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Review: Champagne Barnaut Bouzy Grand Cru Blanc de Noirs Brut (NV)
A bigger-is-better Grand Cru Champagne is on the menu for today. Determined to get over my birthday blues, I’m celebrating at Coupes, a chic bubble-centric wine bar in Dallas. Coupes has an eye-popping list that includes–by my quickest count–more than 80 different Champagnes and Crémants by the glass, bottle, and half-bottle. I rattle off some…
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Champagne Road Trip (Part Two): Épernay and Vallée de la Marne
This is Part Two (of Two) of a dream-worthy jaunt to France’s Champagne region. Check out Part One here. Champagne may be a relatively small wine region, but it’s a huge business: A whopping 35% of France’s total wine exports by value. The world’s love for Champagne extends to wine tourism, with an estimated 3.5…
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Champagne Road Trip (Part One): Cathedral and cellars of Reims
Just over an hour from Paris is a city of wonders both sacred and profane. Above ground: The extraordinary Reims Cathedral, its Gothic spires piercing the sky. Below ground: Over 150 miles of chalk tunnels lined with an estimated 200 million bottles of Champagne. To walk among the dusty bottles is a wine lover’s dream.…
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A celebratory bottle: Pommery “Cuvée Louise” Brut Champagne Millésime (2005)
A snazzy Champagne to commemorate a much hoped-for outcome: Passing my WSET Level 3 course with Distinction! We snuck into the bar in the early afternoon to savor the sweet, sweet taste of success. Vibrant medium lemon in the glass with amazing clarity and many slow, finely distributed bubbles. Aromas of fresh and candied lemon,…
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Champagne Taittinger tasting at The Wine Authority (Richardson, TX)
It would be insane to abstain from Champagne when Taittinger is being poured. And so, dozens of wine lovers herded ourselves into The Wine Authority for a wide-ranging tasting of six Taittinger labels, including the prestigious “Comtes de Champagne.” French wine specialist Benjamin Samacoïts-Etchegpin of Kobrand Wine & Spirits was on hand to answer questions…
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Champagne Laurent-Perrier tasting at Pogo’s Wine & Spirits (Dallas, TX)
I used to credit most of Champagne’s popularity to marketing glitz. It’s all about the image, right? I guzzled cheap Cava and grocery-store Crémant, feeling smug and wise. But I was wrong. Good Champagne, alas, occupies its own tier of deliciousness among sparkling wines. The bubbles are finer, the texture richer, the flavors brighter and…
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Review: Berlucchi ’61 Extra Brut Franciacorta
Celebrations require bubbles…even if all you’re celebrating is that it’s finally 5 PM. For At-Home Happy Hour today we have a lovely bottle of ’61 Extra Brut Franciacorta by Guido Berlucchi & C. Franciacorta–as I’m sure many of my readers already know–is Italy’s answer to Champagne. It’s made in a similar style/method to French fizz,…
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Review: Louis Bouillot Perle de Vigne Crémant de Bourgogne
Cleaning out the wine fridge after New Year’s, and I find this bottle shoved all the way in the back. Quel dommage! I forgot to serve it at the party. I opened a bag of leftover cheese cubes, pulsed all the extra charcuterie-board olives into a tapenade, and popped that cork for me and my…