I do love champagne, and over the festive period I have had the opportunity to try a number of different ones with my loved ones.
Firstly lets start with Bollinger Grande Année, a fantastic moving present from my other half. This was an amazing champagne, granted I do love the Bollinger style, whether it be their vintage or their Special Cuvée. This was my second trying of the Grande Année and it is just as special as the first. This champagne has an amazing structure to it and has a beautiful yeasty nose which just begged the drinker to top up their glass!
I then moved onto another vintage champagne, Perrier-Jouët Vintage 1998. This was for another lovely occasion, a rugby Ice-Ball, and again although I love the Perrier-Jouët Grand Brut NV it is worth upgrading every now and again to the vintage just to try it. The vintage has zesty citrus and apple fruits on the nose and because of the age it has developed a honeyed complexity.
In the run up to Christmas and after a very long day at the office my flatmate and I decided it would be a good idea to celebrate the end of an 11 hour day with a lovely cold bottle of Heidsieck Gold Top Vintage, a total steal at £18.99 on a multi buy offer at Majestic Wine until the end of January 2010. Although we had the 2002 not the 2004 currently on offer if you lay it down for a year or so it will develop into an amazing champagne. It certainly put a smile on our face after a very long day and really is a bottle of elegance, well worth a try!
As most people in the trade would agree to start Christmas day properly champagne needs to be opened as soon as possible. At my house a bottle of Pol Roger Réserve NV was opened and enjoyed by all! This was a surprise, especially as it had been laid down in an under the stairs cupboard for 6 months, moved house and left under a bed for a few months then finally found its resting place in the garage at my parents house until the big day. It has some amazing zesty flavours on the palate and nose and is perfect for any sort of occasion.
Between Christmas and New Year just so that we didn’t go into withdrawal and decided a combination of Lindauer, well you can’t live off champagne, and Piper-Heidsieck Brut NV. Then New Year came round and we went for Taittinger Brut Réserve NV, a champagne that I haven’t tried today. It’s a consistent crowd pleaser and perfectly matched with delicately flavoured food or just by itself at midnight.
So all in all the festive period led to far more champagne being consumed than what should really be by 3 people. Oh well, I am sure January is supposed to be for detox!