M-Proney...aimed at you: Champagne servied in Bordeaux Glasss vs Flute

Wonder what fill level one would pour into such a glass, and certainly the focusing of the bubbles and nose would not be important (and why not)?

"Richard Neidich" skrev i meddelandet news:4UK5d.3692$ snipped-for-privacy@newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.net...

Funny you should ask ... we celebrated our 23rd wedding aniversary Saturday, and started witha bottle of champagne (Fleury Brut, no vintage, biodynamic producer, nose of ripe appels, hints of cream fudge, acceptable entry level fizz at c. EU 14), and I had indeed poured it into our trusty 'Svalka' slightly tulip shaped wine glasses. Xina commented on this, so we pulled out a couple of flutes and reached the immediate verdict that the tulips were better than the flutes - better concentration of nose, better appreciation of taste.

HTH

Cheers

Nils Gustaf

Of course, that's what I am doing for ages.

For everyday winers (which might occasionally include champagne) I use the IKEA Svalka red wine glass:

In fact, I never really have understood the reason for flutes. After all, champagne is a wine (and the best champagne is world class by any standards) that deserves a glass where its bouquet can develop decently - which is definitely not the case with flutes.

In fact I do not even have flutes anymore.

M.

P.S.: Flutes are really good for spirits.

;-)

Quite logic.

M.

Salut/Hi Richard

le/on Mon, 27 Sep 2004 02:27:12 GMT, tu disais/you said:-

I'll jump in here. About 2 years ago, Jacquie and I were in Turin at the (EXCELLENT) Salon del Gusto organised by Slow food. Michael Tommasi had organised some activities there from France, and one was a dinner designed to match 10 champagnes from (occasional afw contributor) Francis Boulard. Without wanting to be too contentious, I found some of the matches tenuous, and that not all the dishes to be 100% successful, but a) that's not the purpose of writing and b) one can learn as much from the less successful as the wholly successful.

Anyway, Francis caused something of a stir amongst the staff, who after having scoured the city for enough champagne flutes to serve 10 different champagnes to some 150 or so participants, found that Francis didn't WANT his champagnes served in flutes!!!!! As he put it succintly, "I want my wine to be judged above all as wine, the bubbles are an added extra. If all you want is bubbles, then drink Coke." OK, it was put somewhat trenchantly, but there's a good point there. If a champagne can't hold its own _as wine_ then it's nbg. My problem for years with the stuff was that I'd never tasted really good champagne, and I was having the temerity to judge it _as wine_, and finding that it wasn't good wine.

So yes, some champagne growers do prefer to taste their champagne in good wine glasses, for the same reason as one drinks wine in that shape. It allows the smells and flavours to be appreciated to the full. If the mousse suffers very slightly, then so be it.

Salut/Hi Kirk-O-Scottland,

le/on Sun, 26 Sep 2004 20:45:33 -0600, tu disais/you said:-

Same as for any other wine poured into a wine glass. You wouldn't try to put a litre of wine into a Riedel Sommelier Bordeaux glass, would you, so why should one fill a smaller glass, just because it's champagne.

I have been doing same for over a year now. Flutes are good for those occasions when someone brings you a mediocre champagne and you are made to understand that it MUST be opened... ;-)

Mike

Mike Tommasi, Six Fours, France email link

Mediocre champagne?

There ain't no such animal - at least the champenois say so ...

M.

I was absolutly surprised to hear serve in Bordeaux glass with big bulb.

I will try next time.

Salut/Hi Michael Pronay,

le/on 27 Sep 2004 10:23:31 GMT, tu disais/you said:-

Grin. But then, they only drink good stuff.

They should drink the stuff sold at around €8 in the supermarkets here. That would show them. No, I'm wrong, that's not _mediocre_ it's just plain awful muck.

It would make it much easier when I serve a Champagne with first course and switch to red after that. Only one glass per person to wash. Flutes are a pain to wash too....

I will try this. Less mess.

Do it.

And much better taste!

M.

Yes, to be specific Francis said : "serve it as if you were serving a Meursault" ...

Funny, like Ian I also went through a long period of not really getting along with Champagne. Perhaps because it is so often thought of as a branded product, it took me a long time to discover that there are hundreds of vintners making wine in Champagne. It just happens to have bubbles.

Also remarkable is the fact that older vintage Champs are superbly evolved, and letting their bubbles calm down while decanting multiplies the effect of these aromas by 10. Extraordinary when you get both the honeyed aromas of mature chard, plus a very fine oxidation that makes it delicious as an aperitif.

Mike

Mike Tommasi, Six Fours, France email link

First the return address of snipped-for-privacy@tommasi.org is funny.

That really does sound like good advice. I had 3 old bottles of Dom that were RECENT DISGORGED...I really wish I had done this then. They were truly outstanding and I bet I did not even get the fully experience.

I need to spend a week with you, Ian and M. Proney to destroy my liver more.

Somehow I see you guys having problems with the Champagne. Just the slow food that you belong to would seem more anti-corporated atmosphere and for good reason. No doubt the highly commercialized food industry that controls huge lobbys is not only destroying some farmland but making it to the point that food is becoming less flavored. I have a company that markets dry beans. Dry Beans are really good for the soil. However with Dry Beans on the decline due to less cooking here and abroad less farmland is being used e)ach year for Dry Bean plantings.(Dry Beans = Pinto's, Great Northerns, Blackeyes, Lentils and yes--French Green Lentils, Green Split Peas, Limas, Kidneys.....

Again I wish I had some of the old 3 bottle case I had of RD Dom. But I do havea a couple bottles of Bollinger RD....I have never tried the Bollinger RD's. They were a gift to me. I have had there basic and thought it was just OK.

Recently there is one getting lots of hype here..it is Jacquesson 728 Brut. I tried it last week and thought it was very good but overpriced in its class.

I will have to try all these again in a different glass and see if my thoughts change.

No, not Rotwein-Glas - sondern Weinprobe-Glas ;)

Cheers

Nils Gustaf

In my many, many trips to Champagne I find this to be the case about 50% of the time. Often at small Champagne houses they serve in a regular wine glass as opposed to a flute and bistro's, cafes' etc will often serve in regular wine glasses. Flutes seem to be used in the larger, more tourist oriented Champagne houses and upscale restaurants. Bi!!

OK, for those who want to know the difference:

I guess both suit the demands of an everyday drinking glass quite well.

M.