Let's talk bubbles

"I only drink Champagne when I'm happy, and when I'm sad. Sometimes I drink it when I'm alone. When I have company, I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I am not hungry and drink it when I am. Otherwise I never touch it - unless I'm thirsty"

Lily Bollinger

"Too much of anything is bad, but too much Champagne is just right"

Mark Twain

Drinking bubbles around our house is a common occurrence. I blame this on our neighbors the Blanchard’s. Joe and Melissa are close friends who love good food and good wine. As I have the good food and they have the good wine, it is a match made in heaven. ( It’s not that I don’t have good wine he just has better wine and it’s not that he can’t cook but…if you have had the Spécialité’ de la Maison of hamburger and rice, well……)

Most of us think of champagne as a festive wine to be drunk at weddings and parties. But champagne is just wine and more and more folks are enjoying it before a meal as an aperitif or with a meal just like any other wine.

What is this wine with the bubbles? Where is from? How is it made?

Champagne is produced in, well, Champagne which is Northeast of Paris. Only sparkling wine produced in Champagne can be called champagne.

Although most champagne is white, two of the three grapes used to produce it are red: pinot noir and pinot meunier. The other major grape used is chardonnay.

Fermenting champagne twice is part of the process know as Méthode Champenoise.

This method includes adding sugar during the second fermentation which, among other things, how the wine is classified. The most common being Brut which is considered dry champagne

Most of the champagne produced is non-vintage or “NV”. These NV wines are blends of juice from several years. It is quite an art to blend wine from different years so as to taste the same year after year.

If there is a particularly good vintage then a producer may bottle a vintage champagne witch will have the vintage year on the bottle. Vintage champagnes will be harder to find and more expensive.

That brings me to the problem of drinking champagne on a regular basis……it is expensive!

So what can we do to enjoy our bubbles without breaking the bank?

One thing we can do is buy sparkling wine from France or Spain that is made the same way as champagne but less expensive. In France you would look for Cremant and in Spain, Cava. Also, Italy makes a number of sparkling wines, one we like is Prosecco. It is made differently and tends to be a little lighter but it is refreshing and much cheaper then the real thing.

I could go on and on about this but my editorial staff (daughter Susan) says some of my posts are too long so I’ll end here. If you want some specific names or have a question send me an email.

After all, what is your host's purpose in having a party? Surely not for you to enjoy yourself; if that were their sole purpose, they'd have simply sent champagne and women over to your place by taxi.

P. J. O'Rourke