Aurielle 2008

A very smooth and well balanced California cab marked with "restraint" in terms of keeping med+ acid, smooth tannins, richly concentrated fruit in balance. The use of oak is only apparent from its benefit in terms of giving oxygen to the wine (new french oak and used). Lots of Bordeaux cherry, some zesty cranberry, and interesting layers of flavor.
 

N.V. Pommery Champagne POP Earth (France, Champagne)

bubbles: gorgeous, fast moving, tiny ... beautiful to behold
nose: med+ intensity, brioche, toasty, very delicious
palate: dry ... seems like at least under five grams/litre RS, possible just 2 or 3, acid is med tannin is low body is med alc is 12 estimate finish is med with minerals, citrus notes, hazelnut skin ...

Style note: The gorgeous light gold color, fountain of bubbles, and aroma make a gorgeous presentation. The palate is medium bodied with citrus as well as brioche and baked apple. Good with dessert. By Josh Raynolds
Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar, December 2009
(NV Pommery Pop Earth Brut) ($55; made from sustainably grown grapes; L91870) Bright yellow with a strong bead. Orange rind and green apple aromas are straightforward and fresh. Juicy orchard fruit flavors become drier in the middle palate and pick up a hint of white pepper. Pleasantly bitter and refreshing, with good finishing clarity, spiciness and a slightly hard edge. This wine has a dosage of 10 g/l, which is far lower than that of the other current Pop bottlings. 87 points

Wilson Winery Carl's Vineyard 2009 Zinfandel

Interesting story about this spicy delicious Zinfandel ... the vineyard is named after Ken Wilson's father, an electrical engineer ... a vineyard named after his mother, Dorothy, is nearby. The wine is very well made, medium-bodied yet rich and extremely well balanced at the same time, with layers of flavor and a medium + finish. Perfect with grilled lamb.

596 Cases, $34

2009 Black-Sears Vineyard Zinfandel Howell Mountain V. Sattui Vineyard

Coming from the highest vineyard in the Howell Mountain sub appellation, this gets more sunlight yet has cooler mountain air, so the wine is full and rich yet has bracing acidity and a long finish. The rocky porous volcanic soils provide excellent drainage.

Winemaking: Grapes de-stemmed without crushing the berries, fermented in stainless steel, racked to French oak barrels and aged for 18 months. Only 329 cases produced $42. Wine is extremely well balanced without being too jammy, very elegant with lots of finesse. $42

2009 Crow Ridge Vineyard Zinfandel Russian River, V. Sattui Vineyard

White chalk soil from volcanic ash deposits is one of the more unique aspects of the terroir. The wine is very old world in style, with excellent balance, med+ acidity, and med+ length. Aged 18 months in 20% new American oak and 70% new and seasoned French/American oak. 727 cases produced. Delicious. $37.

2009 Quaglia Vineyard Zinfandel St. Helena V. Sattui Vineyard

This plot used to be where Italian growers planted "field blends" and you can still detect some Petite Sirah and Carignane in this delicious spicy wine. This was barrel-aged for 18 months in both new and seasoned American and French oak barrels. 446 cases produced. $39.

So now after two and a half days of drinking $$$$ of very fine champagne (as a guest!) I am back in New York and looking for something slightly more affordable for Christmas.

At Le Bernadin last week, sommelier Aldo Sohm (who won best sommelier in the world competition and is always winning new ones) introduced me to two new champagnes, Phippe Gonet 3210 -- very clever title as it means 3 years of aging, 2 terroirs, 1 grape (chardonnay) and zero dossage. I LOVED this champagne ... it was a pure beam of clean fruit with a delicate mousse that dissolved like a cloud in your mouth.

Alas ... I couldn't find it for Xmas so the store recommended Laherte Brut Tradition NV (below)

The other wine was Jacques Lassaigne Les Vignes de montgueux, which I bought today for our Christmas feast with pastries from Thomas Keller's Bouchon.

