Wine

Tickets on Sale Saturday For Dayton’s Premier Wine & Gourmet Food Event!

March 11, 2015 By Lisa Grigsby

The original “Party in the Park” was the brain child of two friends, Vail Miller Sr. of Heidelberg and Mike Frank of Arrow Wine. With a mission of bringing wine out of just the wine cellars and to the general public, the idea of a wine festival was born. Now 24 years later, Fleurs et Vin is the most anticipated, talked about and attend wine event in the Miami Valley.

On Sunday May 17 from 1- 4pm, wine connoisseurs and novices alike will sample the best wines from around the world while enjoying culinary treats from 20 of the top independent restaurants in the region.

Last year there were over 420 wines for sampling, as well as a beer garden featuring Belgium brews. Wines and beer selections for this year are still being put together. And if that isn’t enough to keep you busy, J.t. Fedrick and his band will be in full swing, the dance floor open and wonderful baskets available for bidding in the silent auction. And come 4pm, the best entertainment of the day can often be found at the live auction, where thousands of dollars are raised in just minutes iwth the sale of wine collectibles, with proceeds benefiting AIDS Resource Center Ohio. If you’d like to support the even with a donation to the auction you can start that process with this online donation form.

Tickets for Fleurs et Vin run $70 in advance $75 at the door, but this Saturday only, Arrow Wine will host a Super Saturday tasting from 11am – 5pm at both the Far Hills and Centerville stores, and the ARC Ohio Associate Board members will be selling Fleurs et Vin tickets for just $60.

Bruning’s Wine Cellar to Host Wine Appreciation Series

February 9, 2015 By Dayton Most Metro

Learn wine from an expert and get more out of each sip. Do you want to learn to talk intelligently about wine, or start your own collection? Are you a serious wine lover looking to deepen your knowledge? Either way, this five week series presented by Micheal Freeman of Vintner Select will cover wine tasting techniques, explore characteristics of different wine regions around the world and more.

The classes kick off on Monday, Feb 23rd from 6-8pm at Bruning’s in Beavercreek and continue each Monday through March 23rd. Cost for all five week course is $100 and includes wine tasting, cheese and crackers, formal instruction and all class printed materials. The last class of the series will be a wine and food pairing.

Space is limited and you can call 937.426.4950 to reserve your spot or just stop in at Brunings at 2476 Commons Blvd. .

Young and Rude – Beaujolais Nouveau Day

November 20, 2014 By Brian Petro

Pinkish purple in color and fruity on the palate, Beaujolais nouveau is an incredibly popular wine.

When discussing wine, age and date are critical factors in understanding the product you are enjoying. Under the town hall in the city of Bremen, Germany lies the Schatzkammer (treasury cellar). It has twelve large casks of wine stored there, named for the Apostles. One of the casks, the Judas cask of 1727, still has a wine in it that is very drinkable. The bulk of the 3,000 liter (793 gallons) cask is still the wine from that year, but it is periodically refreshed with younger wines. The wine inside is known as Rüdesheimer Apostelwein 1727, and it is the world’s oldest drinkable wine. It is not often sold. You can visit as a dignitary or wine expert and get a taste of it, or save up around $200,000 to buy yourself a half bottle of it. People seek out the oldest of wines, and will pay top dollar for a sip of history. Or sometimes just to own it.

There is the other side of that equation. On the third Thursday of every November, the region of Beaujolais, France sends out millions and millions of bottles of Beaujolais Noveau. As opposed to long periods of fermentation and aging, this wine goes from harvest to bottle in six to eight weeks. This wine was traditionally created to be consumed at the end of harvest time, as a celebration after months of hard work. It is not a wine to be cellared; because of the high acidity and fast fermentation it does not age well. It is meant to be consumed within the first year of pressing. It is light and fruity, with hints of banana, strawberry, and pears. People looking to bridge the gap from white wines to reds find this to be the right wine to try out, with The Wine Bible going as far to say it is “the only white wine that happens to be red.” Others have described it as “young and rude” because of its fast fermentation and processing time. It is best served slightly chilled to allow the fruit flavors to emerge. Because of the thin skins and short processing time, it is very light on tannins.

