"Burgundy makes you think of silly things; Bordeaux makes you talk about them, and Champagne makes you do them." Brillat-Savarin

Seeing Stars

Henry IV was the first to serve Champagne at court in the 1500s. Thank you, King Hank! Henry and his court knew the grapes in the Champagne region made a fine tasting wine. They didn’t quite understand the process, but the cold weather in the region prevented the bottled grapes from finishing their fermentation in the winter. When Spring hit, and the bottled wine began to warm, the fermentation would start again. The bubbles caused by the fermentation were captured in the bottles, and a new beverage was born! Upon tasting champagne, a monk, named Dom Perignon was supposed to have exclaimed, "Come quickly, I’m tasting the stars!"

In the late 1600s British glass blowers made bottles strong enough hold up under the pressure of Champagne bubbles. Dom Perignon, that world-renowned monk and food technologist, did not invent sparkling wine, but perfected the blending of the grapes for a light and bubbly brew. Louis VI passed legislation mandating the use of corks for Champagne bottles. Corks guaranteed the trapping of maximum amounts of bubbles and the prevention of contamination by wild yeast.

In 1825, Antoine Muller, an employee of Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin developed a system to remove the deposits that formed in Champagne bottles after fermentation. This very labor-intensive technique made Champagne more attractive and more expensive. If you like your champagne, you can expect to pay more for it. The smaller the bubbles, the more expensive the champagne.

What’s in a Name?

In America, any sparkling wine can call itself champagne, as long as it’s been bottle fermented and labeled with the region where the grapes were grown. This means that there’s champagne available for everyone’s taste and wallet.

The Right Glasses Make it Special

Champagne is a good accompaniment for every meal, including breakfast. A mimosa, or cocktail of orange juice and champagne, can spiff up any morning meal. Of course, champagne doesn’t need to be mixed with anything to be an outstanding accompaniment to breakfast, brunch, appetizers, lunch, dinner and dessert.

The question is not what to serve champagne with, but what to serve it in. Remember that Dom Perignon remarked he was "drinking stars." The idea is to capture and preserve the stars, or fine bubbles, throughout the drinking experience. The actual wine component of champagne is important, of course, but the bubbles are what cap the experience. Legend has it that the bubbles bring more oxygen to the brain and either get you more pleasantly inebriated more quickly or make you better able to form scintillating thoughts. You choose your legend.

If you’ve seen the wide, shallow glasses used for champagne toasts in old movies, you’ve seen an interesting type of sculpture. They are said to have been modeled after a plaster casting of Marie Antoinette’s breast. That may be glamorous, but the shape lets the bubbles and the aroma escape. If you sip from this type of glass, you’ll have flat, tasteless champagne about halfway through. If you gulp, then you’ve missed the experience. To remedy this issue, use a champagne flute. Flutes are tall and narrow, allowing you to watch the bubbles and sip slowly and appreciatively without losing any flavor or fizz. The flute’s stem keeps the heat of fingers away from the champagne. This guarantees a cool quaff.

Sweet or Tart

Champagne can be purchased brut (not sweet), extra-dry, dry (medium sweet) and sec (very sweet). You’ll base your champagne purchase on the application. If you’re serving champagne with a very sweet dessert, you’ll want a BRUT champagne. A SEC champagne would add too much sweetness to the cake or candy. If you’re serving a neutral dish, such as pasta with a light cream sauce, you’d select a SEC champagne. And so on. We suggest lots of tastings to ascertain pairing the correct champagne with the correct food.

Vocabulary: Talking the Talk

Here is your champagne vocabulary; you’ll use it when you go to the champagne store to acquire your favorite "star" beverage:

Champagne: the most famous sparkling wine in the world. Grape juice ferments, carbon dioxide gas is formed and bubbles are captured. The smaller the bubble, the more intense the taste and the price.

Brut: the most popular type of champagne, dry, or not sweet; pairs well with desserts, chocolate and sweet sauces. Can be used when toasts (such as are made at a wedding or banquet) are made.

Sec: sweet champagne; pairs well with acidy fruit (such as oranges or kiwi), mildly-seasoned dishes, and caviar

Demi-sec: even sweeter than sec; can be served as a dessert on its own or used to flavor a sorbet.

