Monday, September 01, 2008

Nothing better than aged bubbles


So I wasn't feeling that well at work on Saturday. All at once I felt nauseated & as if my batteries had run down. After a few hours of keeping myself moving & hydrating I started to come back to life. As much as you all might think, no I was not hungover! I'm not sure what was wrong with me. Richie was concerned not only for my health but also for our plans. We had planned to convene at his condo with our significant others to taste some wine & cook up a tasty meal. Well, after coming back to life, we were back on track. We both were ecstatic to discover that a well aged bottle of Champagne was tucked into the bubbly cooler. Pommery Brut 1992! What a find! We were eager to pop this little beauty open. I downloaded a program called WinePad to my iPhone so I took this as an opportunity to give it a run. The wine poured a rich golden hue with a distinctive clarity, & slow, tiny bubbles. The aroma gave off apricot, nuts, toast, brioche & orange peel with notes of chalk. Richie shouted "it tastes like a triple cream cheese!". In fact it did. It also had flavors of apricot jam, macadamia nuts, artichoke & a lengthy palate that still had so much vibrant acidity.

I love it when we find hidden little gems.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I would have to say that this is the area in the entire wine world where I feel most uninformed. I really have no experience with vintage champagne. Where is a good place to start approaching them?

Michael Hughes said...

Vintage champs are a bit misleading because it used to be that you could depend on every vintage being good because they would only declare a vintage if it was good. Not so much anymore. With the global demand for Champagne increasing at a rapid pace, declaring a vintage seems to happen regularly. So now it really is the same as reading up on vintages elsewhere, nothing beats doing your homework. But one thing I feel very strongly about is the growers. Most every grower champs I've had has been so much more exquisite than a big house. With that being said, I would trust that they would declare vintage when only the best years are achieved. Check out Michael Skurnik: www.skurnikwines.com for more info on grower champagnes. I recently had a bottle of Benoit Lahaye NV that was AMAZING so I would be willing to bet that their vintage is even more unbelievable. Does that help at all??

Unknown said...

Absolutely. Let me know if you ever see anything cross the threshold at the store that I should try. In the meantime, Skurnik is my guy. :)

Nancy Deprez said...

Wow, that Champagne sounds fabulous. Great notes. Nothing like aged Champagne! Or Champagne period.

Agree - love the grower Champagnes from the Terry Theise/Michael Skurnik portfolio.

Michael Hughes said...

Yeah, champs pretty much makes the world a better place!