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DISH
Contrary to folklore, Dom Pierre Pérignon, Benedictine monk and cellar-master, did not “invent” Champagne. In fact no one knows for certain who did. The only sure thing is that bubbly dates back to medieval times, the English making the strongest argument for its origins. Pérignon, who’s rightfully credited with perfecting the method by which authentic Champagne is produced (“Méthode Champenoise”), didn’t even arrive on the scene until the mid-1600s. It was at that time that the Catholic Church sent him to recoup on its investment in failing vineyards in the Champagne region which rendered any serious competition with wines produced in Burgundy impossible. A climate shift and plummeting temperatures had hit the Champagne area particularly hard, causing the yeast that converts the sugars in pressed grape juice into alcohol to suddenly stop processing mid-season. When spring came, the yeast resumed processing, which led to a second fermentation and triggered the production of excessive amounts of carbon dioxide in the wine. Although the second fermentation is what makes Champagne what it is, the resultant bubbles weren’t met with the elation that the sound of a popping cork generates today. Quite to the contrary: the French royals — for whom most fine wines at the time were produced — found them repulsive. Ironically, Pérignon’s initial mission was to find a way to get rid of the bubbles. But as fate would have it, across the English Channel the decadent reign of Charles II was taking hold and along with it came the idea that fizzy was more than just good, it was downright trendy. That hasn’t changed to this day, with Britain being the number one importer of Champagne. England is known as a country whose populous will drink Champagne at the drop of a hat, their annual 28 million bottles consumed far exceeding our 18 million. As for Pérignon, he went on to pioneer and perfect the process of creating more bubbles, but not without explosive failures along the way. Literally. With each bottle containing 100 pounds of pressure for every square inch, it wasn’t uncommon for up to half of any year’s production to blow up before ever getting near a flute glass. His legacy includes not only the development of thicker bottles and the wire caging, but also the use of mushroom shaped cork stoppers to replace the hempwrapped wood stoppers that had proved to be miserably inefficient. Pérignon also discovered how to make white wine from black grapes and perfected the art of blending a cuvée from many lots of wine — the essence of winemaking in the Champagne region today. So, is Champagne one and the same as sparkling wine…and what’s the deal with “champagne” without the “c” capitalized? Authentic Champagne from France is a blended sparkling wine typically made from chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier grapes and produced within specified areas of the Champagne region, including Epernay and Reims and the outlying areas near Troyes and around Bar-sur-Seine. The countries of the European Union give full deference to the region and the process by which sparkling wine has the right to be called Champagne, otherwise do not dare use the word with or without capitalization: German bubbly is called “Sekt,” the Italians refer to theirs as “Spumante” and the Spanish use the name “Cava.” To the enormous frustration of the French, however, for the past twenty years we pesky Americans have persisted in using it as a generic term, along the lines of our “borrowing” the Greeks’ Feta cheese, the Italians’ Mortadella bologna and the Portuguese’s Madeira. Thus far, the 146 member-nation World Trade Organization has not seen fit to grant France’s request that use of the word be outlawed outside of the Champagne region, but the fact is now that the producers of the best quality U.S. sparkling wines (mostly from California) have sought to proudly stand on their own and avoid any reference to the word on their labels. In the end — when buying domestic — a high-quality sparkling wine delivers much more bang for the buck than lower-case libations that refer to themselves as “champagne.” Still, there are those who feel that no matter how high the quality of many of the sparklers on the market, nothing matches the complexity and elegance of authentic Champagne. The two that reign supreme in the rarified category of “Tête de Cuvée” (non-literally translated to mean “the head of the class”) are Louis Roederer’s Cristal and, our old friend, Dom Pérignon, produced by Moët et Chandon. Between the two prestige cuvées, Moët is distinguished as being (by far) the largest producer of deluxe Champagne. There’s little doubt that the powers that be at the House of Roederer would like to pistol-whip someone for the fact that it was Cristal — and not Dom — that became the reluctant badge of honor within the brash and bold world of gangsta’ rap. There are the old money rich, the nouveauriche rich and the “how the hell did I get this rich?” rich. Beyonce’s boyfriend, former Brooklyn crack dealer, Shawn Carter, a.k.a. “Jay- Z,” fits neatly into the latter category. Though he’s now mostly engrossed in the business end of rap and hip-hop, the President and CEO of Def Jam Recordings began making his way out of the slums of New York as a rapper who — like so many others after him — peppered his lyrics with frequent random mentions of Cristal. At $300 a bottle retail and as much as $550 for table service at a club, this Champagne of distinction found itself as the must-have trophy beverage among hip-hop royalty, along with diamond-encrusted Audemars Piguet watches and $300,000 Mercedes-Benz Maybachs. But unlike the watch and the car, Cristal was verbally flaunted in odes to the glories of excess. (Rhyming issues have been suggested as an explanation.) In an article that ran last summer in “Intelligent Life,” published by “The Economist,” Louis Roederer’s Managing Director, Frédéric Rouzard, was asked if the brand was being hurt by its new posse of fans. “That’s a good question, but what can we do? We can’t forbid people from buying it.” To put it mildly, Mr. –Z didn’t take kindly to the comment: “Anything but ‘Thank You’ is racist.” Not only did he stop selling Cristal at his “40/40” string of nightclubs, but also he called for a boycott and pledged to remove any reference from his lyrics at a performance at Radio City Music Hall to celebrate the 10th anniversary of his first album. Though he did drop some of the mentions, and though he now drinks Dom Pérignon and Veuve Cliquot, some were left in. (Rhyming issues, again.) As noted by Frank Walters, Research Director of “Wine Spectator,” the majority of people who buy Cristal do so because of its 98 point rating from wine critics, not because of Jay-Z. I had planned to finally bust that Volkswagen open on New Year’s Eve but then came up with a truly magnificent occasion to wait for. I’d like a little tête-à-tête with Jay-Z — I want to see if he can bust a rhyme to go with “Churchill.”
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