Would you admit to liking demi-sec Champagne?

Have you ever tried demi-sec Champagne? If so, would you ever admit to liking the semi-sweet style? Champagne Jacquart’s chief winemaker Floriane Eznack doesn’t think so. Speaking to the drinks business at a tasting lunch at Chrysan in London last week, she told the magazine demi-sec has become the elephant in the room in Champagne.

“Our demi-sec sales are growing, but it’s the wine we don’t talk about. There’s still a prejudice surrounding the style. In the past people would add sugar to their Champagne to hide faults so it has a negative connotation. No one likes to talk about demi-sec in the region, but a lot of people like to drink it. The style isn’t going out of fashion, if anything it’s getting more popular,” she said.

Us Brits are notorious for having a sweet tooth and happily sing the praises of sweeter Sherry styles such as Oloroso, so why the hang up about demi-sec? There’s an implication that sweetness levels correspond to intellect, and the drier you like your wine the higher your intellect and more rapier-like your wit. Nonsense! Demi-sec has its place in both the Champagne arena and on the dinner table. It makes for a sensational food match with desserts like tarte tartan.

My taste tends to veer towards the drier end of the Champagne spectrum, but I’m staunchly against the idea of snobbery towards demi-sec for snobbery’s sake – it suffers the same prejudice as still rosé. Having spent a few glorious days in Provence this summer and witnessed first hand the time, care and attention top-end producers like Château d’Esclans and Domaines Ott put into their rosés, I find the narrow-mindedness of those who fail to take it seriously as a style hard to swallow.

All wine styles should be given a chance to prove themselves on their individual merits. As an aside, the aforementioned Eznack also revealed to db that sales of Jacquart rosé are booming in Japan due to the positive associations with the colour pink in the county. “Pink is a very important colour in Japan – it signals the coming of spring and cherry blossom, so our rosé sales have always been high there. I also think it pairs really well with Japanese cuisine, particularly sushi.”

Costco to sell fine wine in the UK

Costco’s director of wine buying Annette Alvarez-Peters may have caused controversy earlier this year when she slammed wine as “just a beverage” and “no different than toilet paper,” but the company – the world's largest wine retailer – is on a fine wine offensive in the UK. News has emerged this week, as reported on db.com, that Costco is branching out into the UK market, having launched a UK website, Costco.co.uk, selling high-end wines and spirits.

Open to both Costco members and non-members, the site, which went live last week, features a 131-strong wine and spirits range, including Champagne big guns Cristal, Krug and Dom Pérignon, and classed growth Bordeaux from the acclaimed 2009 vintage. Topping the offering is a bottle of Taylor’s Scion Tawny Port dating back to 1855 housed in a bespoke crystal decanter, which is on sale for £1,599.99.

 

Meanwhile, a single bottle of Château L’Eglise Clinet Pomerol 2009 is priced at £339.99, while the same vintage of “flying fifth” Château Pontet-Canet is going for under a third of the price at £99.99. At the value end, a bottle of Saint-Julien estate Gruaud Larose’s second wine, Sarget de Gruaud Larose 2009, is priced at £18.49, while Haut Médoc estate Château Senejac 2009 costs just £15.49.

Among the sprits on sale are Patrón Tequila, Ciroc Vodka, Johnnnie Walker Blue Label, Courvioiser Cognac and English Vodka brand Chase. Delivery is free, and Costo’s online customers will be treated to exclusive offers. It will be interesting to track how Costco.co.uk performs. The UK wine market is a crowded place, and in order to thrive, a merchant’s offering has to be both compelling and unique.

New York-based online merchant Lot18 is a recent casualty, closing its UK operation in July after just four months, blaming the supermarkets’ stranglehold on the UK market and a lack of anticipated growth for its exit. Is Costco.co.uk appealing enough to lure customers away from the might of the supermarkets, Majestic, and the increasing number of savvy online-only merchants entering the market? Only time will tell.

Dom Pérignon Oenothèque dinner at Les Crayères

Last week, I was lucky enough to be invited to take part in an intriguing experiment. The brainchild of Dom Pérignon’s ebullient chef de cave Richard Geoffroy, having entered the “space ship,” as he called it, we were about to shoot into orbit. Every word Geoffroy utters has a touch of the cosmic about it. He speaks in long, often impenetrable sentences, occasionally exciting himself with his own brilliance. He’s a wonderful showman and hugely entertaining company.

Our space ship turned out to be the sprawling, 19^th century 5* château hotel Les Crayères in Reims, set in a 17-acre landscaped park. My expansive room was exquisite, prettified with toile wallpaper, white orchids, scarlet tassels and an ornate gold mirror above the writing desk. Luxuriating in the opulence of it all, I flicked though a book on Titian and Tintoretto left on the coffee table, nibbled the trio of chocolates left out by the maid, then quickly changed for dinner.

Beginning in the tartan clad bar with a palate cleansing glass of DP 2003 – a rich, powerful vintage I’m growing ever fonder of, proceedings quickly moved to the two Michelin-starred Les Crayères restaurant, a magnificent, chandelier-filled room boasting verdant tapestries, swagged curtains and a grand dining table cutting through it. Taking my seat, Geoffroy sprung into action. “I believe temperature has a profound effect on the flavour profile of Champagne,” he offered.

