Bubbly, Anyone?

One of the things I love about New York is that people dress up for no reason.  I saw some really cute outfits at the free champagne tasting that our neighborhood wine store, Maslow 6, held yesterday.  The 1-hour champagne tasting showcased 14 different champagnes, including 3 pink champagnes.  The only thing I knew about champagne, walking into the tasting, was that it's carbonated and that it's exclusively produced in the Champagne region of France.  Thankfully, Maslow 6 is terrific about educating their customers (of course, an educated customer is one that's likely to come back for more products!).  Last night's Maslow 6's champagne tasting featured only grower champagnes.

Grower champagne, as the name suggests, is one that the farmers produce.  That is, the farmers grow the grapes and make the champagne themselves.  In order to qualify as a grower champagne, 95% of the grapes must come from their own vineyard.  Compare that to most big wine houses that grow only about 10% of their own grapes.

To spot a grower champagne, look for the code "RM" on the label before the number.

What I learned from the tasting (in addition to grower champagne in general):

• There is a BIG difference between a bottle of freshly opened champagne and one that's been sitting around for an hour or two.  Like Coke and other carbonated drinks, the one that's been opened for a while tastes "flat."  
• I still don't know what makes a Vintage and a Non-Vintage (NV).  Apparently it has to do with the year of the harvest - some years, the harvest is just exceptional so wines that are made with the year's harvest are declared a vintage.  Still not sure how you can declare a vintage - it seems to be up to each vineyard?  Or maybe there's a regulating body that decides based on the weather and other conditions of each year, whether or not the harvest is going to be superior.

Some of my favorite champagnes: 

• R. Dumont & Fils NV - I ended up buying this one for New Year's Eve.  At $34, this is one of the cheapest champagnes that you can find.  I was told that champagnes are generally priced upward of $35.  
• Guy de Chassey NV - 70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay.  This is my favorite champagne of the night, but at $55 a bottle, I couldn't justify spending that since I already spent so much for the holidays. 
• Chartogne-Taillet 'le Rose' 2007 - this is my favorite pink champagne out of the 3 I tasted.