Jacques Lassaigne is a 4.7 hectare family vineyard located in Montgueux. The vineyards boast prime southeastern exposure & consist primarily of Chardonnay vines (94%) & the rest is made up of Pinot Noir (6%). The Montgueux vineyard sites were originally held for the Montrachet of Champagne & are located near the gates of Troyes—the former capital of Champagne.

The terroir in Montgueux is nearly identical to the growing sites found further north in le Mesnil, as they share the same limestone vain —this is exceptional terroir for making great champagne. The non-vintage Blanc de Blanc is a blend of nine different vineyard sites & two successive vintages.

Age of Vines: 35 Years

Yields: 60 hl/ha

Pruning Method: Guyot

Soil: Heavy clay.

Varietals: Chardonnay.

The grapes are harvested by hand—from 9 different sites—at their maximum ripeness before being destemmed & gently pressed. The fruit undergoes complete malolactic fermentation & no sulfites are added to the blend. The wine is aged in new & old barrels for 12 to 24 months & held in bottle for 1 to 5 years until it is disgorged, corked & released.

Tasting Note: Pale straw in the glass with lovely mineral, dried fruit & citrus zest aromatics that reflect the purest expression of the Montgueux terroir. The palate is vibrantly alive with crisp citrus & melon flavors that are backed by deft acidity & dazzling minerality. The finish resonates with succulent citrus notes.

Laherte Brut Tradition NV

The word on cellertracker is mixed ... some call it "adolescent" (ouch! after all that mature 1980's Champagne in Champagne a few weeks ago!) with some giving it the dreaded 88 points ... the "kind" score for a wine you want to support but don't really like.

Still, I am re-assured by some people saying it has notes of honeydew, strawberry, green apple, and lemon cake (a real fruit salad) though others call it bracing, zippy, and full of "masculine charm"

And yet JW of Chambers street wines  recommended it highly, saying:

"On occasion saying that we’ve made a ‘discovery’ is really kind of silly. In this case these wines have been around for quite a while (1889, in fact – a mere newcomer by some standards) but they’re new to us – thus a discovery.

I’d been hearing about Laherte, and I ended up tasting them in Italy – at the fabulous natural wine fair called VinNatur; there were a few Champagne producers there, but none of those wines came close to the distinctiveness – and just plain excellence of Laherte. As you might now assume, this is natural wine: organic and biodynamic farming on an unusually diverse and large number of terroirs (over 75 vineyard parcels in 10 different villages).

Each wine is vinified separately and subject to a range of technique – fermentation in tank, barrique, and foudre (large wood barrels); malolactic on some wines and not on others – all depending on what each wine requires as it evolves. The dosage is very low (dosage = “The final addition to a sparkling wine… which determines the sweetness, or residual sugar, of the finished wine. In French this is called the liqueur d’expedition and usually comprises a mixture of wine and sugar syrup” – Jancis Robinson, the Oxford Companion to Wine) – the wines are very fresh and vivid, but also quite rich and ripe – evidently very good quality fruit is used.

All of the range of wines are excepetionally good: excellent NV Brut and Rose, and the fantastic Les Clos – a unique blend of all seven types of grapes that are permitted for use in Champagne – one our best wine discoveries, sparkling or still, that we’ve made this year. JW"

Also, Columbus Circle wines recommended both of the wines above

Drive up to the home/winery of winemaker Francis Boulard -- who makes some of the finest Champagne I have ever tasted -- and you will see a modest farmhouse, colorful children’s toys in the large driveway, and … a trampoline.

The farmhouse had been purchased by Francis, his wife, and daughter/winemaker Delphine after a "break up" with his father's Raymond Boulard Champagne House , with the family's involvment in wine traceable to the French Revolution in 1792.

Francis Boulard's first contact with wines when he stood behind his grandfather's horse-driven plough at the age of 14 -- his grandfather was the last to resist the mechanization which followed the end of WW II

During his time in the family business Raymond Boulard & Fils (founded in 1980) Francis became increasingly interested in viticulture. Wanting to move towards vines that were grown as naturally as possible, he pushed the estate towards organic methods, resulting in the conversion in the 2000s of a proportion of the vineyards towards organic agriculture.

