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Yes, we drink Champagne year-round at GOW, but it feels like the fizz flows much more freely during the festive season.
Celebrations just go better with bubble, and while there is a sea to choose from outside of Champagne, there is no denying that there is something unique about the Champagne region of France that makes its wines stand above the rest.
The chalky soils, the fringe cool climate, the noble grapes, the hundreds of years of history, and the Champenoise themselves - all contribute to the terroir of this charmed place. When they're good, the wines feel almost magical, with an ethereal lightness of being (the bubbles help) combined with a depth of flavours that only time (autolysis) and structure (climate, grapes, soils) can create. Far from being formulaic, each Champagne house, and wine, is unique, the result of hundreds of decisions along the way. Farming, grapes, harvest times, fermentation (first and second), use of MLF, aging vessels, reserve wines, blends, aging or time on the lees, dosage: each makes a huge impact on the final wine. Nothing can be overlooked; these are some of the most ageworthy wines in the world. There is no rushing quality Champagne, and there is no need to either. Every time we open a bottle of Champagne, we feel gratitude, for being part of the chain that allows these painstaking and challenging wines to be made, and appreciated.
Here’s a look at more than 60 Champagnes we've tasted at GOW this year. Some are best enjoyed now as aperitifs, some better when accompanied by food, and many are worthy of stashing a case or two in your cellar (always upright, please, for traditional method fizz). However you enjoy these wines, consider enjoying them year-round. Wines like these are too special to ignore the rest of the year.
À votre santé from all of us at Gismondi on Wine.
(Check back as we add some late additions, and replacement bottles for those that were corked later this week.)
