Buying, storing, drinking and living with health and pleasure

24. Drinking Champagne with meals

      Drinking Champagne: a pleasure to renew as often as possible, but always in moderation. From morning to evening or from evening to morning, there will always be occasions to drink Champagne. Not only as the symbol it represents but also because it is an excellent wine, something so obvious we tend to forget it.  It is true to say, however, that there are several ways of drinking Champagne depending on the occasion and the location.

1 - DRINKING CHAMPAGNE WITH MAIN MEALS

A - Lunch and dinner with Champagne

      All things considered, there is nothing quite as good as a meal with Champagne where this great wine is served exclusively from start to finish. Carried out with style, it is surely the epitome of refinement and elegance.

      Nobody could imagine excluding the excellent wines from Bordeaux, Burgundy, Alsace, the Loire, the Côtes-du-Rhône and other French or foreign regions from their meals. Tasting these wines (in moderation) is often a rare pleasure and it would certainly be a shame to deprive yourself. Champagne is not in competition with these other noble wines, rather they complement each other. Meals with Champagne should only be occasional and in this way they retain their exceptional status.

      A meal with Champagne creates a celebration and endows the guests with a state of grace, even before the feast has started. All festivities need decoration. With Champagne, this is achieved quite naturally with the ice bucket and the sumptuous presentation of the bottle and awaits only for the three warning bells to start the ceremony and let loose its cascade of bubbles. From the very first glass, the Champagne will set the tone, according to the circumstances, of confidence, joviality and even intellectualism, because it is the most eclectic of wines and its effects on the mind fulfil everyone's expectations. It is a marvellous wine for all seasons. In summer, it can be enjoyed chilled throughout the meal. In winter, it refreshes the warm atmosphere of banquets or even between lovers.

      Meals with Champagne not only have the advantage of ensuring the successful atmosphere of a lunch with a loved one. It is a suitable formula from several points of view. Firstly, it avoids mixing wines and this is currently a good thing. Secondly, the host does not have to concern himself either with the choice between several wines or with the order in which they should be served (this can worry some people). Thirdly, the guests feel fine whereas the human body has struggles when digesting a mixture of wines. This indeed provides the success of Champagne for business meetings because it leaves the mind clear and the body light.

      When Champagne is the only wine served, the preparations for the meal are greatly simplified. You can buy it or take it out of your cellar just a short time beforehand. This is not the case with a Haut-Brion or a Volnay. There is also no need to decant the wine. Finally, it is far easier to chill a bottle of Champagne to the right temperature than it is to bring a bottle of wine to room temperature. For example, in winter when it is freezing outside, it can be 20°C in the room (which is too hot) and 12°C in the cellar, and is thus too cold for the great red wines. Service is also greatly simplified. One single type of glass is required and its elegance plays a role in the decoration. In addition, the tablecloth will stay immaculate if the Champagne is spilled by accident, even in considerable quantities. Unfortunately, this is not so true for the rosé Champagne.

B - Champagne with the dessert

      Champagne flows above all when dessert is served. The purists regret this as they say it is not the best moment. At the end of the meal the senses are dulled and can no longer perceive all the finesse of a wine as refined as Champagne. Besides, how could you possibly appreciate a wine in the hubbub that often accompanies the end of the meal?

      It is possible, however, to appreciate Champagne at the end of a meal when a sweet wine is the choice. But it is generally a brut wine, which renders the combination of the wine and the dessert difficult. The dryness of one opposes the sweetness of the other. Dosed Champagne (sweet), on the other hand, is in perfect harmony with sweet food. It is precisely for this reason that, in the early 19th century, it gained its place at the table as a dessert wine. Besides, if you have drunk brut Champagne during the meal, it makes sense to give your palate a rest with a sweeter wine just as the dessert follows the main courses. The great majority of gourmets and experts are definite on this point - Champagne accompanies desserts or afternoon tea well, on the condition that it is either sec or demi-sec.

      Apart from dosed wines, certain Champagnes are suitable for serving with the dessert if you can get them. These are ancient vintage brut Champagnes, which have been recently disgorged. The age is not a problem when using the sec or demi-sec bottles in this way, in fact it is quite the opposite. Here is the opinion of Jacques PUISAIS, President of the National Union of Oenologists in the April 1980 copy of Touring magazine: "With desserts, whatever you may think, sweet Champagnes give good results, especially when they are aged".