These Gamay grapes will be wine by the time you finish this article.

The grapes, Gamay noir à Jus blanc, better known as simply Gamay, are highly acidic, tough pieces of fruit that are not well suited to making a fine wine. But they do grow very fast. They are ready for picking two weeks before Pinot Nior grapes, which earned them a ban from the Burgundy region. Phillipe the Bold, Duke of Burgundy in 1395, had wines with a reputation to protect. The horrible, harsh little grape was going to ruin that. He banned them, and they moved south to the Beaujolais region, where they became a hit. They are bad wine making grapes. They go through a process called carbonic maceration to make the wine, which bucks the traditional way so the acids in the grape do not take over the flavor profile. The grapes, uncrushed, are loaded into a large, sealed container. The pressure of the weight of the grapes crushed some of them at the bottom, an important part of the process. Carbon dioxide is then pumped into the vessel, forcing the oxygen out and kick starting the fermentation process. Other varieties of Gamay grapes are also fermented through this process. The law requires Gamay grapes, much like grapes for Champagne, must be hand-picked for the wine making process.

The Japanese love the wine so much they bathe in it.

Why all the celebration over a cheap red wine with white wine tendencies? Have you been out drinking on Cinco de Mayo? Or tipped back a green beer on St. Patrick’s Day? People are in for the celebration, not necessarily for the quality. The release of the wine is an event in itself, since everyone knows what day the wine is going to be released. It was November 15^th every year, but was changed to the Thursday date to take advantage of weekend wine consumption. There are celebrations in the area and around France, with some in France cheating the time by celebrating it with Japanese counterparts. There have been races from Beaujolais to Paris and London over the years to see who can deliver the first case of the wine. There are cries of “Le Beaujolais nouveau est arrive!” (The new Beaujolais has arrived), fireworks (the first bottles are opened at 12:01 AM), and parties across the countries involved. The Japanese even bathe in it. In the United States it is used as a table wine for Thanksgiving due to the two holidays having such close proximity. The wine is pairs well with food in general, so roasted turkey with tart cranberries and savory stuffing all sits delightfully with Beaujolais Noveau.

If you want to try some yourself, the fine people at Dorothy Lane Market will be celebrating it all day today with samples at their stores. A Taste of Wine in Miamisburg also has a Beaujolais Nouveau tasting event at 7pm tonight. You can even pick up a bottle or two of it for the upcoming Thanksgiving feasts. Today is not a celebration for vintage wines in dusty cellars, or rare wines that are conversational pieces. They are celebrating the other great qualities of wine; bringing together people to drink, chat, and enjoy each other’s company. Cheers!

California Cabernet Tasting at Arrow Wine

October 14, 2014 By Dayton Most Metro

We will be pouring 6 California Cabernets ‘Blind’. Guess which are which and receive a Special Prize!

Cabernets to be tasted: 2011 Elizabeth Spencer, 2010 Trinchero Mario’s Vineyard, 2008 Heitz Napa Valley, 2010 Simi Landslide, 2012 Beringer Knights Vineyard, 2010 Jordan

$25.00 for the flight. No reservations necessary

From Burgundy, with Love – National Chardonnay Day

May 22, 2014 By Brian Petro Leave a Comment

Bottles of wine from France and California

A sampling of the wines from the 1976 Paris Wine Tasting.

Steven Spurrier did not set out to send the wine world into a great upheaval. He was an advocate of French wine, and always looking for ways to further that belief. He was so confident of the superiority of his beloved wines that he arranged a blind tasting versus the wines of California to prove it. Paris was selected as the site (of course), and judges from all over the country were brought in for the event. The Paris Wine Tasting was going to prove once and for all that French wine was superior to all other comers. The year was 1976, the same year the United States was celebrating its bicentennial. Little did anyone know at the time that the U.S. was going to cause another major upheaval in a major European power during that anniversary.