After Raymond’s death, Francis – feeling his family still did not understand organic wine and wanting to do something healthy for consumers and his own self, as well as the planet. - Francis decided to make as many of his vineyards biodynamic as possible so he "divorced" his family and went on his own with his wife and daughter.

One of the problems with being biodynamic in Champagne is the cold, wet, rainy weather ... it is harder to control mildew in these situations with natural remedies. And working with land that had previously had chemicals was a problem, as the chemicals destroyed the indigenous yeast and made it more difficult to start fermentation. To combat these problems, he revitalized key vineyards with organic dirt buried in a cow horn he bought from a professor of biodynamics in France.

To combat disease and make for healthier vines, he dissolves the organic dirt above, containing healthy earthworms, in water and sprays it over the land. He also uses another organic compound to fight mildew. Yet no spray can avoid the hailstorms that often strike the area, destroying as much as sixty percent of the crop.

Another key thing to know is that he stopped using a certain fining agent because it contained salmon bladder (gelatin), and the salmon had been farm raised, instead of wild, which meant it had been fed chemicals.

Francis conducts battonage along with the lunar calendar, as he feels it gives more complexity yet he has only been tracking this for two years and the results are not yet clear.

During our visit to the maturation room, we see he uses a mix of Bordeaux and Burgundy barrels because the shapes and staves are different, and thus, the oxygen exchange due to the ratio of wine to barrel is different and important for the final blend.

Finally, the tasting ... the wines are all fabulous, and there is a discussion of dossage, malolactic, and other factors as we taste through the line.

Les Murgiers Cuvee Reserve has fine beads, a shy nose, and palate with intense minerality and flavors of lemon chiffon and East Indian spices, along with ginger and quince. We try the Les Murgiers "nature" (no dossage) which has a more intense nose, a more tart profile, and sea salt on the palate.

Les Rachans is based on chardonnay grown on limestone silliceux - we taste the '06 and picked on "fruit day " and bottled on "fruit day.

Francis explains that his biodynamic teacher said that sometimes when you bottle on fruit day ihe wine is closed, so it is better to bottle on "flower day."

This wine is light gold color, with an Intense aroma of saffron and golden flowers. Palate is concentrated quince ... it needs another five years.

We try the Grand cru Mailly champagne (90% pinot noir,  10% chardonnay) 2008 extra brut - it has an aroma  of vanilla with a touch of honey and vanilla, as well as its no dossage counterpart.

This was a wonderful visit and fabulous introduction to biodynamic champagne.

See all champagne houses visited here

"How theatrical!" Was the response as we entered the red velvet walls of Le Theatre in Epernay, a charming town with its petite pretty parks and Belle Epoque buildings.

18th century Paris and some modern romantic arty types of pieces (silouttes anyone?) decorated the restaurant's red walls.

"Welcome!" said the movie star handsome Philippe Wilbrotte with his dark "Mad Men" Dan Draper styled hair and gleaming white teeth. Wilbrotte is charming and quite fluent in English ("oui, hello!") He says as he answers the occassional cell phone call.

Over our lunch of Souris d'agneau braisee a l'ail and Ecrase de patates douces paired with Jacquesson Cuvee 734 and Nougat glace compotee de fruits du moment paired with Brochet Hervieux Cuvee rose our group introduced ourselves. Three of the ten of us are Master of Wine students with one real Master of Wine amongst us which have us (me?) worrying about minding my p's and q's.

nougat

Inside the CIVC, Philippe gave a Powerpoint presentation of the four key initiatives. For the sake of brevity one of the concerns under the 'economics' platform was to build more luxury hotels and incite Parisian visitors to spend the weekend (and of course their cash) in the businesses in the community. During this time there was also discussion of the 'no new planting rule" as there is concern that without it Champagne can end up like Bordeaux with so many hectares under vine the wine sells for a Euro a bottle.