C - Food and wine combinations during a meal with Champagne

      Champagne, by its very distinction, enhances the value of the chosen food. This association has always been obvious. Yet you need to have the correct gustatory characteristics because food influences our appreciation of wine and vice versa. To prepare a meal with Champagne, there are choices to make and mistakes to avoid. A meal with Champagne must be studied carefully because it is a rare treat.

      For a meal between lovers, a brut, whether vintage or not, is perfect for the whole lunch or dinner. At the outset it will be enjoyed simply for itself. By the end, the euphoria that it has created between the couple will prevent them from worrying whether a sweet Champagne would be preferable or even worrying during the meal whether the type chosen was in fact the most suitable for each course. All the same, if we are talking about knowledgeable wine-lovers, they will avoid these problems by choosing their menu with regard to the Champagne selected according to the principles outlined further down.

      During a meal, no matter how important it is, the senses are gradually dimmed. Therefore, start with light courses. The following ones will seem progressively richer. Then the salad and the desserts will bring their specific refreshment separated by the intermediary cheese course. Similarly, an ascending order is recommended for the wines: full-bodied wine should be served after refined wine; old wine after young wine and sweet wine after dry wine. The necessary combinations should ensure that we always progress from freshness to strength, increasing the intensity of the character, so that the wine you are drinking never gives you cause to regret the preceding wine. The parallels between the flavours and the perfumes of the food and the wine are thus relatively easy.

     Each Champagne has its own style, characterising the brand. Any tasting notes must finish with an evocation of this profile. For example, masculine and feminine tendencies can be distinguished. Describing Champagne as sincere, distinguished, frank, virile or powerful shows a dominant male style. Using adjectives such as affectionate, pleasant, tender, fleeting, enticing, gracious or extravagant denotes a feminine character. However, the analogies can take all dimensions and comparisons with all forms of art are allowed. You can compare one Champagne with a painting by Rubens, another with a sculpture by Giacometti. These evocations speak for themselves and do not require a long commentary. Just like analogies with music, a Champagne reminding you of Debussy cannot be confused with its neighbour evoking Wagner! You can also introduce terms to qualify the character or moral quality such as reserved, loyal, kind, charming, friendly, mischievous, perky, suggestive, capricious, proud and ardent. Vocabulary describing social class can also be used: words like poor, destitute and common, contrast with well-bred, noble, princely or royal, peasant with bourgeois, ordinary with aristocrat. The people from Champagne have preferred to classify their Champagne as having heart, body, spirit or soul. As you can see, each taster can draw from the richness of the English language to find the right word, inspired by his own culture to light upon the most suitable term, which sums up for him the style of the Champagne. He can either proclaim them out loud or murmur them into his loved one's ear. Champagne makes speeches poetic and declarations loving, it turns the taster into a genius!

- Drinking Champagne with meals

      Gastronomic alliances with Champagne rely on classical combinations, aroma for aroma, structure for structure, depending on whether you have chosen the harmony or contrast of flavours. Of course, you must not forget the idea of texture, of tasting with a sense of touch. Carbon dioxide prickles the mouth and is an essential element in marrying with the flavours. Champagne can follow and strengthen the acidity of a recipe or make a striking contrast with a creamy sauce, each one enhancing the value of the other.

.- As an aperitif

The aperitif is the magical moment when Champagne is the king. A wine for celebrations, a wine that loosens tongues and makes relations easier. It harmonises with the cocktail snacks, which circulate from platter to platter, and it embellishes the women's hands and makes the men feel like re-serving them. It is the perfect moment to serve a Blanc de Blancs Champagne, rather youthful, endowed with a freshness, which opens up the appetite and seduces the still virgin mouth. It prepares the palate for the meal to follow and is the first gustatory impression of the forthcoming celebration. To enhance its value, small cheese tartlets, dried fruit, toasts with smoked salmon, foie gras or small slices of chitterlings sausage are preferable to sweet nibbles, mini pizzas or rustic style charcuterie (pork sausages and meat).

- With caviar

An encounter between two luxury products: caviar, with its aromatic strength and Champagne, with its bubbles and finesse. The shock can be striking if you do not take care to choose the partners carefully. A Blanc de Blancs Champagne, rather young and lively, could hold its own. You could also choose a full-bodied Champagne, rich in black grapes, still young enough to have the necessary energy, but this combination will suit the head better than the palate.