Chardonnay was the white wine of choice for both countries; the French brought in a Bordeaux for the red, and the U.S. offered a Cabernet Sauvignon. There was so little doubt in the outcome, France sent no media. TIME magazine was the only press that attended the event. In a decision that stunned everyone in the wine world, the wines in the United States were declared the best across the board.

The Judgment of Paris launched California wines into the spotlight, Chardonnay being thrust straight to the forefront. But Chardonnay had a well-deserved reputation in the wine industry for centuries before that. No one is sure when or how this flexible grape came into being. The most popular theory is that the Romans brought the Gouais blanc variety of grapes to Gaul as they marched through Europe. The grapes started to cross breed with the native Pinot grapes, and the Chardonnay grape was born. In its European home it was used to create white Burgundy wine, seen as one of the finest white wines in the world. There was a blend of the soil, the flexibility of the grape, and the oak it was kept in that develop rich and complex flavors. It is also one of the three grapes (with Pinot noir or Pinot Meunier) that are commonly used in champagne production. Chardonnay vines love chalk, clay, and limestone soils the best, one reason it flourished in the Burgundy region. The vine also travels well, making it the second most popular white wine grape in the world, and fifth of all wine grapes.

Chardonnay grapes, just waiting to be plucked.

Planting Chardonnay grapes in your vineyard is almost a rite of passage; it is a relatively easy grape to grow. It also is not picky about where it grows, taking root all over the world. It buds early in the spring, but the right techniques can delay the budding for warmer weather to keep the grape’s acidity. The quick ripening does not have to be delayed, making it perfect for a short growing season. Cooler regions, like northern California and New York, are also ideal. The grapes do not ripen as quickly, allowing them to stay on the vine longer to develop some flavor. That is the one small drawback of this super grape. On its own, it does not have much flavor. It is completely dependent on two things: the soil it is grown in (or terroir) and oaking the wine (storing it in oak barrels). This means that the vintner has a big opportunity to implant their own mark on it. They have choices on if they want to put in oak (imparting vanilla and caramel flavors) and where to grow it. If they do not use oak barrels to mature the wine, they will use stainless steel columns. The stainless steel adds nothing, so the flavors of the soil are more pronounced. Cooler climates will impart fruit notes like apple or pear, while warmer climates can add tropical mango and pineapple flavors. The vintner can also choose to put the wine through malolactic fermentation. This changes malic acid to lactic acid, adding a butteriness to the wine. The charm and popularity of Chardonnay comes from the malleability of the flavor profile. This wide spectrum of flavors means that it can go well with any dish, from savory to sweet, if you select the proper wine.

Golden, dry, and delicious.

It is not all sunshine and spring breezes for this widely loved wine. Talking about Chardonnay with some friends, one of them called it “the McDonalds of wines”. Much like McDonalds, and to the chagrin of many wine drinkers, Chardonnay is global. It is sturdy, easy to grow, and very profitable. With so much of it planted all over the world, it is very common as well. It lacks a distinction that a Chablis, made of the same grape, enjoys. The lack of flavor in the grape also means that it can be overpowered by strong flavors, especially when it is left in the oak too long. It has also been popular for a very long time, so it is associated with older wine drinkers. And no one wants to be drinking what their parents drank.

The Judgment of Paris opened the floodgates for Chardonnay all over the world. The tête-à-tête match in 1976 was not a random event; every competition between France and the United States afterwards has had similar results. The celebration and overall continued popularity of this dry, impressionable wine resulted in the creation of National Chardonnay Day in 2009. The actual day it is celebrated on, much like the wine it celebrates, is still malleable. It is near the last week of May, but various sites have it being honored on the 22^nd or 23^rd. It has also been enjoyed some years as late as May 26^th. Of course, enjoying Chardonnay on all of those days is just as acceptable. Head to Arrow Wine, Rumbleseat Wine, The Wine Gallery, or any of the many wine merchants in Dayton and pick up a bottle or two to enjoy with friends. If you have any suggestions, we’d love to hear them in the comments below or on Facebook! Now, who has the wine key?

Five for Drinking: Champagne

December 30, 2013 By Brian Petro Leave a Comment

Champagne has its own inner glow.

