What the hell is this guy talking about, you might be asking yourself. Well, for a long time I have been frustrated with the inequity between Champagne and other wine regions of the world such as Burgundy, Barolo, Bordeaux, etc… It seems as though it is very easy to order a champagne at a restaurant simply by saying the word “champagne” to your waiter or sommelier that evening. But, I don’t drink wine… why should I care about any of this, you might say to yourself. Ok, fine. Say you wanted a beer… do you simply say “beer” or do you specify a style, ask for a pairing, or even ask for a specific producer? Chances are you have your favorite few beers by now because you have gone to Lucky Baldwins (RIP David Farmworth, it’s because of you I love Chimay!), Quadrupel, or been to a brewery. I digress… Some people who dine frequently request wines from certain vintages and from particular plots of land, why not the same for champagne? The To Kalon vineyard in Napa is super famous, can you name a single vineyard in Champagne?
When speaking of champagne, for the most part, we are talking about a bubbly wine from France that has some acidity and yeastiness. This is true for most of the Grand Marques, these wines taste the same every year in spite of the differences in climate. Weird! I grow chili peppers outside of my apartment, and this year I had a very little peppers. I think it’s because of the weather this year, it wasn’t all that hot really except for a little spell in August. The previous two years I have lived here the average summer temp was higher and I got way more peppers. One thing I noticed however is that the peppers this year actually TASTE better. Definitely not as spicy, but they had more flavor. Another thing I noticed is that if I picked them when it was cold out, they were spicier than if I picked them in the middle of the afternoon. Cool! These are important in cultivating grapes for wine too. So I had two plentiful years, then one better tasting but small crop (we like low yields in the name of better flavor!). If I had a champagne house and I carried over the analogy, then this year would have been a vintage year for me and the first two would have been great years for base wines because I got some good peppers in large amounts. So, if you bought my wines that were based on the first two vintages you may prefer one to the other, but chances are that once my third vintage was released you would LOVE it. Super concentrated without being over the top and with bracing acidity (yes that’s how I describe the current pepper vintage for the Hermon AOC). Just to confuse the matter some more… when last spring was rolling around I planted some peppers at my moms house in her garden. Turns out, that these peppers are both SPICY and FULL OF FLAVOR. Grand Cru peppers! Her garden is a better place to grow peppers than mine, she gets more sun and she is out there everyday doing whatever she can to keep them growing. She’s got better terroir and is way more hands on than I am.
So what’s the point? Basically, this is my commitment to the wines of Champagne. I want to focus on the nuances of the region itself, and that means more wines sourced from smaller plots, and less wines sourced from all over. I have never really felt as comfortable in the region or myself to be able to point out differences from a Blanc de Blanc sourced from Cramant and a Blanc de Blanc from Ay or even Cellers-Sur-Ource. But now I do. These three places are different, so their wines will be different. That’s the fun! Who wants the same wine everyday anyway? Not me, I will always choose something I have never had over something I have (unless there is some strong recommendation against the unknown wine, but even then I want to find out for myself!).
I know the names of some of the villages seem foreign to you, but at one point in your life so were the words Napa Valley, Carneros, Rutherford, or even Lager, Ale, hops…. or how about Foie Gras, Hors d’oeuvres, Eggs Benedict… even Hola, Bonjour, and Konichiwa. Give it some time, give us a chance. It won’t be easy, but it’ll be fun.
I hope you guys like the wines you try at POP. Please let me know what you think!
Rafael Sanchez
Sommelier
POP Champagne Bar