Nonvintage: nonvintage champagne must be aged one year. The majority of champagne sold is nonvintage. Nonvintage allows for the blending of juices from different years and locations.

Vintage: must be aged a minimum of three years and must contain 80% grapes of that year and a minimum of 11 % alcohol. Vintage champagnes are not produced every year. That is up to the discretion of the vintner.

Blanc de Blancs: champagne made exclusively from Chardonnay grapes, the most delicate of champagnes. Only 25 % of Champagne region is planted with Chardonnay. So Blanc de Blancs can be hard to come by. Always serve Blanc de Blanc before heavier wines. Serve only with very mildly seasoned foods, light seafood, delicate pastries, or as a toasting beverage.

Blanc de Noir: champagne made from black Pinot Noir or Pinot Meunier grapes. Not as delicate as Blanc de Blancs.

Methode Champenoise: Process can last from 18-40 months. It is a long, protracted, labor-intensive method, with the wine staying in bottles from second fermentation through aging, rather than being in vats.

One for the Cook

"In victory you deserve Champagne; in defeat, you need it." Napoleon Bonaparte

You could just drink champagne, of course, but why limit the opportunities to enjoy it? Cook with something special, such as champagne, and your menu items turn into something special. Champagne can be cooked into rice, grated into potatoes and vegetables, and frozen into sorbets, and it can dress up salads and add fantasy to sauces.

Here are some champagne cooking guidelines:

• If you wouldn’t drink it, than don’t cook with it! Flat is okay, but if the flavor is not acceptable for sipping, it won’t be acceptable for cooking. Heating a poor champagne does not magically create a wonderful flavor.
• Champagne may be substituted for most white wines in recipes. Match the sweetness or dryness, as appropriate to the recipe.
• Champagne holds its flavor very well, so don’t expect the flavor to disappear with cooking. This can be a good thing if you’d like a sauce to have an overtone of champagne flavor, but not so wonderful if you’re expecting the champagne to disappear into the background.
• Choose a BRUT champagne for desserts and a SEC for savory, unless you’re willing to experiment with new flavor profiles.
• When adding champagne to a pan, watch out for the bubbles. Champagne will foam up and overflow, so cook on low heat until the bubbles are dissipated.

Champagne adds a simple elegance without requiring a lot of extra work or time. Braise seasonal fruit, such as apples, pears, peaches or apricots in champagne to be served as an accompaniment dish or part of a dessert. Peel and half fruit and heat oven to 400 degrees. Butter a sauté pan, and place the fruit, with cut side down in the pan. Add enough champagne to cover the fruit and weigh down with a plate or folded cheesecloth so the fruit evenly cooks. When the fruit is soft, remove from the pan and reserve; reduce cooking liquid for a glaze, and serve as dessert, with berries and dried fruit, or as savory, with Chevre or Gorgonzola, candied walnuts and drizzle of balsamic.

Light meats and vegetables can be sautéed in Champagne and finished with clarified butter. Champagne brings out the sweetness of lobster and shrimp. Risotto and fine pastas can be cooked with champagne and finished with grated cheeses.

Fast and elegant champagne sauces are easy. Combine clarified butter, lemon juice, and Champagne and reduce until flavors are just married. Or whisk cream, mustard and champagne with a little thyme and white pepper and reduce until thick. These sauces work well with poultry, pasta, seafood, light vegetables, potatoes and rice.

Champagne Recipes

A traditional champagne cocktail is made with grenadine and sugar. Try blackberry or raspberry liqueur for a spin on the traditional.

Makes 1 cocktail.

4 ounces chilled champagne1 Tablespoon Chambord (blackberry liqueur)1 teaspoon blackberry sorbet

Pour champagne into flute and top with Chambord. Add sorbet and serve immediately.

Champagne Cocktail for Two

This is one version of a traditional champagne cocktail.Serves 2.3 Tablespoons grenadine 3 Tablespoons Cointreau 2 Tablespoons brandy 1-3/4 cups Champagne

Garnish: fresh raspberries or strawberries or orange or apple slices.