New Year’s Day is fast approaching. That means a huge celebration of the year we just finished and a leaping off point for the year we are about to tackle. Major celebrations are equated with bringing out the bubbly. The corks are going to pop and champagne is going to flow. It is a lovely, crisp and effervescent drink on its own. It is also a great base for some delicious cocktails.

Champagne in a cocktail has been around for as long as champagne has been around. Here are five cocktails you can make for your guests to add a little more flavor to the mix.

Punch It Up

Punches are classics when it comes to cocktails; people would mix up huge batches for self-service at parties, meetings, and creating Constitutions. It is a simple, delicious way to get a cocktail into your guests’ hands as they walk in the door. Here is a concoction from Allrecipes that is typical of a punch recipe:

Champagne Punch (makes 35 4 oz. servings)

1 12 oz. can of cranberry juice concentrate
1 12 oz. can of pink lemonade concentrate
1 6 oz. can of limeade concentrate
1 bottle of chilled white wine
1 liter of soda water
2 bottles of chilled champagne

In a large punch bowl, combine all of the ingredients. Add a large block of ice to keep it all cold. Garnish with sliced lemons and limes.

Simple to make and delightful to drink. You can change the flavors to the taste of your guests, just mind the proportions.

Keep It Simple

People hear the word “cocktail” and think of something complex, yet elegant. Good cocktails can be just two or three ingredients mixed in the proper proportions. A Black Velvet can be made with ingredients you already have at the party!

Black Velvet, if you please…

Black Velvet

Stout (Guinness is the traditional choice, but select your favorite)
Champagne

In a glass, mix equal parts stout and champagne. It is just that simple. Just pour SLOWLY. Champagne fizzes a great deal when you add things to it.

Gotta Go Back In Time

Casablanca is one of my favorite movies of all time. Captain Renault spends a good deal of the movie ordering and consuming champagne cocktails. It is not a generic cocktail name, but something specific (and simple) to make.

Champagne Cocktail

1 sugar cube
4 dashes Angostura bitters
Champagne

Put the sugar cube and bitters into a champagne flute or coupe. Pour the champagne over the other ingredients and garnish with a twist of lemon. Enjoy!

Before processed foods, sodas and easily accessible juices, sugar and bitters were very popular ingredients used to flavor drinks.

Show Off Your Skills

Here is a rare gem of a cocktail. It was created in Louisville in 1917, named after the hotel it was invented in, then lost until 1997 when it was printed in New Classic Cocktails. It is a vintage cocktail that has not caught on, and I have no idea why. It is delightful.

Seelbach Cocktail

1 oz. bourbon
.5 oz. orange liqueur
7 dashes Angostura bitters
7 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
5 oz. champagne

Pour all the ingredients except for the champagne into a flute and stir. Add the champagne and give it a few more gentle stirs. You can use an orange twist as a garnish.

It takes a few more ingredients, but it is well worth it. Bitters last for a long time, so you can play with different cocktail and cooking combinations through the year.

The ball that is going to drop to end 2013. What will you be drinking?

Something New

I have been known to play with an ingredient or two. One of my favorite things to do as a bartender is make things up on the spot, using past recipes as a base to launch off of. This recipe is a result of that.

Ginger Spiced Champagne

1 oz. ginger liqueur
.5 oz. raspberry liqueur
1 oz. cranberry juice
Champagne

Mix all of the ingredients except for the champagne in a champagne flute. Add the champagne and give it a gentle stir or two.

The ginger and cranberry add a little bite to the sweet champagne. It may take a few ingredients that you do not have around the house, but the end result is well worth it.

One thing to remember about using champagne with a cocktail is that the champagne should be the star. It is more than just a mixer; it adds sweetness and sparkle to whatever it is being mixed with. Of course, if there is any champagne on January 1^st you can make mimosas. Happy New Year!

