No Champagne in the Champagne Room

A new year, a new day, and Eric Asimov at the NY Times is at it again. I know, I know, I've said a million times how much I like the guy's blog - The Pour - but he's got another great piece up on Champagne and how it's being effected by the struggling economy. His conclusion? Basically that it's more expensive than ever, being drank less and hard to market in a time when a lot of folks don't have much to celebrate. Follow the link for the whole post, but here's a bit to whet your whistle:

“It’s a completely different playing field today,’’ Paul Grieco, an owner at Hearth, Insieme and Terroir told me. “One of our investors said: ‘You don’t want to show extravagance. You still want to go out to dinner, but who the hell has anything to celebrate?’ Obviously, the usual motivation for Champagne drinking — the celebrations of bonuses, mergers, real estate acquisitions — is not available this year. Apparently still having a job is not reason enough to pop corks. Champagne is also a lot more expensive than it was even a year ago, with prices for an entry-level bottle at retail running roughly $8 to $10 ahead of last year. Many restaurants are charging $20 for a glass of Champagne. This seems outrageous no matter the state of the economy."

Quality vs. Quantity - A Look at America's Wine Habit

There's a fascinating article in The International Herald Tribune today about American wine sales during the past 12 months. The findings, the recession has had an effect on what we're drinking. Also, it's had an effect on HOW MUCH we've been drinking. According to the article:

"In response to the economic downturn, alcohol retailers and industry experts say, American consumers have been trading down for less expensive wines and spirits. But what they have saved per bottle, many have almost made up for in quantity. "People are loading up on a lot more of the things that cost less," said Michael Cappadona, the assistant store manager at Total Wine in West Orange, New Jersey. "People that would normally come in and might buy five or six bottles are now wanting to buy something cheaper by the case.""

I'm not quite sure what to make of this. On the one hand, it's nice to read that American's are drinking more wine then ever. However, it is a bit sad to see that the quality of what their buying is going down and down. The piece goes onto say -

"At Wine.com, a large online alcohol retailer, the average price of a bottle of wine sold in December 2008 was 17 percent below the average price of a bottle sold in December 2007 - but the number of bottles sold was 15 percent higher than a year ago."

It's a fascinating read to say the least. Follow the link at the top of the post for the complete article.

Celebration!

OK. what kind of a wine blog would this be if I didn't talk about the one beverage on EVERYONE's mind today . . . you know, the one with bubbles, served chilled and in a flute. You guessed it, it's New Years eve and today we're talking Champagne. I don't have a ton of time to muse on hangovers gone by and hash out which varietal is better than another, so I thought I'd just provide some links to various helpful resources for your late night endeavors to kick off 2009.

First up, The Chicago Tribune has an excellent run down on how to select your bottle, pop it, and yes - drink it.

Next, we've got a great recipe from The Los Angeles Times for Champagne punch.

The Washington Post is running a funny (and most likely necessary) article warning you to guide your eyes against 50 mph corks this evening.

And, of course, don't forget to check out my post from yesterday on Sabering. Please be advised that the author of this blog does not recommend trying this while intoxicated.

Happy New Year everyone, we'll see you in 2009!

Sabering Champagne

Here's something to kick off the New Year - ever think about opening that first bottle of Champagne by literally chopping the top of it off? Well, apparently the act is fairly common. Called sabering, the subtle art has it's origins with French soldiers during the Napoleonic Wars - and it's still alive and well today. There's a great article on the practice on DemocratandChronicle.com, complete with the conditions necessary, a vivid description of the act and a detailed history of sabering. Here's a bit from the article:

"Demonstrating at WineSense last week, the neatly dressed retired Pittsford neurosurgeon grasps a machete-type knife. He stands up straight, one hand at the base of the bottle, the other holding the knife's blunt edge at about a 30-degree angle. Then in a swift, decisive yet not particularly forceful strike, he lops off the top of the bottle, and a chunky missile of glass lip, cork and wire cage arcs through the air. Left in his hand is a bottle with just a bit of foamy overflow and an angled, clean-cut spout."

If you're looking for something that will add a bit of flair to your end of the year celebration - this might be exactly what you're looking for. All I'm saying is . . . attempt at your own risk.

Wine for the Holidays

It looks like just about every wine writer under the sun is dusting off and breaking out their yearly wine's-for-Christmas piece, but that's just so predictable. They do call it the Holidays after all (plural) and it seems a bit unfair that there aren't more writers covering wine's that are great for a Hannukah party. That being said, I did come across one such piece, even if it's sole focus isn't just wine. The author recommends a nice, Israeli Kosher red, which I think is a fine pick. Some of you might also remember that I did a whole week of posts on kosher wine a few months back. You can check the backlogs if you're looking for a refresher course.

I'd also like to say that today is my last post before the Holiday break. I plan to eat a lot of food, drink a lot of wine and try to sleep in as much as possible. I hope that many of you have the luxury of doing the same. Happy Holidays!

Wine in a Tube

I came across an interesting story today about one California vintner claiming the they are selling "the first premium California wine that has broken out of its glass house." The wine, FOUR is a Cabernet/Petit Syrah blend and it's sold in squat, three litre. tube-like canisters. Packaging fine wine in boxes is a bit more common on the other side of the pond (though still pretty taboo), but in America wine not found in a bottle is typically written off as being both cheap and horrible. The distributors of FOUR say that their product is a bird of a different feather and that this new type of packaging is both efficient and more environmentally friendly.

From the article:

"The FOUR tubes -- which can hold the equivalent of four bottles of wine -- are 28.5 centimeters (11 inches) tall (slightly shorter than a standard wine bottle) and 13 cm (5 inches) in diameter.
Everything is recyclable, and the company that makes the bags that hold the wine inside the tubes -- Smurfit Kappa of Epernay, France -- claims a three-liter (three-quart) tube is six times lighter than four 750ml (25.4 fluid ounces) wine bottles.Producing and transporting tubes is less expensive and requires fewer resources than bottles, which allows FOUR to charge about 40 dollars per tube and to reduce its carbon footprint."

The Perfect Gift

I've come across a million articles on buying gifts for wine lovers, and I'm surprised that I haven't seen more bottle openers mentioned. The one I'm thinking about in particular, The Rabbit, is a high-end, easy-to-use and remarkably efficient (not to mention pricey) corkscrew that will change the way you open wine. I first came across it at a friends party last year, and have had it on my wish list ever since.

And on an interesting side note, when I was searching for basic info on The Rabbit, I came across the Wikipedia page for the corkscrew. Here's a bit of history to impress your friends with over the holidays.

"The corkscrew is possibly an English invention, due to the tradition of beer and cider, and Treatise on Cider by J. Worlidge in 1676 describes "binning of tightly corked cider bottles on their sides", although the earliest reference to a corkscrew is, "steel worm used for the drawing of Corks out of Bottles" from 1681. In 1795, the first corkscrew patent was granted to the Reverend Samuell Henshall, in England. The clergyman affixed a simple disk, now known as the Henshall Button, between the worm and the shank. The disk prevents the worm from going too deep into the cork, forces the cork to turn with the turning of the crosspiece, and thus breaks the adhesion between the cork and the neck of the bottle. The disk is designed and manufactured slightly concave on the underside, which compresses the top of the cork and helps keep it from breaking apart."