Technical information revolved around the increasing organic activity of producers and research into lighter bottle weight to reduce the carbon footprint.

Communications goals revolve around bringing more sommeliers and educators to Champagne and intensifying social media as well as mainstream press. The AWE trip falls under this umbrella.

Protection, the fourth initiative, is a key component. Still today too many people use the Champagne name in a generic way and a lot of CIVC activity is devoted to stopping imposters.

This introduction really set the tone for our visit, for we had a very good foundation of the economics of the community and the concerns of the growers, the large houses, and the community in general. As we visited the various producers, we knew to ask them questions about planting, which really to me was the key issue. The basic rule in Champagne is that one has to own a house or be a grower to purchase more land. True, some millionaires (billionaires?) can buy a house, and through this method be in a position to buy up more land to plant new land.

On the “technical” side we also knew to ask questions about what each house or producer was doing to become more organic or in the example of one producer, Francis Bouland, biodynamic. Bouland was an amazing visit, as he was constantly bringing us physical examples of the methods he was using to get to most from his soil (earthworms in freshly bought earth taken from a cow’s horn, anyone?).

The presentation ended with a tasting with Mme Violaine de Caffarelli, OEnologue Chargée de Communication and discussion of malolactic fermentation in champagne.

To read all Champagne visits, please click here

Our van

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"Now all we need are sun umbrellas!" said a friend recently at Brasserie Beaumarchais, a very fun restaurant with a lively club-style brunch.

The restaurant scene in St. Tropez is fairly wild and decadent with wealthy patrons spraying expensive champagne at one another and bikini-clad patrons dancing to loud disco music. The scene was more subdued at Beaumarchais, and decidedly more elegant with the gorgeous chandeliers, elegant red velvet curtains, and cool, clean style of the place. One visitor described it this way: imagine the most elegant restaurant your parents would take you to for a graduation lunch, only to see it turn into a club at the strike of three pm." 

If you are in the right mood  (and who wouldn't be?) it's impossible to imagine a more fun experience on a Sunday afternoon in New York. The champagne list is quite extensive, rose wine is served by the magnum, and you will find some excellent choice Bordeaux on the list.

What's most surprising about Beaumarchais, beyond the fine wine and champagne list, is how good the cuisine really is. With throbbing music and people dancing on chairs, excellent cuisine is a surprise. Executive Chef Nicolas Cantrel worked under the famed Alain Ducasse in Paris as well as one of my all-time favorite chefs, Daniel Boulud, here in New York. The space was most recently Bagatelle (reviewed here) which had the same Sunday party theme.

Beyond the great food and wine, you will find your usual club scene, including bikini-clad house dancers, a male dancer dressed as some sort of lizard-like creature, and lots of sparklers and commotion when patrons celebrating birthdays ordered expensive bottles of champagne.Fans of Club 55, one of the longest-lived and most popular of St. Tropez's beach cafes, will enjoy the shared platters, especially the fresh vegetable plate. Fun!

409 West 13th Street, (212) 675-2400.

Rather risky, don’t you think, to put a California sparkling wine up for comparison among some of the best houses in Champagne? Yet that’s what Hugh Davies did in NYC recently when presenting his sparkling wines to a very select group of journalists.

“Of course, I can detect a California sparkler!” you might think to yourself, walking into a room and sitting down in front of six rose colored wines, all to be tasted blind. The five Champagnes are among the priciest and most famed in the world, selling for hundreds of dollars per bottle. Yet the sixth is an “imposter” – not a Champagne from the named region in Northern France, but a Napa Valley sparkler.

Students of fine wine are quick to learn that one of the visual “markers” of a true fine Champagne (or any quality sparkler, really) is the “mouse” or bubbles. The best sparkling wines have a very fine, very persistent stream of bubbles, the tinier the better the wine. Wines with larger, coarser bubbles are often tank produced (instead of the traditional method, like champagne) or produced with less care.