Cheers To National Moscato Day On May 9

May 9, 2013 By Lisa Grigsby 1 Comment

America’s youth have a sweet tooth, and it’s driving the sales of Moscato. Just over the last three years, sales of moscato have exploded into something of a sugary sweet bomb. In 2011, the Wall Street Journal reports, sales grew 78%; in 2012, moscato overtook sauvignon blanc as the second most-popular white varietal (chardonnay still holding onto its number one spot), with sales of 2.8 million, reports the Napa Valley Register. And sales of moscato grew again by 25 percent in 2012. “In the U.S., moscato’s popularity has exploded over the past three years, with sales growing faster than any other wine varietal,” Stephanie Gallo, the vice president of marketing for Gallo Family Vineyard.

“Previously people thought drinking sophisticated meant drinking dry wine,” says Wendy Nyberg, senior director of marketing for Sutter Home, part of Trinchero Family Estate. “The younger consumer doesn’t care about that – they like sweet things, and they drink what they like.”

one of the zillion imoscato pics on instagram

That might be overstating it, but Moscato’s rise is certainly hinged on a younger drinker – and on its sweet side. While sweet, Moscato is not a dessert wine. The low alcohol content, around 7 to 9 percent, and blossomy aromas certainly add to its appeal, as does it’s friendly price tag of $8 to $15. And even though the grape – native to Northern Italy – has been around for ages, Moscato’s newfound popularity is being driven by California vineyards, and here ability to target the milenials. And it’s working when there’s an Instagram hashtag for it. If you browse the current 259,037 photos on Instagram, you’ll find everything from simple bottle shots (the more reserved photos) to 20-something girls posing with glasses, bottle shots, lots and lots of “selfies.”

America’s affinity for Moscato continues to make headlines as its light, aromatic style brings more and more people into wine. You know Moscato has infiltrated the culture when Campari released the first Moscato-based vodka on the market, a flavored vodka that taps into the stunning popularity of the sweet, fruity, aromatic wine which has been called “the new Cristal” for being peddled by hip hop artists like Nelly, Drake, Soulja Boy and Gucci Mane. The excitement around this wine varietal led Gallo Family Vineyards to establish May 9^th as National Moscato Day as a way to capture these important wine conversations and toast the varietal that has everyone talking.

“The legacy of my grandfather and great uncle, Ernest and Julio Gallo, is the importance of making quality and affordable wines that Americans want to enjoy during life’s everyday moments,” saidStephanie Gallo, Vice President of Marketing at E&J Gallo Winery and third generation Gallo family member. “For nearly 80 years we have been joining Americans at the table, so it’s exciting to see a particular wine style draw so many new people into the wine category. National Moscato Day was established to celebrate these newcomers and wine enthusiasts alike.”

Today, May 9th, Gallo Family Vineyards will be hosting the second annual National Moscato Day Twitter Party from 9:00pm to 10:00pm EDT . Throughout the party, participants will have the opportunity to share and gather hosting tips, food pairing suggestions and wine facts by joining the conversation using the hashtag #MoscatoDay on Twitter.

To lead the charge, Gallo Family Vineyards enlisted entertaining expert Robyn Moreno to provide easy entertaining tips guaranteed to make anyone’s National Moscato Day party a hit.

“Throwing a wine-themed party is a great way to spend time with your friends and families, and you don’t need much to make it a success,” says Moreno. “Here are ways to get started:

Mix It Up: Gallo Family Vineyards offers three delicious types of Moscato – White, Red, and Pink. If you want people to get talking about the wine, try setting up different stations around the room. Feature tasting notes if you really want to get the conversation going.
Not Your Ordinary Cheese Tray: Moscato pairs perfectly with cheese, such as Brie, Camembert, aged Parmesan and Pecorino Romano. Style up your cheese plate by making a slit in a wine cork and sliding in a card labeling the cheeses. The display is an easy and elegant way to let your guests know what they are eating.
Spice Not Stress: Moscato and spicy food are the perfect combination and serving Paella is a clever, chic way to feed a crowd. Plus, since this flavorful rice-based dish can be made with almost anything – grilled meats, seafood, or veggies – everyone will be able to enjoy it and you won’t be tasked with making multiple meals.
Decorating Couldn’t Be Easier: Create clever centerpieces from pretty items in your home. A beautiful tray can become a blossoming centerpiece when decorated with fresh fruit and a birdcage can become a glided candleholder with a pillar placed inside.
Don’t Let The Party End: To enjoy another night of great wine, pour the remaining Moscato into ice trays that you can use later in sparkling water for a updated take on a “white wine spritzer!”