- With seafood

A Blanc de Blancs non-vintage Champagne would be ideal here. For oysters, choose a young Champagne whereas for Belon oysters, a mature vintage Champagne will fit the occasion. Scampi, scallops, lobsters or rock lobsters prefer a more settled Champagne; the gustatory characteristics must be balanced.

- With fish

Fresh water fish (perch, pike or trout) adore fresh and delicate Blanc de Blancs Champagne. Its sparkle contrasts with the butter or cream in these recipes. Fish from the sea (sea-bass, sole, red mullet) require non-vintage Brut Champagne, with a good balance between the white and black grapes. Above all, it is the sauce that determines your choice. A light sauce needs a lively wine, a rich sauce requires a mature wine. For more complex recipes, avoid "bouillabaisse" (fish cooked in a tomato garlic sauce) or "bourride" (fish in a creamy garlic sauce) with their dominant flavours, but a fish couscous would be a delightful partn

- With charcuterie (pork sausages and meat)

      You may well imagine that this combination would go against nature, but chitterlings sausage with mustard, white pudding or pork pie offer the opportunity to try out exciting contrasts. A special comment must be made for foie gras. The alliance is tempting but often disappointing with a half-cooked foie gras as the two elements do not combine well. On the other hand, sautéed escalopes of foie gras with apples harmonise marvellously: the Champagne stimulates the fondant character of the foie gras and the wine is coated with the texture of this divine liver. You could choose a vintage Champagne, rich in Pinot Noir for this experience.

- With poultry

It is perhaps with poultry, free-range chickens, guinea fowl or capons that brut Champagne (whether vintage or not but always rich in Pinot Noir), finds its best partner. If the poultry is simply roasted, the supple and tender texture of the meat marries particularly well with the wines' bubbles and the delicate aromas of the dish do not conceal those of the wine. For a simple dish of boiled chicken, a young Blanc de Noirs will be quite suitable. If the poultry is cooked, particularly with mushrooms, you might prefer a more mature brut or a rosé Champagne. As for truffles, they make a queenly combination with aged or mature Champagne, giving the fullest expression of their complexity. The alliance is quite fantastic, each fellow table guest using its partner to transcend the other.

- With meat

As with poultry, white meat is ideal. An attractive veal chop, stewed veal, braised ham, or small pork fillet (especially if cooked with crème fraiche) would make pleasant partners and flatter a vintage brut Champagne. For more savoury meat, such as beef and above all lamb, a rosé Champagne is required, if only to match the colours. Recipes cooked in one pot provide the opportunity for cultural contrasts. The rustic character of a pot-au-feu contrasts with the finesse of Champagne. The best moment of the experience comes with the bone marrow-wine combination. Beef cooked with carrots loves rosé Champagne, as does an osso-bucco. As for more exotic recipes (for example, Thai or Chinese cuisine), they prefer smoother Champagne, such as demi-sec, to melt into the sweet and sour associations.

- With cheese

There is no better match than that between a coulommiers cheese and Champagne. Choose a non-vintage brut, rather full-bodied, the creaminess of the former and the liveliness of the latter make a marvellous union. Maroilles, camembert, reblochon, comté or brie can be added to this list. On the other hand, avoid all blue-veined cheeses, as it is not a natural combination.

- With desserts

This is a difficult question. Above all, it is difficult for the wine, which finds itself "undressed" when confronted with a sweet dish. If you wish to keep drinking brut wine, the choice is very limited. You could try a Blanc de Blancs with a peach soup, a rosé Champagne with a strawberry tart or a selection of red fruit. An elegant solution would be to serve a Champagne sorbet with the same wine (this was once called a "spum"). A gratin of fruit with a Champagne sabayon (creamy sauce made with Champagne) would be a good match for a more mature brut, as would a soufflé. If the sugar content is too high, you will need to change for a demi-sec Champagne, with the risk of it being too heavy at the end of the meal when the palate is already tired. You would be better advised to forget about chocolate altogether, unless you really want a disaster!       There is, however, a solution likely to satisfy everybody. This consists (when the dessert is served) of giving the choice of either a sweet Champagne or the brut, which accompanied the preceding course. Chocolate is one of the very few pairings that is not ideal with Champagne. If you have to associate both of them, choose a black chocolate and preferably a sweet champagne (demi-sec).