Wines 1 – 4 were very pale and elegant, the robe (or color as they say in France) was like that of a pale onion skin. The two on the extreme right were a deeper, brighter shade of orange-rose and looked suspiciously “New World-ish.”

Not to name names, but within the confines of the small room were a dozen of the best known writers in New York and, for all practical purposes, the world. And as we sniffed and swirled the wines blind, I was already imagining how horrible it would be for Hugh when the scores were collected and the Champagne “imposter” was easily detected. Yet amazingly, in a sea of well known top Champagne brands, the more affordable sparkelr Schramsberg came in first.

Here is the breakdown:

1. J. Schram 2001, 52 points total, $130
2. Roederer Cristal 2002, Rose, 57 points total, $549
3. Perrier Jouet Fleur 2002, 71 points total, $300
4. Krug NV, 74 points total, $300
5. Dom Perignon 2000, 77 points total, $319
6. Veuve Cliquout Le Grande Dame 1998, 84 points total, $300

Family owned since 1965 (the year of Hugh’s birth), the original Schramsberg winery was built in 1862 by German immigrant Jacob Schram. Schramsberg uses the “Traditional Method” to make its nine distributed sparkling wines, the sitgnature vintage dated Reserve, J. Schram and J. Schram Rose, the classic vintage dated Blanc de Blancs, Blanc de Noirs, Brut Rose, and Cremant, and the multi-vintage Mirabelle and Mirabelle Rose, with production at just 60,000 cases annually. The grapes are hand-crafted in that they are hand-harvested, and the bottles are stacked and riddled in underground caves. Unique among California sparkling wine houses, Schramsberg ferments 25 percent of its juice in oak barrels.

All in all, this was a fascination and very focused presentation by Hugh and his entire team. After the blind tasting of sparkling wines, we had a second flight – the J. Schram Progressive – in which we could compare the “natural” base blend with wines with different dosage. The final flight compared different sparklers , including the 2001 Reserve and a Cremant Demi-Sec, with food. For example, the Blanc de Blanc 2006 went very well with a smoked salmon crepe, while the more substantial J. Davies had the weight to pair with lamb.

I’ve been to the winery for many years, as they are active with the Napa Valley Wine Auction, and always put on a fabulous show. Next time you are in Napa you should visit!

schramsberg

When I was head of Deg.Com Communications in Boston, working with small companies to build buzz for their business, I often spoke at a variety of conventions ranging from the Institute of Management Consultants to Book Expo America to the National Speaker’s Association. No matter what the business I always suggested that media-hungry entrepreneurs begin their day by reading the news.

Are you a PR rep for a wine company? Take this hint from the PR arm of a champagne entity who read an article in the Boston Globe that a 200 year old ship was found with a cache of perfectly delicious champagne. The champagne entity took advantage of this “new news” to talk about how to store and serve champagne, promoting their own brand in the process.

Much of this information is available in my book, Building Buzz (you can click on the image in the sidebar for more info).

Tomorrow when you are reading the paper, be sure to have an eye out for news that can help you promote your wine … or whatever it is you happen to sell!

Curious about some favorite Champagnes? At a recent Wine Media Guild (WMG) event here in New York I had the opportunity to taste several different brands for this holiday season. Speaking at the event - an annual event - was Ed McCarthy, author of Champagne for Dummies

Below are some of my favorite wines, yet before you rush out to buy them, you should understand my personal preference for Champagne with a lot of toast and weight. If you like delicate wines the ones listed below may not be your cup of, er, tea.

1999 Delamotte Blanc de Blanc (Wilson Daniels) $75 - $85

This wine was so great it had me writing little exclamation marks all over my tasting notes. It is 100% Grand Cru Chardonnay. Very rich, full bodied, with lots of toast.

2004 Deutz Brut Classic (Maison Marques et Domaines USA) $65

An even third of the classic Champagne grapes of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Meunier, this was a terrific value and incredibly delicious. Many people in the U.S. don't know Deutz but this is a good producer.

2000 Charles Heidsieck Brut (Remy Cointreau USA) $70

Flavors of rich butter, toast, and incredibly delicious - a winner.