So for every bottle of Moscato on the shelf of your local wine shop, a wine snob is turning up their nose at this sweet varietal being celebrated in rap video’s.

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruG-V7SXvkY’]

Said one Napa Valley wine expert to the Wall Street Journal,”The moscato movement feels more like the wine-cooler movement today.” Sure, if you love wine coolers, you will probably also love moscato. Or, writes Willy Staley in New York magazine, “For wine snobs, moscato is the new white zin, the varietal used as a knowing punch line on Frasier and, more recently, as the tongue-in-cheek name of a highbrow-meets-lowbrow arts-and-food magazine. It’s a signifier for plonk at which the enlightened turn up their well-trained noses.” Even the New York Times’ Eric Pfanner has chimed in as a wine snob:

“While it is pleasing to see an underappreciated wine style get a deserved bit of attention, the response of the global wine trade to the moscato phenomenon has been less commendable. While moscato used to be made mostly in the hills around Asti [in Italy], sources proliferated as the industry scrambled to capitalize on the new interest. Suddenly there was moscato from California, from Australia, from Argentina, from South Africa — you name it. A lot of the new moscato tastes nothing like the original. Indeed, it tastes the way you might expect a sweet, slightly fizzy wine that’s low in alcohol — and usually cheap — to taste.”

Well then. Why the love-hate relationship?

Well, it’s definitely love for Gallo and other brands that decided to jump on board the moscato bandwagon — and they’re laughing all the way to the bank. “We’re seeing a new generation enjoying sweet wines outside of traditional occasions, particularly with millennials,” says Gallo. “They are taking a greater interest in wine than ever before, and moscato is at the forefront of why they’re choosing wine.” Gallo continues, “In the past, it was customary to pour moscato after dinner or with dessert. Now, we’re seeing a younger, more adventurous generation of wine drinkers who aren’t adhering to conventional wine traditions.”

So can we really hate on millennials for choosing a moscato? After all, we’re a generation that grew up on Coke and sugary sweet drinks, so it should be no surprise that our wine palates lean toward something sweet over something acidic or tannic. Tim Elliot writes on his blog Winecast that this isn’t that surprising that the wine market is meeting the demand: “A decade ago tankers of Australian shriaz with a slight addition of concentrate to add residual sugar weaned Americans off Coke and into wine. If you browse your local wine store or supermarket you will also notice more ‘sweet red’ blends on the shelf than ever. And I’ve seen a rise in sweet riesling lately as well.”

So love it or hate it, we wish you a happy Moscato Day!

Grapes of Gratitude to benefit local nonprofits!

February 26, 2013 By Lisa Grigsby Leave a Comment

Competitive wine tasting comes to the Miami Valley this Thursday, Feb 28th at 6pm. Grapes of Gratitude is a team wine tasting event created to allow local nonprofits to raise money while participants blindly taste an array of wines of the same varietal.

Groups of 1 -3 people form a team and each team brings 3 of the exact same bottles of wine to be tasted. The first varietal chosen to showcase will be Cabernet Sauvignon. To participate your team will bring 3 identical bottles of a Cabernet Sauvignon to the event.

When your team arrives at the Dayton Grand Hotel for the event, you’ll check in your wine. The first two bottles are bagged and tagged for tasting. The third bottle is set aside to form the prizes for the winning teams. Guests taste all the wines while enjoying appetizers and rate the wines.

The team that brings the highest ranked wine will take home two thirds of the 3rd bottles, the 2nd place team take home one third of the prize wine adn the team that brought the lowest ranked wine get to take home the extra bottle of their own wine! If 2 or more teams bring the same wine, rankings can still differ depending upon the temperature of the wine, how long it has been open, etc.

