Champagne

I love French Champagne, and early in my career at the Rainbow Room in New York, I had the good fortune to taste many I could never afford. It’s the most versatile beverage in the wine world. In France’s Champagne region, northeast of Paris, they grow chardonnay, pinot noir, and a grape called pinot meunier. The process of making Champagne takes multiple steps and is time-consuming, which adds to its cost—it’s never cheap. Champagne is made as a still wine, then blended—sometimes from a single year, making it a “vintage” Champagne, or blended from multiple years, making it nonvintage or “NV.” The final step is putting the wine in that classic bottle for a second fermentation. They do this by adding a little yeast and sugar (the “dosage”) to the bottle. By keeping it closed, the bubbles stay trapped in the wine. Authentic French Champagne is always a treat.

TASTINGS

This month’s selections are from Hennepin Lake Liquors, 1200 W. Lake St., Mpls., 612-825-4411

Louis Roederer Brut Premier NV (Reims, France), $51.95
Pinot noir, chardonnay, pinot meunier
A house’s NV wine is made to reflect its ongoing style. These wines should be consumed, not aged, and the goal is to have a consistency drinkers can depend on. This wine is fresh and bright with apple and raspberry fruit and a hint of toasted nuts on the finish. Drink it on its own or with shellfish. (Roederer is the house that makes the prestige cuvée Cristal, originally made for Czar Alexander II of Russia and bottled in crystal.)

Nicolas Feuillatte Brut Rose NV (Epernay, France), $37.95
Pinot noir, chardonnay, pinot meunier
This is a full and complex wine made mostly from red grapes. The rose color comes from letting the juice sit on the skins to pick up some color and body, a process called short-vatting. Every time I tasted it, I picked out something different. It smelled like nutmeg and cinnamon, but has raspberry and cherry on the tongue, with a long, silky finish. Have it with lobster or beef tenderloin, or both to ring in the new year.

Moet & Chandon Dom Perignon 2000 (Hautvillers, France), $136.95
Chardonnay, pinot noir
Dom is Moet’s prestige cuvée named for the Dominican monk credited with inventing or perfecting the Champagne process. It’s made from the superior grapes of a single year and only made in years that the grapes are declared worthy. This wine is rich and elegant, with tiny bubbles that last and last. It smells like a buttered croissant and has beautiful peach and apricot fruit. While most Champagnes should be consumed young, this Dom has great aging potential. Drink it on a very special occasion in 2013 or 2018.

Bill Coy runs Vintage U, which organizes wine tastings, classes, and events for corporate groups, wine enthusiasts, and the general public. Reach him at vintageu@msn.com.