1. Fill a small ice bucket halfway with crushed ice.2. Pour in the ingredients, except garnish, and gently stir.3. Ladle the punch into two wide-mouthed stemmed glasses, a la Marie Antoinette. Garnish with raspberries, orange twists or any other fruit in season. Serve immediately.

Champagne Vinaigrette

Makes about 4 cups.

1 cup champagne vinegar½ cup champagne1 Tablespoon dry mustard1 Tablespoon ground white pepper½ Tablespoon honey

Combine all ingredients and whisk together. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Will last up to three days in the refrigerator.

Pears Poached in Champagne

Serve this elegant dessert hot or cold, in a brandy snifter with champagne sorbet.Can also be diced and used to accompany crisp greens and Gorgonzola and candied walnuts.Makes 6 pears.

3 cups water1 ½ cups sugar6 ripe pears, cored and peeled1 cup champagne½ teaspoon ground cinnamon½ teaspoon lemon zest

1. In a small stockpot, combine water and sugar. Heat and stir until syrup is formed, about 3 minutes.2. Add pears, immersing them.3. Add champagne. Simmer until pears are tender. Remove pears and keep warm, in a small amount of poaching liquid.4. Add cinnamon and zest and reduce poaching liquid to a glaze (until it coats the back of a spoon), about 10 minutes.5. Pour over pears and serve warm, or store pears in glaze, refrigerated, until ready to serve.

Note: can prepare this dish with fresh peaches as well as pears. Add Framboise (raspberry liqueur) and a small amount of vanilla extract to poaching liquid.

Champagne Intermezzo

A refreshing champagne sorbet.

Serves 10-12

3 cups water1 ½ cups sugar5 cups champagne1 teaspoon orange zest

Combine water and sugar in a pan and allow to reduce to a syrup, about 5 minutes. Cool completely. Add champagne and zest and pour into shallow pan. Freeze. Periodically, scrape pan so frozen particles are loosened. This will have the texture of a granita. If an ice cream machine is available, it can be used for a smoother texture.

Champagne-glazed cauliflower

Madame Dubarry (for whom many cauliflower dishes were named) and Marie Antoinette would have approved.

Serves 10-12.

6 pounds fresh cauliflower florets2 cups dry Champagne2 cups vegetable stock2 cloves minced garlic2 teaspoons fresh thyme1 teaspoon ground white pepper1 ounce butter2 ounces flour1 cup milk8 ounces shredded gruyere

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 2. Place cauliflower deep ( 600) half steam table pan. Add Champagne, stock, garlic thyme and butter. Cover. Bake for 35 minutes or until tender.3. Remove cauliflower from pan. Save juices.4. Broil cauliflower until golden, about 5 minutes. Set aside and keep warm.5. Melt butter in a medium sauté pan. Whisk in flour to form roux. Add milk and 2 cups of juice from baking pan. Add cheese and whisk until smooth and sauce is thickened, about 3 minutes.6. Pour over cauliflower and serve warm.

Champagne Risotto

Serves 10-12.

3 ounces butter6 ounces chopped shallots3 cups arborio rice1 cup champagne6 cups vegetable or mushroom broth2 teaspoons ground white pepper

1. Melt butter in small stockpot. Add shallots and sweat until soft.2. Add rice, slowly adding and stirring champagne and stock. Do not add too much liquid at one time. Stir constantly for creamy texture and to prevent burning.3. When arborio is al dente, remove from heat. Add pepper and serve.

Note: chopped green or black olives, sautéed mushrooms, or cooked bay shrimp may be added during cooking; can be served with garnish of shredded Parmesan or Asiago cheese.

Pairing Food and Champagne

"Some people want champagne and caviar when they should have had beer and hot dogs." Dwight D. Eisenhower

Blanc de Blancs: pates, light dips, shrimp, lobster, oysters, poultry, Asian cuisine, ham and light pasta.

Extra Dry: mild cheeses, pates, dips, seafood, game birds, light pasta, Asian cuisine, pork, veal.

Brut: dips, seafood, salmon, tuna, poultry, game birds, light pasta, Asian cuisine, ham, pork, veal.

Demi-sec: mild cheeses, duck, ham, fruit, desserts Sec: fruit, desserts.

"My only regret in life is that I did not drink more Champagne." John Maynard Keynes, famous economist. postamble();