September 13th, 2006
Food bloggers (such as me) are a peculiar sort. Rather then discourage competion, food bloggers encourage it - more people creating food blogs is more people eating good food. On those lines, Becks & Posh created a topic - Champagne - with the intention of other food bloggers getting involved.
Moet & Chandon is not, unfortunately, a ’secret’ waiting to be discovered, in fact far from it. It’s a mid-price Champagne, well known and easily available. And there’s a story behind why I’ve chosen it for today’s review.
I’m recently married. Our wedding took us from England to Poland, Poland to England, and England to Greece (and back again). To cut a long story short, my bank account was locked once in Poland (leaving us with no money until we phoned the bank), then once in Greece again - despite me phoning the bank before the wedding. A swift letter of complaint afterwards, and this bottle of Champagne arrived on my doorstep. I’m sharing it now with you all.
Moet & Chandon ‘Brut Imperial’ Champagne Review
Moet and Chandon is the worlds leading Chamagne, and was established in 1743 by the Dutch Claude Moet (pronounced Mow-et, NOT Mow-ey, contrary to popular belief). It was another 100 years before Vintage Champagne was introduced, and then furthered by the introduction of the “dry” and “sec” types. Shortly before this time (1840), the Chandon name was added to the bottle due to the legacy passing from Jean Remy Moet to his son Victor Moet, and son in law Pierre Gabriel Chandon. The type ‘Brut Imperial’, under review today, was introduced in 1860.
I sampled this wine with my family alongside a meal of baked trout with a salad, planning a meal that would not overpower the champagne, rather allowing it to stand out by it’s own identity.
On first taste, this wine is crisp and also refreshing; the dryness adds subtlety while not detracting from the initial fresh sharpness. There is a balanced acidity here which I beleive is needed to counteract the subtleness; this lifts the lemony grassiness forward, creating fuller mouth flavours, such as soft goosberry.
The mix of grapes within the wine creates layers of flavour which, although subtle, add depth to the otherwise slightly muted palate. In all, this Champagne is a well practised brand, and should taste as good as expected - and certainly does not dissapoint.
September 13th, 2006 at 10:05 pm
Billecart-Salmon is the only one for me.
September 13th, 2006 at 11:15 pm
Cherry: And unless you’re going for the “fancy” varieties, comes at a very nice price too. Good choice of Champagne.
September 15th, 2006 at 12:42 am
thanks for the entry! I am glad you mentioned the correct way to pronounce the name since a lot of people dont know that (I do of course!).
Like Cherry, I like Billercart Salmon too.
I am working on the round up and hope to have it up before the end of the weekend.
sam
September 19th, 2006 at 12:21 am
What a nice touch to send you a bottle of bubbly rather than a few free cash transfers or some such.
September 26th, 2006 at 2:16 pm
sam: and a very successful WBW it was too.
Whit Stevens: I was impressed too! They actually gave me the champagne, a box of chocolates, and £50 credited to my account.
September 29th, 2006 at 4:26 am
I love Moet & Chandon. My husband and I did a quick trip to Champagne country in France and visited their vineyard where we did a tour of their cellars. It has remained one of my favorite champagnes. Have you, by any chance, ever read Wine and War? It is a very interesting account of the wine producers during WWII and what went on when the Germans occupied France, how the vineyards were preserved, how they hid thousands of bottle of wine. I recommend it to lovers of French wine.