So there was a bit of a promotion at Beau Rivage the other day for a certain Champagne that has been in the news lately (check the links at the end of this rant). Armand de Brignac made its debut with it's new distributor on the island and sadly yours truly did not receive an invitation. I have always wanted to try this particular wine simply because it is the most expensive bottle of Champagne money can buy ($400 for NV Brut, $500 for Rosé). Relatively new to the Champagne world the fine folks at Armand de Brignac (or Ace of Spades as it is otherwise known) have created what they claim is the finest Champagne in all the land and they held a blind tasting to prove it. Whatever.
So, yeah, I didn't get an invitation. No big deal. I've got friends in the wine industry here in Bermuda and I was able to get my hands on a bottle. So I had to compare it to what I have always considered to be the finest Champagne on the planet, along with a few friends in the industry and my homemade pizza, because nothing goes better with Champagne than pizza.
Before I get to that however, let me just digress about my feelings regarding Champagne a little.
The world of Champagne is one of the most trumped up, image based industries out there. Few people rarely taste and compare champagnes to the point of determining a favorite based on anything more than the price tag associated with it. Yellow Label (it's friggin' orange!) from Clicquot is brilliant. The loudest most visible label in the room, so everyone knows what you're drinking and how much it cost. The folks that own Clicquot (LVMH) also own Moët Chandon (Dom Pérignon), Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Givenchi, Dior, TagHeur, De Beers diamonds...the list goes on. All the luxury brands under one roof. That is all fine and good, however speaking as someone who knows nothing about watches or hand bags, but a lot about wine, I'm a little annoyed.
I'm annoyed because I don't want to have to spend more money on a product than what it's worth. Especially something I consume. A diamond may last forever, but a bottle of Champagne is gone as soon as I swallow. After visiting Champagne and being wined and dined by the Champagne houses, it was very disappointing to realize just where all the money they are making of those overpriced bottles is going. Don't get me wrong, I love the history of these places and think that the novelty back in the 1700's and 1800's of secondary fermentation, must have been all the rage. But now it's just a rip-off. Bottom line is qualitatively speaking, there are not enough "Grand Cru" vineyards in all of Champagne to come anywhere close to providing enough grapes for how much Dom Perignon is produced.
So, okay, you get my point on Champagne. The irony of all this is the world's best Champagne is produced by LVMH, that same luxury goods company I am demonizing, but it is a Champagne house you probably have not heard of. My favorite Champagne in the world (and most Champagne snobs favorite for that matter) is Krug ($200). Ask anyone out there who really pays attention to the world of Champagne, what the best Champagne is (qualitatively speaking) and they will no doubt answer Krug. And it is because they produce Champagne like no other producer.
Non Vintage Champagne is labeled non-vintage because it is a blend of multiple vintages of wine that is turned into a base wine for blending. Each new lot of non-vintage Champagne is blended with different ratios of other years' wine to create a consistent style. Krug's Non-Vintage can have upwards of 10-15 different vintages blended into the final lot. No other producer comes close. The wine itself then spends upwards of 18 months in a barrel and is in constant contact with the lees (the solid bits that fall out of the wine and add complexity) again other producers, if you are lucky, may do 10 months. These are expensive processes that drive up the cost of the wine and ultimately deem its quality and justify the price tag. Finally, and most importantly to me when talking about the justification of luxury costs, is the fact that Krug sources from the highest percentage of Grand Cru vineyards in Champagne and its production is relatively small, making it rare and in my definition of a luxury item, just about spot on.
So, back to the pizza and Champagne tasting. Armand de Brignac was incredibly light bodied with super fine beads of bubbles ever so delicately making their way from the bottom of my glass to a little baby explosion at the top. I detected a slight sweetness to it, almost as if the dosage (sweet liquer they add to induce secondary fermentation, or, the stuff that makes the bubbles) was not completely fermented and residual sugar was present. Krug was rich, complex, delicate without being light bodied, changed and evolved as it warmed in the glass and breathed a little, it was simply magnificent. As always, it seemed amongst all of us, that the two wines were almost incomparable. Armand de Brignac is great, but in my opinion does not justify its price tag and is headed down the image road that all the other producers of luxury goods have created. Just its pewter label (that is allegedly affixed by hand) and the gold bottle, reek of image and are screaming to be noticed. Well, I noticed it. I drank it, I will let someone else buy it the next time I drink it.
http://sanfrancisco.ibtimes.com/articles/163585/20110615/mavericks-owner-mark-cuban-buys-90-000-90k-champagne-bottle-for-players-tip.htm
http://www.namedevelopment.com/blog/archives/2006/10/jayz_draws_an_ace_of_spades_brand_cristal_pulls_a.html
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