Decanting Champagne and more at French Laundry

I think you meant Monzoni. It's about a $75.00 bottle. Bi!!

Not sure I've ever decanted a NV Champagne (actually, should that be "an NV", since the N is pronounced "en"? We just had this discussion re "SUV" recently).

But I've seen it done with top-quality recent vintage Champagne. Depends on whether you're looking for zip or for depth, in a way

Rocche dei Manzoi 1997 Vigna d'la Roul, Barolo \ I agree that should be Manzoni. Not a producer I know. Unclear where it falls on the new/old producer spectrum. You could get aclue (though only a clue) re Barolo possibilities by trying the Nebbiolos (d'Alba or otherwise) of a good producer. As to what to expect- Barolo is a strange combination of the powerful and the delicate.

Nice list

Yum

I tend to love Ramonet, Tom Reddcik saiod 2000s especially good

Z-H is at it's best with late-harvest wines, especially PG

Always a good wine

Notes, please!

Dale

Dale Williams Drop "damnspam" to reply

I have only heard about the appeal of Barolo in "serious" wine circles and this being my first taste I am definitely interested in another. In a way in reminded me of the Bachelet 2000 Chasagne Montrachet that appeared later in the meal and like you said possessed both delicacy and power in a way that I have never seen. Both wines were greatly intruiging, especially in that redicously huge fish bowl Riedel glass.

This was my first Z-H and it truly blew me away. I love the great Alsacaian grapes and this wine made a strong introduction to such a highly acclaimed producer that will definitly make my holiday shopping list.

Gosh, I wish I could have done better with some notes but I was completly overwhelmed from the minute I walked in the door and frankly was way over stimulated to take consise notes. In all, nineteen courses and fourteen wines later I am glad that I can remember what I did! I can give you plenty of food notes though...

One thing that I was impressed with is that almost all of the bottles that they served to Brooke and I were freshly opened. I knew that these werent just the bottles that happened to be open that night and made it to our table. There was great intenet to really blow our socks off. I was actually expecting to see a lot more wines from California in the flight.

Not only was is a delight to eat such magnificent food, is was also an eye opening wine experience to enjoy many wines that I am not fortunate enough to drink at home. I could get used to this...

jason

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This sounds rather curiously old-fashioned and reminiscent of the 1920s when people actually bought a gadget called a "swizzle stick" whose function was to remove the carbonation in champagne. Didn't P.G. Wodehouse's Bertie Wooster not have one?

I love basque!

M.

"James Silverton" a écrit dans le message de

James,

I am not sure, but it's not just a question of fashion, some champagne-sparkling lovers-enthusiats, decant a champagne-sparkling, often when it's a Non Vintage a young champagne-sparkling exactly in the same way, as the wine-lower in order to open the wine ( young ) and to reaveal all the full aromas and flavours. Some others use this way, because they do not like the fizzy bubbles so it's easier for them to taste a sparkling-champagne with no or less bubbles.

Because, in fact, a great champagne- a great sparkling is just a great wine with few bubbles around. Is not it ?

All the best,

Francis

Agreed, it *is* a matter of taste but, IMHO, a flat champagne be it vintage or non-vintage is not very interesting and I think I can find less expensive still wines that I much prefer.

Jim.

Jim, Francis's point is not that at all, he is simply saying that unless champagne is made from top quality still wine, it will not be good champagne.

We enjoyed three evenings of wine tasting with Francis about 2 weeks ago, and his new Petraea cuvee is outstanding, the kind of wine you just want to experiment matching food to.

Mike

A very long time ago Champagne was a still wine, and such wines, both red and white, were available from many different vineyards. They were popular in England and elsewhere as well as in France. After it was found how to make these wines sparkle in a reliable manner, the still wines of Champagne became considerably less popular. In fact, in many parts of the world today, you may find it very difficult to find a still Champagne, which now must be labeled as Coteaux Champenois. In fact I have only tasted one example of a white one, and it was not very special. Wines from the best vineyards seem to usually end up in the better sparkling Champagne, and little of the top wine is left for Coteaux Champenois. Of course some of the Champagne growers may keep a little of the top still wines for themselves and their friends, if they fancy this style. If I wanted a top quality still wine from Champagne, I probably would have to remove the bubbles from a sparkling one.

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There is a simple, but *major* point why Côteaux Champenois cannot be great. An ideal vin clair (base wine) would never have more than 10.5 percent alcohol - in fact quite often it has less and is chaptalized to this mark. As anyone knows, it's absolutely impossible to make decent still white with 10.5 percent - with one exception, the Moselle. And since Côteaux Champenois sells cheaper than the real thing, there is absolutely no incentive to reduce yields to get more ripeness.

In fact I had a decent red once: Saran Nature, and the vintage was

Which would leave you with an off-dry wine.

M.

Michael Pronay wrote in part:"In fact I had a decent red once: Saran Nature, and the vintage was 1969 or 1976 (an extremely hot year in any case), served by Moët at Lunch in their Château de Saran back in

The one white I had was also a Moët, and labeled Saran Coteaux Champenois Blanc de Blancs. This probably was in the late 70's. I think it was NV, but I am not certain about this. Anyway, it was a bit on the thin and light side and did not seem likely to improve with age. Not many would select it over a even fairly good white Burgundy. If money were no object, I do not know if a top still wine could be made in Champagne or not. However the still wines at oe time did have many followers. I suspect making a still red from Pinot Noir in Champagne might be about as difficult as making a red from Pinot Noir in the Rheingau. It may work in the best years, but usually you are likely to get a rather thin wine that may be closer to a rose than a red. I have tasted several red Assmanshaüser Höllenberg Spätburgunders, and most were too thin for my taste. Some are on the slightly sweet side. Of course they also sometimes make an auslese sweet red, but that is not to my taste. Perhaps this very hot year in Europe will produce some interesting reds in the Rheingau or other cold regions, but I have heard no reports concerning this. But in Champagne, as you say, the grapes were most likely picked before maximum possible ripeness for making normal sparkling Champagne.

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snipped-for-privacy@webtv.net (Cwdjrx _) wrote in news:13266-3FDDE15C-331 @storefull-2352.public.lawson.webtv.net:

. I suspect making a still red from Pinot Noir in Champagne

Bouzy Rouge gets good marks (champagne region red from village of same name)

And sometimes they make an auslese or beerenauslese from Spätburgunder that they haven't pressed (or not much) so they colour from the skins doesn't get into the must (think of Champagne). I have had some absolutely wonderful white, or perhaps slightly pink late harvest wines from Pinot Noir.

I have also had both still and sparkling pinot from Lingenfelter that was very presentable.