain a little about the economics of the champagne industry.

A glass of champagne with your lunch, Sir?

I heard recently from someone I used to work with some 20 years ago and it reminded me of the way in which many people in those days used to go out to the pub at lunch time, drink vast amounts of beer and then go back to work in the afternoon. It seems incredible that any work got done at all after lunch and I suppose that, in reality, not much of value did get done, so it’s probably a good thing, for all sorts of reasons, that things have changed.

Yet in some quarters attitudes are now so politically correct that you are frowned upon even if you so much as consider a glass of wine with your lunch instead of mineral water.

On this, as in just about everything else, the French in general and the champenois in particular, see things a little differently. Wine or champagne at lunch is still very much an essential part of a normal day.

Champagne Dinners Part 3

So what was the actual menu for the recent champagne dinner that led me to start talking about champagne and food?

We based it on a meal I enjoyed a few years ago at Moët & Chandon’s private Château de Saran. Then, each course served was in fact two dishes in one, neatly and elegantly separated on the left and the right of the plate. With each course two champagnes were served and the idea was to demonstrate how, by altering the method of cooking, the seasoning and/or the accompaniments, the nature of the dish could be significantly changed. The two different champagnes complimented the dish on one side of the plate more than the dish on the other – although of course we tried all the different combinations possible whilst we had this fabulous food and drink in front of us.

So the menu on May 16th was.....