One of those special times!
I had a call from Nigel, our wine merchant, yesterday lunchtime - would I be interested in doing a blind tasting of 9 vintage champagnes. I was about to say yes please can I come down now when i really had to stop and think about the business. we had over 50 guests in for dinner so should I stay and help look after them or was it right to further my education? I told Nigel that I would have to say no but would have a chat with Kristin when she came in to see how she felt about the evening.
Luckily for me she was quite happy about her team for the night so quickly back on the phone to Nigel to book my place. I just about managed to get there for 6.30 start time when Nigel explained the background to the evening.
Nigel had been talking to one of the champagne houses about the different vintage champagnes they offered and was questionning the quality / price differentials between them, Louis Roederer Cristal 2000 retails for £125 yet the Gosset 1996 retails for £40.99. Nigel wanted to see if we could tell what differences there were so we all had to try them in turn and make notes on them and then rank our top 5.
It is very rare for me to get the chance to try 1 vintage champagne, let alone 9 at the same time so we set about our task with great enthusiasm. The 20 of us for the evening were a mixture of the shop staff and guests from local hotels and restaurants, we discussed quietly amongst ourselves and there were some startlingly different opinions - which is how it should be, the wines are all different even though they are all grown in a small area and from the same blend of grapes.
The overall winner was Bollinger RD 1996, which I found quite rich and very distinctive - this was my 4th ranked champagne, I must admit my favourite was Dom Perignon which didn’t come out very well in everyone elses ranking.
The Gosset 1996 did quite well but wasn’t in the top 3 so perhaps there is something in the price after all but was the Cristal 3 times better than the Gosset? I guess it is about choosing the right drink for the right occasion. Have a look at Nigel’s shop site to choose your favourite www.wwrw.co.uk
