Food & Champagne Pairing

CHANGING SEASONS

Pairing Champagne with Winter Produce!

As champagne lovers know, this is not the time to pack away their flutes and wait for the long days of summer to return. Champagne is far more versatile than many give it credit for, and while some of us may only consider champagne enjoyed poolside or served with lighter foods during the warmer months, we need to reframe our thinking.

There is more diversity in champagne as a category than ever before, thanks to the experimental new generation who have taken the reins from their far more conservative grandparents, and slightly less conservative parents. Champagne is not simply divided into non-vintage, vintage and rosé – we have a breadth of styles, weights and blends that would see us able to successfully partner with food not simply throughout the meal, but throughout the year!

We can marry weight and champagne’s signature cleansing acidity to give us a wonderful balance with heavier dishes during the cooler winter months. Sometimes when we are partnering food, particularly in winter, we tend to match with a heavy wine. At the end of the meal that can leave us flat, overfull and our palate tired and overwhelmed. By comparison, champagne’s bubbles and acidity cleanse and renew the palate.

What we want to do is opt for champagnes that have more full-bodied structure. The wine-maker has few winemaking tools available to help achieve more oomph. Look out for champagnes with a greater proportion of red grapes – pinot noir and pinot meunier, wines that have had extra time in the cellar, champagnes aged in magnum or look out for cuvées aged in oak barrel – the traditional method! These methods of production will all add body to the champagne which will partner well with winter cuisine.

The body and volume in champagne come from increased ageing, and vintage champagnes by law have a longer ageing period, so they must spend more time in the cellar with the yeast inside the bottle. The yeast triggers secondary ageing, giving us the bubbles that we love.

A magnum bottle is double the size of a 750ml bottle, so the ratio of wine to air is significantly higher slowing down the breathing of the wine through the porous cork. Therefore the wine ages more slowly in magnum resulting in a more complex and full bodied champagne making a perfect marriage for more hearty food.

Barrel ageing is another process that adds more volume and more body to champagne. We are seeing a return of the barrel ageing process with champagnes, such as the monks used in the 1600s. Fermenting and ageing wines in oak barrel adds depth and a voluptuous texture to champagne.

There are two famous houses that have never stopped using barrel ageing, even when others gave up on it in the 1960s, due to the stainlesssteel revolution. The mighty house of Krug and the house of Bollinger have stayed ‘tried and true’ to barrel ageing – champagne from either of those being fantastic, but Krug being known for the power, layers and depth of its champagne.

“The more time that wine spends inside the wine makers cellar, the more layers, more aromatics, more power and the more complexity the wine is going to have.”

We really should start to open our perspectives and further our horizons, partnering a broader range of champagne with our meals during winter.

Spoil your palate with some exciting, irresistible flavours by trying these winter food pairings below:

MENU ONE

WARM DUCK-AND-CHERRY SAUCE

This duck and cherry dish is a classic dinner party pleaser – and a real winter treat. The gamey duck is beautifully enhanced by the sweet and slightly tart cherry sauce. Cherry is the perfect fruit to marry with duck, its more robust fruit flavour won’t disappear when served with the strong flavour of duck.

CHAMPAGNE PAIR: Eric Rodez “Blanc de Noirs”

Blanc de Noirs, is a style of making a white champagne purely from the red pinot noir grapes. The palate is both powerful and fresh creating great balance, and a persistent finish. There is some oak use in this wine, which adds complexity and depth.

Champagne has a wide range of partnerships with many different foods. The Rodez Blanc de Noirs directs all its freshness and acidity to offset the duck’s fattiness. The red fruits ever present in the wine provide a backdrop of flavours to dovetail in with the cherry sauce – no wonder it is a winner!

SOUTHERN FRIED CHICKEN

We all love home-cooked style of southern fried chicken, with the base flavours of paprika, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, dried oregano with buttermilk and flour, all combined to create a crunchy layer on tender chicken thighs.

