CHOOSING WINES AND CHAMPAGNES - Weddings & Honeymoons

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Theatre Reviews
by Jeniva Berger

| CHOOSING WINES AND CHAMPAGNES

Choosing wines and champagnes

Once your menu is set, the next step is to add beverages and wines to your menu. By deciding what you want to serve your guests, you can save time and money when discussing your menu with a caterer.

There are different ways of trying and selecting wines and champagnes. You can attend consumer wine shows where you can taste test and exhibitors can help you choose wines. You can explore wine lists at restaurants; take a wine tour; ask parents and friends for their suggestions; or check out wine retail outlets.

Several wines are available only at wine retail outlets. Retail outlets usually offer a complimentary wine tasting, glassware rental service, free delivery, personalized label service, accessories and advice on quantities and wine selections.

Choosing a Wine
• Look at the wine for color and clarity. It should be bright and without sediment.
• Swirl your glass to bring out the aroma (nose or bouquet). Think of words to describe the wine, such as fruity, vegetative, floral, spicy, nutty, earthy, woody or chemical. If the wine smells of vinegar, it's too old.
• Taste the wine, noting fruitiness, acidity, tannins and alcohol.
• Swirl it slowly around your mouth before swallowing. Your tongue has four different taste areas which react to sweetness at the tip, sour on the upper edges, bitterness at the back, texture (body/astringency) down the centre and on the insides of the cheeks.
• At the finish there should be a lingering taste that reaffirms the quality of the wine.

Wine Serving
Being able to combine food and wine so that they complement each other may seem to require special skills, but basically it is rather simple. There are no rules, but there is a natural sequence to serving wine with food:
• Always serve a dry wine before a sweet one,
• an average vintage before a great one,
• a white before red,
• a young before an aged one.

Remember that a wine should always complement the dish, not overpower it. Use a tulip shape glass for red, white and rosè wines. A classic red wine glass has a larger bowl than the tulip glass. A classic white wine glass is slimmer. A champagne flute is very thin, indeed.

Choosing a Champagne
Champagne was invented by the monk Dom Perignon in the 1600s and soon became the choice beverage with which to toast brides and grooms. It's a tradition which carries on.

It takes a minimum of three years to make ordinary Champagne and longer for vintage quality. The price reflects the vintage. Unless you are used to drinking Champagne, it is a beverage that most people have to acquire a taste for. Most wine-producing countries make Champagne. A Areal@ Champagne will have the country before the word Champagne on it, i.e. German Champagne. Otherwise, it probably is a sparkling wine. Canadian champagnes, however, are considerably cheaper and offer good value. A vintage Champagne is more expensive and is made from grapes from one single year. Non-vintage Champagne is made from a blend of three or more different harvests.

Champagne taste terms are in French - extra brut which means totally dry; brut - medium dry; sec - slightly sweet; demi-sec - fairly sweet; and doux - sweet. Magnums of Champagne are the freshest. You can sometimes purchase them on sale. There are approximately 20 glasses in a magnum. One case of traditional 750 ml Champagne bottles will serve approximately 75 glasses.

Champagne's alternatives - Alternatives to Champagne (in order to achieve the "pop" effect of the cork) are sangria (a fruity champagne) or an extra dry sparkling wine. They are less expensive than most Champagnes.

Taste the Champagne or an extra dry sparkling wine before you buy in quantity for your reception. Look for the Champagne to have small beads (bubbles), not large ones, when the bottle is uncorked. Sometimes couples make their own Champagne bottle labels (or most wine outlets will do so for you,) showing their names and date of their wedding.

Opening & serving Champagne:
• Chill Champagne and/or sparkling wine.
• Do not let anyone shake the bottle - when it opens, the cork will go flying, you'll lose over one-third of the precious liquid into the air and someone may get hurt.
• Place one hand around the neck of the bottle and your thumb on the top of the cork.
• Undo the wine muzzle with your other hand.
• Replace your grip on the bottle and your thumb on the cork.
• Place a cloth under the bottle.
• Hold onto the top of the cork and turn the bottle. The gas in the bottle will force the cork out. (An English custom suggests that when the cork is out, indent it slightly with a knife and place a dime minted in your wedding year, in the indentation. Write the wedding date on the cork and keep it as a good luck piece.)
• Serve the Champagne in a tall, narrow clean tulip or flute glass. Cleanliness is vital - soap residue in a glass of Champagne can cause it to go flat.

www.WeddingsHoneymoons.com | April 2, 2008

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