1995 Henriot "Cuvee des Enchanteleurs" Brut Prestige Cuvee (Henriot USA) $135

Very full bodied and rich, with lots of toast and exceptional balance.

“On Valentines’ Day I would always buy boxed sets of Perrier-Jouet Champagne with matching glasses so my guests would have a memoir of the evening,” said a well-connected restaurateur at a recent lunch to celebrate past and present vintages of the House of Perrier-Jouet Fleur De Champagne Portfolio.

Of course, you know the House of Perrier-Jouet brand – it is easily recognizable by the floral anemone design created by Emile Galle, the master glassmaker of the Art Nouveau movement, in 1902. Just looking at the bottle makes one feel happy, gay, and in the mood to celebrate something fun. And it also takes one back to the fabled Belle Epoque period in Paris, when appreciation of gastronomy, wine, and the arts were at its peak.

Fabien Gay PJ Regional Director

The star of today’s luncheon is the guardian of the Perrier-Jouet house style since 1993, Herve Deschamps, a very charming, well-spoken gentleman charged with enormous responsibility, as he is only the seventh Chef de Cave in Perrier-Jouet’s two hundred year history. As you might suspect, he grew up in the Champagne region where his grandfather grew grapes and sold them to the large Champagne houses. Entranced by the magic of how grapes grown on the best soil turn up in the bottles of the world’s most coveted champagne, young M. Deschamps studied and earned degrees in agriculture and oenology at the university in Dijon, then joined Perrier-Jouet in 1983 as oenologist in charge of the fermentation process and cellar aging of wines before rising to his current position.

In addition to showcasing top vintages, the tasting lunch was also an opportunity to see how easily one can pair the champagne with food. Most Americans consider champagne appropriate for only an aperitif or a toast, yet the Perrier-Jouet champagnes paired well with every course. Upon arrival, guests were poured the Perrier-Jouet Fleur de Champagne Brut 2000, with its crisp, subtle brioche and apple nose.

lobster

Perrier-Jouet Fleur de Champagne 1998 (in magnum) was paired with the Lobster salad with avocado and citrus vinaigrette, and proved a perfect partner The citrus of the salad’s dressing matched the hint of citrus in the champagne, and the light body of the champagne matched the texture of the dish, both in weight and tropical spirit. As for technical details of the 1998, it was a year of global warming with a very hot August which paved the way for very high sugar and potential alcohol (not a good thing in Champagne). Yet Mr. Deschamps was able to work his magic in the cellar and create a spectacular cuvee (Chardonnay 50%, Pinot Noir 45%, and 5% Pinot Meunier).

The second course of Roast foie gras, buttered radishes, and sweet onion cream was paired with Perrier-Jouet Fleur de Champagne 1999, a very aromatic wine opening with white flowers and a touch of honey and ending with a hint of brioche. It was really a perfect and refreshing pairing compared to Sauternes, which is traditionally paired with foie gras. The 1999 gave the dish a refreshing new lightness.

menu

Perrier-Jouet Fleur Blancs de Blancs 2000 was paired with the main course of braised turbot, asparagus, and caviar cream sauce. Blanc de Blanc means Chardonnay only, and this vintage was sourced from a single vineyard in a single year. Mr. Deschamps explained that only two parcels are used in the blend, Bourons-Leroy and Bourons du Midi located in the village of Cremant. Champagne aficionados would be interested to know that the conditions in the parcel enable vines to easily bypass the thin layer of topsoil and take root into the pure limestone. This wine is produced in such small quantities every country in the world, I learn, fights for allocation.