So grab some friends and get your team together and buy your tickets now! Your $10 advance ticket ($15 at the door) will benefit the Associate Board of AIDS Resource Center Ohio for this first Grapes of Gratitude event. Grapes of Gratitude will repeat every other month, and the charity partner will rotate for each tasting. If you’d like to submit your nonprofit to be a partner for a future tasting event, please send us an email.

Date: Thursday, February 28, 2013

Time: 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Address: Dayton Grand Hotel 11 S. Ludlow St. Dayton, OH 45402
Parking in the hotel garage is free

If you’d like to attend this event you can purchase tickets online.

Tasting the Stars in Champagne

February 14, 2013 By Brian Petro 18,068 Comments

“I only drink champagne when I’m happy, and when I’m sad. Sometimes I drink it when I’m alone. When I have company, I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I am not hungry and drink it when I am. Otherwise I never touch it – unless I’m thirsty.” ~Madame Lily Bollinger

Originally, champagne was served in glasses that looked like this.

Madame Bollinger would know the best time to drink champagne. As one of the greatest women to work in the champagne industry in the house whose name she bears, Mme. Bollinger brought champagne through the Great Depression and World War Two. She promoted a style of champagne that changed the industry, moving it from the sweeter side of the spectrum to the dry the British always seem to favor. She was the face of the Bollinger brand, an unusual position for a woman in 1941, and through her efforts, helped the city of Ay, after the war, while earning several honors from both Great Britain and France. She continued the tradition of providing the royalty of England with champagne for all of their events, but more importantly creating champagne so iconic that even James Bond drinks it.

Champagne is a drink of celebration, and is there a better time to be celebrating than on Valentine’s Day? Love is in the air, chocolates and flowers are roaming through offices and homes around the world, so why not bring out that bottle of champagne you were saving for a special occasion? And while you are enjoying your wine, enjoy some interesting facts, trivia, and quotes about this bubbly beauty.

Dom Perignon, considered the father of champagne, was not trying to create a sparkling drink. He was trying to
prevent it. The bubbles in champagne were a flaw caused by secondary fermentation. Cold stops the fermentation process, and can leave some sugar in the bottle. When spring comes back and the weather warms up, the fermentation starts up, and creates the fizz. Dom Perignon was the father of blending grapes before pressing them.
The grapes blended to make champagne in the modern era are Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier.
Modern champagne tastes were determined by the British. Champagne was first deliberately created by a man named Christopher Merret in the mid 17^th century. They liked the carbonation in their wine, though it was the French king that Louis XIV made it popular with the nobility. It was much sweeter at the time. It was the British again that demanded drier and drier champagne, giving us the general range of sweetness we enjoy today.
Uncorking a bottle of champagne is serious business. Before the glass was strong enough, the secondary fermentation caused bottles to explode. All of that gas with no outlet builds up pressure. It can be up to 90 PSI, just under three times what is recommended in a car tire. Plenty of pressure and a little neck, when put together, create a weapon that can shoot the cork at speeds of up to 50 MPH. That could put your eye out. Ain’t nobody got time for that on Valentine’s Day.
If you are going for distance, not speed, you are going to have to shoot your cork over 178 feet to break the world record, set by an American in 1988.
The bubbles are crucial to the enjoyment of the champagne. There is an estimated 49 million bubbles in a bottle. Moet and Chandon, in tandem with Heineken, spent $7 million dollars on special photography that revealed 250 million bubbles were contained in each bottle. To get the most bubbles in your bubbly, cool the bottle to about 45 degrees F. With the bottle at a 45 degree angle, put the bottom of the bottle against your hip or thigh. The first thing you will need to do is remove the foil, then the cage on the cork. Be careful; sometimes the cork is loose, and removing the cage will cause the cork to pop. Take a towel and wrap it around the neck, making sure you cover the cork. Holding tight to the cork, twist it gently until it comes out. The less noise you make, the more bubbles you get to enjoy in your glass.
Champagne only comes from France by international law. Champagne is part of the larger group of sparkling wines you can find anywhere in the world. If you get it in Italy, it is prosecco , which is becoming very popular. Spain has cava, Germany has sekt, and Portugal has espumante.
The Spanish sparkling wine cava, made mainly in the Catalona region.
How sweet do you want your champagne? Brut Nature is the driest of the dry, with no sugar, or very little, added to the wine. Extra Brut has some sugar added, but it still very dry. Brut is the most commonly purchased champagne, and is still a little on the dry side. Extra sec has a little more sweetness than Brut, and a little more sugar added. Demi Sec is dessert-level sweet, with quite a bit more sugar added. Sec is a very sweet champagne, definitely served after a meal as a dessert.
We prefer to drink champagne in a flute, but if you watch older films, you can see them drinking champagne out of a wider glass known as a coupé. It does not hold the bubbles as well, but was the traditional way of drinking champagne. It is also said to be molded from the breast of Marie Antoinette. Let them eat cake indeed…
Beautiful women have always been linked to champagne. One of the most beautiful women of all time, Marilyn Monroe, is rumored to have taken a bath in over 350 bottles of champagne.
The tallest champagne flute was revealed at a festival in Italy. It stands seven feet tall and can hold twenty two bottles of champagne. The largest bottle of champagne currently made is called Midas, holding forty regular sized bottles of premium bubbly. Only six were made, at a cost of $100,000 a bottle.

