First things first...
A Merry Christmas to you and may 2010 be a fabulous year for you all!
Next.
This is a long blog post for all those people who entered our recent competition and are waiting to answers to their champagne questions. Even if you didn't enter the competition you're welcome to read on and see if you like what you read. If you want to be on our e-mail list just leave your first name and e-mail address at www.madaboutbubbly.com or in the box on the right.
Now, on to our news...
Beware of your tumble dryer! (We'll get around to champagne in a sec - promise)
Sorry I haven’t been in touch for too long. Here’s what happened…
We had a fire at the end of September. It started when the tumble dryer in the kitchen caught fire
and pretty much destroyed our home. We found out later from the fire brigade us that tumble dryers are the single biggest cause of home fires. I don’t want to panic you, but don’t leave your tumble dryer on when you go to bed or when you go out!
To begin with we thought that we could sort everything out in a couple of weeks and get back to normal, but were we ever wrong!!
First we had to find a new office – that was the easy part – but then...... our telephone lines were down and we had to get them back up fast.
We had a problem. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to get a telephone company to mocve fast, well …..it’s not what they normally do. In fact I don’t think it’s what they ever do. To cut a long story short, the whole thing took another 4 weeks. 4 weeks!!! Unbelievable!.
Anyway, once we got the lines back up we obviously needed broadband and on and on it went... Anyway, a good few glasses of champagne were needed to keep the spirits up and this worked wonders! Now I’m happy to tell you that we back to normal – as normal as we ever get, that is.
A New Year and A New Champagne Club
Now, I can finally catch up with answers to the many questions you submitted to our champagne competition a few weeks back. You asked questions from the USA, Canada, the U.K. and several other countries, so thank you to everyone for taking part.. We’ll get to the answers in a minute.
There were loads of great questions but what struck us most of all is that many of you are asking the same sort of thing – Here’s how Louisa put it:
My greatest challenge is ignorance! I am sure some of the lesser known labels would taste just as great as the better known brands and I would like to be able to select great champagne at a great price
Sarah wrote to say that her challenges is
Balancing price against quality, i.e. finding a good value champagne that still tastes fab!
Nick said
For me,it’s the decision between an established name I can trust, or trying the unknown
And Lynn said
Deciding between those I know and like, and others which ''look'' or ''sound'' good, but which I''ve never tried.
These are all great questions, and rather than just do a one-off answering session, we’ve been racking our brains to come up with something that will help all of you and others who are confused about champagne. And here’s where we’d like your help
In the New Year we’ll be launching The Grand Crew Club
and these are some of the ideas we’ve been playing around with.
- Every month we’ll introduce you to one or two wonderful champagnes from lesser-known makers that you’d never find yourself.
- We’ll tell you where you can buy them in the U.K. and elsewhere if there’s an importer.
- We’ll arrange a discount for you off the normal price.
- You can make your own decisions about whether or not to buy (no obligation)
- Plus we’ll send you lots more champagne offers and info. throughout the year.
We’d like this club to give you exactly what you are looking for, so what we’d like you to tell us now is
What other features and benefits would you like to have from the club?
AND
What do you feel is the right price to join the club? Annually, monthly, quarterly?
We’re waiting to hear from you, so email me directly at jiles@madaboutbubbly.com
I promise to respond to all your feedback.
---
Now to the answers to more of your champagne questions – see if you can spot yours
Finding a champagne that doesn’t contain Chardonnay (John)
Most champagnes are made by blending together the three grapes used in the Champagne region - Chardonnay (a white grape) Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier (both black grapes), so most champagnes contain at least some Chardonnay. If you don’t like Chardonnay look for a bottle that says Blanc de Noirs on the label – made only with black grapes.
As an introduction to this style why not start with Sainsbury’s Blanc de Noirs? I tasted it last week in Champagne at the company that produces it for Sainsbury’s. It’s well worth trying.
Finding a champagne that appeals to both red and white wine drinkers (Lesley)
The Blanc de Noirs might do the trick – after all it is made with black grapes only
Am I paying too much for the ‘label’? (Craig)
Knowing what is good value for money (Jean)
Affording the good stuff (Jo)
Don’t be fooled into thinking that a high price necessarily means high quality. There are plenty of expensive champagnes that are, in my opinion, over-priced. On the other hand there are some fabulous champagnes that cost a lot less.
How do I know I’ll enjoy it? (Margaret)
Knowing the quality without tasting (Alison)
Identifying the flavour profile I like (Richard)
When you’re choosing wine 9 times out of 10 the type of grape is shown on the label so you’ve always got a good idea of the taste of what’s in the bottle.
The problem with champagne is that almost none of the makers tells you which grapes have been used and even when they do, they usually do so in such general terms that it‘s not very helpful, so what do you do?
There are sometimes a few clues on the label: Blanc de Blancs is 100 % Chardonnay and has a light style, Blanc de Noirs is all black grapes and has fuller, deeper flavours which are more obviously fruity than Chardonnay-based champagnes
The label will tell you how sweet it is. Champagnes range from ultra dry to fairly dry (brut) to fairly sweet (demi-sec) and on to very sweet (doux) although this is not common.