In order to test this theory out, we were to be guinea pigs in a temperature control experiment with the 1996 vintage of DP Oenothèque – one of the best Champagne vintages in recent history. Titled IV-VIII-XVI, the experiment would explore the effect temperature has on the expression and characteristics of Oenothèque ‘96, degree by degree, by slowing down the maturation process of the Champagne and suspending it in its various states for as long as possible.

 The roman numerals refer to the number of glasses used (4), the different temperature stages (8), and the end temperature of the wine (16 degrees). “I chose the 1996 Oenothèque because I needed a vintage with a broad range of expressions, and a wine with concentration and depth. It has the capacity to open out in a range of aromas and tastes, making it a wine that truly breathes. I’m convinced it will lead us to the heart of this journey,” Geoffroy explained excitedly.

Over the course of two hours, eight different dishes, from bracing saline oysters in a seawater granita, and rich, creamy mussel soup, to tea smoked basmati rice with mushroom tobacco, and an almond-flecked lamb tagine, were served to compliment the aroma and flavour differences in the wine at each of the eight stages. With the room temperature set at 20 degrees, we were poured a bottle of Oenothèque ‘96 (disgorged in 2008) into four glasses set in an open topped box with chilled panels to slow down the temperature increase of the wine.

The wines were then tasted every 15 minutes, from left to right and then right to left, with the wine raising in temperature from eight to 15/16 degrees by the end of the night, revealing eight different 15-minute aromatic sequences. Fascinatingly, there were perceptible differences in the wine at each of the eight stages, moving from mineral at 8º, honeyed at 9º, zesty at 10º, buttery at 11º, earthy at 12º, truffly at 13º, smoky at 14º, and nutty at 15/16º.

During the dinner, I made the comparison between the different stages of seduction. At its coldest, the wine was shy and tight – fully clothed if you will. But as the evening drew on and the temperature increased, it began to reveal itself, opening up and becoming more confident and expressive at every stage, moving from steely and mineral, through a wonderful citrus stage and an earthy autumnal period, and finally emerging into its full nutty, honeyed glory.

“I decided to do this because I wanted to push the boundaries of experimentation to lead me to a new understanding of the mysteries of the wine,” Geoffroy revealed at the end of the night, amid declarations that he’s moving into the world of fine and rare tea and is working on a high profile celebrity hook-up that he can’t reveal yet. Which did he think was the ultimate temperature to enjoy Dom Pérignon at its fullest expression? “12 degrees; there’s truth in that temperature.”

Playboy Club to revive Champagne tower tradition

Encapsulating the decadence and debauchery of the roaring ‘20s, the Playboy Club in London’s Park Lane is to bring back the tradition of Champagne towers at it’s newly launched Baroque bar. The brainchild of Gerry Calabrese, son of cocktail maestro Salvatore Calabrese and founder of Hoxton Gin, Baroque will be the first place in the capital to revive this most theatrical of traditions.

“Champagne towers are a vintage art form that have been sadly neglected in recent decades,” said Calabrese. Boasting one of the most extensive vintage Champagne lists in Europe, guests can pre-order the towers created from retro Champagne coupes said to have been modelled on Marie-Antoinette’s breasts.

Towers can be formed from a magnum of Salon 1964 for £25,000, a Jeraboam of Veuve Clicquot Brut 1945 at £12,700, and a 15l Nebuchadnezzar of Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s favourite fizz Armand de Brignac for £80,000. Decked out in gold, ruby and magenta, Baroque’s theatrical décor by CID Interiors includes Louis XIV chairs, chandeliers and antique mirrors.

The cocktail menu meanwhile, focuses on different takes on the Martini, served either in coupes or in Calabrese’s signature “infusion jars”. The bar will also serve platters of oysters, fruits de mer and caviar, along with childlike desserts such as doughnuts, lollipops and cakes. Calabrese launched East London nightspot The Hoxton Pony in 2008.

Jay-Z and Beyonce toast Obama with Ace of Spades

In a move befitting for hip-hop royalty, dynamic duo Jay-Z and Beyonce hosted a $40,000-a-ticket fundraiser for Barack Obama last night featuring a 350-bottle Armand de Brignac Champagne tower, as reported on db.com. Designed by Jeffrey Beers, the bespoke tower, composed of 350 bottles of Armand de Brignac Brut Gold NV, took centre stage at the glitzy event at Jay-Z’s 40/40 Club in New York.

“Floor-to-ceiling gold bottles fill the entire space. It’s beautiful, breathtaking. It’s the first thing you see when you walk in,” a spokesperson for the club told The New York Post. According to The New York Times, Obama kicked off the intimate dinner for 100 guests by thanking Beyonce and Jay-Z for their friendship. He went on to say that he felt a sense of kinship with Jay-Z because, “we both have daughters and our wives are more popular than we are.”

Beyonce’s speech was short and sweet: “I can’t tell you how proud we are to host tonight’s event with President Obama. We believe in his vision,” she said as she introduced the US president. The White House, which meticulously controls Obama’s image, is not expected to release any photos from the dinner. Before the event, Obama made an appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman.

Jay-Z’s relationship with Armand de Brignac, produced by Champagne Cattier, stretches back to the Champagne’s launch in 2006, when bottles of it appeared in his music video for the single Show Me What You Got.

The fizz, a favourite of rappers such as Kanye West and Drake, is facing a false-advertising lawsuit from Krug and Dom Pérignon owners LVMH over claims that it is “rated the number one Champagne in the world,” which LVMH believes is “intentionally misleading consumers.”