CHAMPAGNE PAIR: Krug’s Grande Cuvée

A blend of around 120 wines from ten or more different vintages and three grape varieties go into make up the final blend for this Krug champagne, which results in a deeply rich and concentrated style that has plenty of drive and character to match classic southern fried chicken.

If Krug is pushing beyond your budget, look for a champagne with higher reserve wine, like Palmer & Co Brut Reserve or a good grower champagne like Egly-Ouriet Brut Tradition.

SPICED PLUM AND BLACKBERRY CRUMBLE

Crumble is a famous winter dessert staple, the piping hot, buttery crumble layered with cooked fruit both warms and satisfies. With this dish, the berry flavours are mixed with spiced plum, giving it zing and extended warmth on the palate.

CHAMPAGNE PAIR: Henri Giraud ‘Solera’ Ratafia

Ratafia is quite simply unfermented grape juice that has been fortified with a neutral grape spirit. In this case, it has been aged in a ‘solera’ system, which is a combination of many barrels that are linked together and allow the ageing over a longer period. This makes it both sweet and complex.

This is the little unsung hero in champagne. It would work wonders with the spice components in this dish, drawing from all that time in oak. The sweetness is just enough to match the juicy and tart flavours of the blackberry.

MENU TWO

LOBSTER STUFFED POTATO SKINS COOKED WITH DRY WHITE WINE

A tantalising and decadent ‘surf and turf’ combination. Cheddar and parmesan will add extra layers of flavour, and the cream both a buttery length to the lobster and a luscious texture contrast to the crispy potato skins.

CHAMPAGNE PAIR: Charles Heidsieck NV Why is Charles Heidsieck Brut Reserve NV such an excellent example of this category in champagne? Quite simply, they use over 60 different vineyard sites with 40 per cent of reserve wines and six years cellaring which is over four times the required amount for a non-vintage wine. Lobster has a dominant crustacean flavour that needs a wine with this level of structure to live up to the expectations.

If you can find a magnum of this wine instead and if there are at least one of you or more, we recommend trying this! It tastes even better in Magnum.

SLOW COOKED LAMB INFUSED WITH PINOT NOIR, ROSEMARY AND THYME

Winter is not winter without slow cooked lamb. This succulent lamb dish, combined with fragrant herbs and the added complexity of pinot noir will bring everyone to the table in no time.

CHAMPAGNE PAIR: Champagne Geoffroy Empreinte 2009 in Magnum

Jean-Baptiste Geoffroy is responsible for the excellence of these wines. The 2009 vintage resulted in very ripe and mature fruit most of which is pinot noir from the Premier Cru Village of Cumiéres. Add to this masterful oak ageing, low dosage (6 g/l) and several years ageing in a magnum, resulting in a sultry and definitive expression of champagne. This will feel right at home with the softness of slow-cooked lamb and will further enhance the pinot noir fruit and herbs components. Unforgettable.

RHUBARB AND STRAWBERRY COBBLER WITH ORANGE CREAM

A cobbler is an alternative version of a classic pie, originating from the 1800s, literally from ingredients ‘cobbled’ together. It is simple to make, yet will leave a long lasting impression – the orange cream lending a sophisticated accent.

CHAMPAGNE PAIR: Pol Roger Brut Rosé Vintage 2008

Rosé is great pairing champagne for both savoury and sweet dishes. This is due to the contribution of a portion of red wine blended into it before it goes down to the cellar, or has the red grapes pressed to extract some of the red colour and touch of tannin.

Pol Roger produces an excellent vintage rosé that has had six to seven years in the cellar. This provides a great deal of flavour and layers of fruit that would support the flavours of rhubarb, strawberry and orange effortlessly. Add to that some baked notes of the fruit combined with the pastry and you have a stroke of flavour genius.

If you’re not into desserts, then perhaps look for a cheese washed in Raspberry Ale called BellaVitano - cheese heaven!