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ON A BUDGET? TRY FINE FRENCH CHAMPAGNE TO RING IN THE NEW YEAR

Jordan Wright
December 2009

Starting the evening's champagnes with Voirin-Jumel Blanc de Blanc NV Grand Cru Cramant - photo by Jordan Wright

Starting the evening's champagnes with Voirin-Jumel Blanc de Blanc NV Grand Cru Cramant - photo by Jordan Wright

This New Year’s celebratory festivities may pose a challenge to the connoisseur…to find a good quality champagne on stifled cash flow. While bumps and grinds to the wallet may crush our choices like grapes in a wine press, we seek to secure an auspicious future by raising a glass of pirouetting bubbles to presage better days. But how to achieve this glamorous tradition without sacrificing the children’s college fund?

Pan seared Maine scallop with onion puree, ruby red grapefruit and ginger butter - photo by Jordan Wright

Pan seared Maine scallop with onion puree, ruby red grapefruit and ginger butter - photo by Jordan Wright

At a recent dinner at Brabo I was introduced to some wonderful and affordable sparklers from the province of Champagne. Each one of these limited offerings was 100% grower produced and bear the recoltant manipulant code, “RM” on the label, ensuring the grapes come from this vineyard alone. Since only sparkling wines from this region of France, amounting to 86,500 acres of prime terroir, may be properly designated as “champagne”, one might expect they would be gustatorily competitive. I found three to be smart, polished and sophisticated, and two, to precisely mirror my most favorable profile of an excellent champagne.

In his distinguished paean to French regional cuisine, “The Food of France”, gourmand extraordinaire, Waverly Root, claims that, notwithstanding ham en croute, “There is no cuisine of note in the Champagne region.” Therefore it is no minor feat for a chef to pair an entire five-course menu with a selection of champagnes. Who better than a chef with roots in Belgium could prepare a meal representing this historic province geographically located in the north of France beside the Belgian border?

Flemish Oyster Stew with puff pastry fleurons at Brabo - photo by Jordan Wright

Flemish Oyster Stew with puff pastry fleurons at Brabo - photo by Jordan Wright

Enter Chef Robert Wiedmaier, up to this culinary challenge, creating a glorious menu, beginning with Flemish oyster stew with Swiss chard topped with puff pastry fleurons, sheer bliss captured in a cream-colored bowl nestled in a linen rose fold, and pairing it with Voirin-Jumel Blanc de Blanc NV Gran Cru, Cramant. Known as a Champagne family, not merely a brand, sibling scions Alice and Patrick Voirin Jumel, and Patrick’s wife, Valerie, have been supplying this wonderful wine to the Inn at Little Washington as their house brand. I give it three cheers! A clearly auspicious beginning.
Priced around $48.00 a bottle.

Venus works the Agrapart et Fils vineyard

Venus works the Agrapart et Fils vineyard

Our second course, a plump pan-seared Maine scallop was accompanied by red onion puree, morsels of ruby red grapefruit and ginger butter echoing the 90% chardonnay and 10% pinot noir grapes used in the 100% organic Agrapart at Fils Brut Rose NV Premier Cru, Avize. So pretty in pink! This vineyard employs a beloved horse named “Venus” to help around the farm. Think of her sweet demeanor as you sip your way into a rosier New Year.
Priced around $61.00 a bottle.

The Gatinois Brut 2002 a perfect pairing for the turbot with chanterelles - photo by Jordan Wright

The Gatinois Brut 2002 a perfect pairing for the turbot with chanterelles - photo by Jordan Wright

From the vineyards of Pierre Cheval-Gatinois, which lies at the foot of the Montagne de Reims, one of the four great vineyard regions, came a Gatinois Brut 2002 Grand Cru, Ay. The property lies beside the hallowed Bollinger estates, whose blends from the late 1980’s can reach an astonishing $500.00 per bottle! Eleven generations of the Gatinois family, dating back to 1696, have produced champagne from their ancestral lands. They use a 100% pinot noir cuvee to make this wine. Priced at around $70.00 a bottle it was le plus cher wine of the evening. Yet how perfectly it escorted a Parmesan-crusted turbot with rock shrimp, potato gnocchi and woodsy chanterelles with an aromatic shellfish emulsion.

The following foray trumpeted my personal favorite from R. H. Coutier, a non-vintage brut Grand Cru, Ambonnay. Our esteemed chef had paired this opulent, well-balanced bubbly with roasted veal tenderloin, crispy sweetbreads, lardoons of bacon and natural jus. At a mere $48.00 a bottle, it is like taking candy from a baby. Miss this winning wine at your peril!

Three cheers for this selection! - photo by Jordan Wright

Three cheers for this selection! - photo by Jordan Wright

I always serve champagne with dessert at a dinner party. I feel it revitalizes the festive nature of the gathering, and this bold, slightly floral, champagne with its tiny bubbles from Domaine Dehours “Grand Reserve” Brut NV was an admirable selection to stand up to the tartness of a crème fraiche cheesecake with honey-roasted pineapple. Another 100% organic champagne (those highly sensitive to sulfites will thrill to this news), it is made from 50% pinot meunier, 25% pinot noir and 25% chardonnay grapes. Aged in new and old oak barrels, it develops a timeless bouquet that evokes the notable chalky terrain of the region.
Priced around $42.00.

All these fine champagnes, suitable for ushering in a more prosperous 2010, can be purchased at The Butcher’s Block on King Street in Alexandria. www.butchersblockrw.com.

Brabo, the elegant restaurant, and Brabo Tasting Room, with more informal dining, are on the same street.

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