Dessert, described as Yuzu crème turned out to be a refreshing sorbet from this citrus-like Yuzu fruit, combined with a long rectangle of cake, was a wonderful pairing with the Perrier-Jouet 2002 Fleur De Champagne Rose, made from 55% Pinot Noir and 45% Chardonnay. On the nose, one can detect floral notes of peony and rose, and on the palate, silky flavors of strawberry and raspberry. Once the grapes are pressed and racked, the clear juice is transported to Epernay for fermentation in modern stainless steel tanks. Once all the base wines are fermented M. Deschamps must taste from over 300 separate lots to choose the best, which are blended into the final cuvee.

dessert

So now, you are probably wondering what it must have been like to sit next to a grand master with such a sophisticated, well-schooled nose and palate. And you can imagine that as a journalist and wine scholar, I was bubbling over with questions. Yet nothing I could ask M. Deschamps could be explained in words. Asking him how he whittles down 300 base wines to just a few for the final cuvee would be like asking a fish how it knows how to swim. One suspects a Chef de Cave like Mr. Deschamps has a natural instinct for flavor combinations that must have been developed in childhood at his grandfather’s vineyard, verified at oenology school, and perfected as assistant to his predecessor Andre Bavaret.

Ed McCarthy Champagne for Dummies

All in all, a spectacular opportunity to sample the world’s best vintage champagne by the side of a grand master. At the conclusion of the luncheon, when asked which vintage was his favorite, M. Deschamps could only laugh. “They are all my children. I cannot decide between them.”
 

"I've had this wine before!" says a friend, savoring the pale salmon sparkling wine during a New Year's brunch. "Was it at the Ritz-Carlton? The Peninsula hotel in L.A.? It was someplace posh ..."

When the subject of the conversation is Mumm's popular NV Blanc de Noir sparkling wine, "posh" is a word that comes easily to mind. Perhaps it is the seductive pale salmon color of this sparkler, or the appetizing aroma of grilled bread, ripening apples, and buttery croissant that aficionados find so agreeable. Or the way it matches so well with savory dishes, especially during brunch or a formal luncheon. Either way, this is a popular go-to wine when you need to find a delicious, attractive looking sparkler to pair with a menu you created, or choose from a restaurant's wine list.

Mumm's Blanc de Noir was my first introduction to the flirtatious Noir world at the tender age of twenty-three. I spotted the sparkler listed on a Ritz-Carlton menu, and in those innocent pre-wine diploma days, the "de Noir" name was as provocative as its racy berry color and deeper, richer, darker, and more structured mouthfeel. It looked and tasted more "dangerous" than the white sparklers I had experienced. Just as is the case in a film noir (I was an executive at MGM at the time), I saw the white-colored sparklers as the typical innocent blonde - safe and virginal. With my first sip, the Mumm's Blanc de Noir seemed the sultry brunette - dark and much more exciting.

Flash forwarding to 2009, I continue to find Mumm's Blanc de Noir very exciting. True, I have experienced the most expensive champagnes in the world, yet this specific wine is always my go-to wine when I see it on a menu or when I am planning a formal lunch or dinner. Why? I really enjoy the mouthful, especially the wine's weight and balance. I find it a very superior food wine, though matching the wine with the right kind of food is key.

Let us take brunch as an example. Mumm's Blanc de Noir would be fantastic with a mushroom omelet, a mushroom infused quiche, or even French Toast with a sprinkling of powdered sugar. The pretty pale salmon color looks quite appetizing in a champagne flute, and the subtle tannins from the brief contact with the Pinot Noir grape (which gives the wine its color) give the wine substance and structure.

If you visit a Ritz-Carlton or other upscale hotel during teatime, Mumm's Blanc de Noir is again an excellent choice to pair with the many savory dishes served during this hour on a three-tier silver platter. And think how fashionable you will look holding a glass that boasts a dramatic salmon tint.

Of course, Blanc de Noir is also the perfect aperitif before dinner as it stimulates the appetite and pairs well with a wide variety of hors d'oeurvres. Many people increasingly sip sparklers through every course at dinner, yet my personal opinion is that sparklers are best served during the cocktail hour, paired with a savory starter, and served again during dessert.

Yet beyond all else, what I love about Mumm's Blanc de Noir is what it says about the person who orders it - especially if their guest has never seen a non-white sparkler before. It positions the host as worldly, deep - and yes, a bit dangerous.