Money isn't Everything

Money isn't everything when it comes to Champagne. As with most great wines, there are fantastically expensive bottles and modestly priced bottles, and when thinking about the wines as a group, price does not necessarily indicate quality.

I was reminded of this when thinking about two Champagnes that I had recently, one fantastically expensive and the other more modestly priced. Around the time of my birthday in mid November, a friend took me to a steakhouse in Manhattan to share some interesting old wines over dinner. The first wine we drank was the 1981 Krug Collection, about $700, imported by Moet/Hennessy/Diageo. I am not entirely positive of how Krug Collection is different from the other Krug wines, as even ChampagneGuide.net, the finest source of Champagne information, does not discuss this wine in its Krug profile. I believe that Krug Collection wines are simply held back after disgorgement, kept in the cellar for further post-disgorgement aging. But I am not sure.

We decanted the beautifully amber colored wine and gave it a few minutes to compose itself. It was delicious wine, richly perfumed with roast nuts and toffee, and nicely balanced on the palate with rich and somewhat saline inflected nutty flavors. I immensely enjoyed drinking this wine, although if I am honest, I think I enjoyed it more because I was drinking old Krug than because of what was in the glass. The wine was very good, yes, but it was also lacking in the complexity, detail, and energy that I would hope for from such an exalted wine. In the end, a great experience, but I would not say a great wine.

A week or so later BrooklynLady and I opened a bottle she gave to me for my birthday, the 2002 André Clouet Brut Millésimé, $50, Imported by Village Wine Imports. Clouet is considered to be one of the better producers in Bouzy, a village famous for Pinot Noir in the Montagne de Reims. It started out a bit creamy and kind of simple with round red fruits dominating the palate. It seemed ungrounded, as though there wasn't enough acidity or structure. But 20 minutes later the wine had come together beautifully. This is a wine of harmony, finesse and elegance, of gentle red fruit and zesty citrus peel, a bit of spice too, all on top of a finely chalky floor. But these flavors are subtle and quiet, very much understated. The wine is quite light in body and fine in texture, but it is deeply vinous and of good intensity and length. I think it is a great wine. I took extra pleasure in this wine, by the way, because I had just read Peter Liem's November ChampagneGuide.net article entitled Bouzy & Ambonnay: The Great Grand Crus of the Southern Montagne, in which he discussed the similarities and differences among the wines from those villages.

I am not dense enough to suggest that I compared these wines and that Clouet is the better wine, or the better value, or the better anything. I drank them on different nights with different food, in different moods, with different people, and the wines are made differently using grapes from different places. And, I expected much more from one wine than from the other. Who knows, you might drink these wines and have a different experience. The point I am trying to make is not a scientific one.

I am trying to say that you do not have to part with loads of money in order to drink a beautiful bottle of Champagne. I believe that there are truly great Champagnes available (in the NYC market, anyway) for $50 and under. Not wines that are great based on value they offer for their price. I'm talking about great wines in the absolute sense. 2002 André Clouet is one of them.