- At the end of the evening

PRICE OF CHAMPAGNES AT THE RESTAURANT

TAXATION of C.H.R.

      Although dessert is not the ideal place for Champagne, it once again regains its pre-eminence when your taste buds have had the chance to rest. At the end of the evening, when the conversation continues, Champagne lets you talk at length until the early hours of the morning. It is then the moment for the most exciting and rare Prestige Cuvées. Sip them in dimmed light, with a Havana cigar, while restructuring the world in depth from the corner of your settee.

(Extract from "Champagne: les mots et les mets" by Pierre CASAMAYOR - Guide Hubert 2000)

      Apart from lunch and dinner, other meals may be served with Champagne.

      Breakfast with Champagne, known as "champagne-breakfast" in the Anglo-Saxon countries or "Champagner-Frühstück" in Germany and German-speaking Switzerland, is allowed and appreciated whether at home or in a hotel. The pleasant and practical meal, which the Anglo-Saxons call "brunch" (a contraction of breakfast and lunch) replaces breakfast and lunch at the same time on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays. This is a marvellous match for Champagne, relating well to its exceptional and agreeable character and which generally goes well with the kind of food provided. At suppertime, Champagne is the drink most likely to ensure success and will encourage you both to digest easily and sleep well.

      For breakfast, a brut non-vintage Champagne fits the occasion perfectly. This is also true for both brunch and supper, unless you wish to enhance them and organise them around the Champagne, as for main meals. Nevertheless, demi-sec Champagne is required to follow the brut if the supper includes a Yule log or any other sweet recipe. In Great Britain, it accompanies Christmas pudding particularly well, and it can sometimes completely replace the brut for a brunch with a sweet theme.

3 - CHAMPAGNE BETWEEN MEALS

      Apart from with meals, there are numerous opportunities for opening a bottle of Champagne. At home, as in a bar or a restaurant, Champagne is an ideal aperitif. The most healthy and euphoric drink that you can enjoy before a meal.

      During the evening, when you feel thirsty (or even better just before), offer your guests an after-dinner Champagne to revive conversation and put the ideal finishing touch to a perfect evening. At a ball (private or public), Champagne is the best partner for the dancers. It rekindles their energy while refreshing them and offers a delight constantly renewed, provided it is served as generously as it should be.

      Whether returning from the theatre, the cinema or from visiting friends or even if you stayed at home, Champagne will end your evening on a delightful and sedative note. And if ever the excesses of the night before have rendered waking up the next morning difficult, a glass of Champagne at 11 am is the best remedy against a "hangover". This enables you to wait for the aperitif, always a perfect and privileged moment for sparkling wine.

      Numerous people involved in academic work and long hours have become accustomed to taking a break in their efforts with a glass of Champagne. It can be enjoyed in a bar. It can also be appreciated in the office whether or not accompanied by sandwiches and nibbles. The "Champagne-break" thus usefully replacing the "coffee-break". Another appreciated intermission is the one you treat yourself to in a wine bar, a shopping mall or in fact any type of boutique. Champagne can sometimes replace tea, after-work drinks or ladies tea parties.

      Rivers of Champagne are consumed during wedding receptions and at various family occasions, receptions, society events and other celebrations at hours that are not usually the most appropriate for appreciating great wine. This is largely due to the fact that our attention is diverted by other thoughts, but this is not so very important. In this type of social event, it should be noted that Champagne is much easier to serve than drinks mixed with water, such as whisky.

      Which champagne should we serve during these varied occasions? A non-vintage brut with few distinct characteristics would always be suitable. There is no need to search for refinement as it is essentially the refreshing and euphoric capacities as well as its facility to encourage social relationships that are at stake. None the less, nothing prevents you from choosing the most appropriate type. For the aperitif, a delicate Champagne is generally preferred such as a blanc de blancs or even a "crémant". This becomes essential if you are to have a meal with Champagne afterwards, otherwise its instant successor might appear to lack character. A variety of other factors such as the season can also be taken into account. A light Champagne is more preferable in summer than in winter. A sweet Champagne can be chosen whenever it is planned to serve cakes or sweet foods, or more commonly when it is required by the drinkers' taste. This is usually the case for women of certain countries and quite often for young people who are not yet accustomed to drinking Champagne.