Champagne and other fizz ...

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Andy in Sig

Vice President in Exile
I tend to agree with the views on the St Pancras thread that champagne is massively overrated. I opened a bottle of vurve klikwot when I moved into my new flat and it was OK but nothing special. This is not surprising when you consider that the highest accolade a champagne can get is that it tastes "biscuity". As one of my colleagues put it: "Next time just dunk some biscuits in cold fizzy water with a bit of vodka in it."

IMHO Prosecco tastes a million times better i.e. it tastes of grapes as opposed to McVities digestives. There's probably loads of other fizzy wines which are better. Any views?
 

Fnaar

Smutmaster General
Location
Thumberland
Cava is basically the same, but much cheaper...however even that's been going up in price as producers recognise that us Brits just can't avoid the fizzy shite that nobody else wants!
 

SamNichols

New Member
Location
Colne, Lancs
A good cava can be as nice as a champagne, and there is a very nice cornish wine, which i can't remember the name of right now.
But, for me, I love Champagne - can't get enough of it. Cheap Veuve Clicquot and Moet are like the Stella of champagne. It does the job, but it isn't amazing. There are other better ones, although you have to pay a fair whack, especially for vintage stuff. Also, if you go to the region, there are very small wineries whacking out for about £8 a bottle, some of which is meant to be stunning.
All in all, you pay for what you get (although Champagne is over-priced), and £20 a bottle is low end of the market.

It's not only British people who drink it. It's a special occasion drink in France as well, and the well to do US can't get enough of it. We knock back the cheap stuff like nobodies business, but we'll pretty much knock back anything as a nation.
 
I'd go for sparkling saumur, or 'cremant de Loire, Ackerman or Gretien & Meyer do some good stuff. It's in every supermarket in France for about £3.50 a bottle, but I've not found it over here which means this isn't a very helpful post. Oh well.
 

NickM

Veteran
Most champagne is Brut (and tastes about as good as the aftershave to me). Why, I wonder, are there not more demi-secs around when demi-sec is a much pleasanter drink?

Some idiotic notion about perceived "sophistication", no doubt...
 

Fnaar

Smutmaster General
Location
Thumberland
I agree with this chap in the Telegraph (I don't normally read the Telegraph by the way...)
Selected quotes:
"But it is not the king of alcoholic drinks. Superficially attractive (all those bubbles), it is - with a few exceptions - dull, leaves a poor aftertaste, and frequently leads to heartburn and indigestion." ...

"This is a drink consumed largely by people who lack discrimination. To put it bluntly, too often it is the tipple of vulgarians who imagine that, by drinking it, they can acquire some measure of class."...

"Yet the view has taken hold in this country that champagne is the drink we must turn to whenever a celebration is called for. The St Pancras bar is merely an extension of that. Maybe some people also think that, by making it a feature of the Paris line, it shows the Europeans that we are a cosmopolitan bunch.
But the French, on the whole, do not glug jugs of champers to celebrate good times. The Germans, who have built a spanking new trans-European station on waste ground in Berlin, did not feel it necessary to erect a champagne bar on the site. So why have we bothered?" ...
 

Cathryn

Legendary Member
Sorry...I love the stuff!!

I completely accept the vulgarian thing and don't think champers means classy. I also don't like how it's been appropriated by brash city boys and wannabes, but that doesn't take away from the magic of the stuff.

I love the moment of opening the bottle and the loud pop and the fizzing and the golden sparkles in the glass. I love how it tastes (especially pink champers) and I love the heavy green bottles with shiny labels. I love mixing it with cassis and making cocktails from it. It's an occasion drink, it's something special, and it brightens up my day!!!

I think I might open some now to celebrate the fact that we're on the downward slope to the weekend!!!
 
Cathryn have you ever tried ginger champagne - it's a cocktail, and is absolutely lethal. All you do is grate a load of raw ginger into a cocktail shaker, and mash it with a pestle so that the juice comes out. Then pour a shot of chilled vodka over the ginger per person. Give it a shake, and strain it out into the glasses. Then top it up with champagne...mmmmmm
 

SamNichols

New Member
Location
Colne, Lancs
Cathryn said:
OOOOOOH I like the sound of that! My girls are up to stay this weekend...I foresee a ginger champagne cocktail coming right up!

Fab tip, thanks Kirstie!!!

You have your own girls? You're not a slave dealer are you?
 
Champagne is nice - small bubbles good.
In the Dim and distant past, when I was playing rugby in Narbonne, I visited a vinyard that made Blanquette de Limoux - good stuff and a good price. From the Languedoc region etc etc.. hic. :. :::::::: :blush:
 

gavintc

Guru
Location
Southsea
We drink lots of bubbles - cheap cava. However, we adulterate it in a cocktail; sugar cube, a few drops of bitters, dribble of brandy, dribble of cointreau and then top up with the cheapest supermarket bubbles. Lovely, but heady and a great party warmer.
 
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