While Valentine’s Day is a special day and calls for a special celebratory beverage, champagne is something that can be enjoyed every day. The season of champagne tastings is usually in December for New Years or Christmas, but many restaurants will sell certain champagnes by the glass if you are looking to try some out. The staff here will let you know when the next tastings or events are. Spend today surrounded by friends and loved ones, and celebrate with a drink that has a little more sparkle.

Waiter, There is Champagne in my Cocktail…

December 28, 2012 By Brian Petro 1 Comment

Champagne is a beverage that we bring out only at special celebrations. It was the French royalty at the beginning of the 18^th century that popularized the trend of drinking this sparkling beverage. It became perceived (with marketing help from the grape growers in the Champagne region of France) as a drink of the affluent, so the people of the middle and working classes only would drink it for special occasions. Even though champagne and other sparkling wines have become fairly easy to find and purchase at a modest price, it is still something we associate with infrequent celebrations and special events. We see it when sports teams win championships, when couples get married, maybe when someone smashes a bottle of it to christen a boat, and of course, New Year’s Eve. People sip it straight out of a flute or a coupe if they are feeling a little more vintage vibe. What you do not see much of is people mixing it into a cocktail.

A mimosa at breakfast is typically the extent of people’s experience with a champagne based cocktail. Possibly a bellini for brunch or a light lunch drink. There are so many more cocktails you can make with champagne as the base, playing off the general sweetness and effervescence of it. The one thing you always want to keep in mind: champagne is very carbonated. Take care when you are mixing the ingredients together. Also, champagne is a sparkling wine specific to the Champagne region of France. It belongs to the larger category of sparkling white wines where you will find cava (Spain), prosecco (Italy), and sekt (Germany). For the purposes of the recipes, I am going to use what the original source calls for. You can use other sparkling wines, but the taste will vary accordingly.

Champagne Cocktails 101

Here are a few cocktails you can make with champagne and common liquors, or other mixers you may have at your party.

Bellini

1.5 oz. peach schnapps
4-6 oz. prosecco

Pour the peach schnapps into a flute, and then add champagne. Stir gently, and garnish with a peach slice.

Before all of you bartenders and other cocktail experts leap upon me, a traditional bellini is made with white peach puree, not peach schnapps. If you can find the ripe peaches in the store, or premade peach puree, substitute that for the peach schnapps. I have even
seen this recipe called a Dirty Bellini.

Mimosa

2 oz. orange juice
.25 oz orange liqueur (triple sec, Grand Marnier, etc.)
4-6 oz. champagne

Pour the orange juice into the flute, and then add champagne. The orange liqueur is added last, as a float, and is optional if you do not have it available. It will also not be bad to have on New Year’s Day.