If your automatic reaction is to say you don’t like demi-sec champagnes, do think again; they can be fabulous with the right food.
Serve at the start of a meal or with dessert? (Lori)
Understanding what food it is best drunk with (Jakki)
You can serve champagne as an aperitif, with dessert and with all courses in between and I’m not saying that just because I’m a champagne fan.
Yes, I know that most people think of champagne as being an aperitif, and lovely though that is, there’s much more to it than just that.
You can find a champagne to match just about every type of food you can think of, with the possible exception of really rich meat dishes such as Boeuf Bourgignon.
Is vintage champagne all it’s cracked up to be and what vintage would you recommend? ( Sue )
There are two main differences between vintage champagne and non-vintage, which accounts for about 80% of all champagne that is made.
First vintage, champagne is made from grapes harvested in one single year, and non-vintage is a blend of wine made from grapes harvested in different years. The objective with non-vintage champagne is to produce the same tase and quality year in, year out – that’s why you need to use wines from several years because each year’s grapes used on their own will produce a slightly different result due to differences in the weather from year to year. You probably guessed then, that vintage champagne does vary slightly from year to year.
The second major difference is that vintage champagne has to be aged longer than non-vintage and this means that the flavours and aromas are richer, deeper and more powerful. So if you like this style of champagne, then Yes you can tell the difference between non-vintage and vintage.
Many people will tell you that such and such a year is the best vintage for decades, or that another year’s vintage is especially good and of course, they charge a higher price for those champagnes. BUT remember..... in Champagne, the makers don’t have to declare a vintage every year. Their main product is non-vintage. It follows that if they do decide to declare a vintage it’s because they believe they have made something special and, in this sense, every vintage is a good one, so once again, don’t take too much notice of the marketing hype about any particular year.
I’m never sure how long it keeps (Sue)
Finding champagne with enough bottle age (David)
Champagne is ready to drink when it leaves the maker’s cellars. After all, the maker has aged the champagne for years already so that you don’t have to. ( This is exactly the opposite aproach to most other good wines that you buy young and have to store until they are ready to drink).
Having said this, storing champagne for a few months will help the flavours and aromas develop, provided that the place where you store the champagne is suited to the job: a constant temperature, relatively humid and preferably, dark.. In short, a proper cellar. The period the champagne spends ageing, after it’s left the champagne cellars, is called ‘bottle age’.
So if you have a cellar do keep the champagne for a few weeks or months, but if you put your champagne in the kitchen, in the garage, under the stairs, or anywhere like that, drink it within a few weeks, so you won’t be disappointed when you do finally open it.
The choice is huge and despite many years trying, I still haven''t found THE ONE! (Al)
Keep trying Al – a tough job but someone’s got to do it
Limiting myself to just 1 case ( Martyn)
Spoken like a true champagne lover!
Buying a case at a time is a good way to buy any wine because you tend to get better prices than for single bottles and, unless champagne is a once in a blue moon type of enjoyment, you’ll drink all 6 bottles in a case anyway.
Knowing which of the ''non-big-brand'' champagnes are actually as nice, if not nicer, than the ''names'' when spending a modest amount on a bottle. (Grant)
Knowing what to pick - what is a good champagne and what is a ''bad'' champagne and knowing how to tell the difference!! (Chris)
How can a novice acquire a broad, but simple, understanding of the brands/purchasing options open to us? (Steve)
Here’s a quick guide to what you need to know
before you buy the bottle
1) The quality of the grapes used
2) The blend of grapes used
3) The length of ageing
You need to start with good quality grapes. Look for the words Grand Cru or Premier Cru on the label. This is an indication that what is in the bottle will be good.
The proportion in which the grapes have been blended will dictate the style of the champagne.
The length of ageing has a major influence on the final result and allows the champagne to develop the biscuity, toasty and exotic aromas that many people adore.
If you can’t find this info on the label, (and the chances are you won’t) ask your wine merchant – he should know. If not, buy my e-book
http://www.maboffers.com/insiders-guide-to-champagne.html
(sorry, just had to get that plug in!)
Not knowing any specialist suppliers and having to rely on supermarkets (Matthew)
A fate worse than death Matthew, although as mentioned above, there are some good supermarket champagnes around - the trick is knowing which ones. Anyway Matthew, stay tuned for the launch of our new Grand Crew Club in the New Year
Finding the little bitty letters that specify whether or not it's a grower champagne. If it is a grower producer, I’m usually game to try! (Paul)
Paul, take a look at this blog post. I think you’ll find it helpful
http://bit.ly/Growerchampagnes
That’s it for this now. I think I’ve covered just about all the questions you sent in, but if not e-mail me and tell me.
Thanks for reading this far and don’t forget to let me have your thoughts about the Grand Crew Club and feel free to e-mail me about anything else as well. Looking forward to hearing from you soon
Stay Bubbly,
Jiles
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