We’re Bubbling Over
For most people who make wine, the task is a labor of love. It is a painstaking process, but there is pleasure in taking pains. Think, for example, of George Seurat, with his tiny tiny paintbrush, stippling an enormous canvas with millions of miniscule points of color. He wound up with “Sunday Afternoon on Le Grande Jatte.” Winemaking at the highest level is exactly like that.
Cellar in Champagne
But the making of Champagne lifts the painstakingness to a whole nother dimension. I mean, of all the wines you could choose to produce, Champagne makes you work the hardest. It forces you to ferment it twice instead of just once, yells for constant attention while it’s in the bottle, and then giggles as you store it for years (decades, even) in chalk caves far underground. Maybe, someday far in the future you’ll be able to sell it and make a few euros.
Bottles are stored for a LONG time...
(When we visited a Champagne house a few years ago, their caves must have contained over a quarter million bottles.)
The wonder of it all is that so many people do it…and most of them have been at it since well before Washington crossed the Delaware.
Like Piper-Heidsieck, for example, the company that has generously stepped forward as signature Champagne Sponsor of the upcoming Southwest Florida Wine & Food Fest. They’ve been bottling the bubbly with tremendous success since 1785, so they must be doing something right.
The Vineyards
There’s a lot to be said for making a product that everyone on the planet considers a deliciously indulgent luxury. Sure, you can make a lot of money, but you can have fun with it, too. Like owning your very own network of Roman-era chalk caves far underground in one of the most awesome parts of France. Like asking fashion designer Jean Paul Gautier to develop a package for your Cuvee Speciale. He puts the bottle in a kinky red corset that laces up, it causes quite a stir, and you are showered with huge buzz.
The famous Champagne corset
The Champagnes most of us know best are the most expensive ones. Whenever a celebration is depicted in a movie, like when the hero closes the deal, or the lovable crooks pull off the Big Score, everybody is guzzling from a bottle you instantly recognize. Ask anyone you know, and they’ll probably be able to name at least one brand that sells for upwards of $200. So in a way, Champagne producers are victims of their own marketing success. Their wine is on every bride’s table, poured over the heads of every Super Bowl winner, and if we’re not observing a blessed event, job promotion, New Year’s Eve, or retirement party, most of us don’t drink it on an everyday basis. Too bad.
Downtown Reims
Looked at one way, Champagne is just sparkling white wine. Really good sparkling white wine, but even so. If you’ll open a $30 bottle of Chardonnay with dinner, why not open a similarly-priced Champagne, which is mostly Chardonnay anyway? Champagne is a beverage of charm, style, simplicity, even, and there are bubbly bargains all over the place.
In February, you’ll have the opportunity to expand your Champagne universe by drinking the Big Stuff, because the wonderful people at Piper-Heidsieck will provide the reception wine at each of the Chef and Winemaker dinners to be held on Friday night, February 26. Better yet, you’ll have another bout of the bubbly as they pour for you at the Grand Tasting and Wine Auction the very next day.
More about them very soon, but the details still need a little time in the bottle. News about chefs and winemakers also, as plans firm up.
Here’s to you!