What makes a good champagne?
Good question! To save you googling your night away we want to guide you through everything you need to know to find your dream bottle of bubbly. And of course we’ll throw in a few wise words in our own signature style while we’re at it. So, without further ado, let’s dive right in and get started…
Know your mouthfeel
If you really want to know what makes a good champagne then the mouthfeel should be at the top of your list. Maybe you want it sweet and popping? Or perhaps you want it a little more understated with some fizz that comes through in the background? To be honest, this bit is really all about personal taste so make sure you take some time to sample a few different varieties until you home in on what your tastebuds have been waiting for.
Once you get to the point where you can draw up a shortlist you’ll be ready to really start diving into the details like never before. The great thing about knowing what makes a good champagne is that the more you know, the more you’ll get out of each drop in terms of taste and flavour appreciation. Every variety and brand will have a vintage that’s known to be something truly special, so why not search it out if your wallet can stretch to it? While this might not be something you can do every weekend, if you really want the best then it’s the only way to make it happen.
Get a handle on the aromas
Now that we’ve covered the basics of taste and flavour, there’s another sense that we need to take care of: smell. Every tasting session actually starts with the aroma of the champagne because that’s what you’ll experience first. Don’t believe me? Well, think about what happens when you raise the glass to your mouth and place it to your lips: it’s your nose that gets to take it all in long before your tastebuds even manage to get their feet wet. See what I’m trying to say here?
If you want to discover what makes a good champagne then you’ll really want to devote some time to figuring out the scents and aromas that you like. Much like with the mouthfeel there’s a whole host of people that will tell you to look for this and that, but really it comes down to personal choice. You want something that perks you up and enlivens your senses so that you get excited about the tastes and flavours that are about to follow. But at the same time you don’t want something so overpowering and intense that it seems to linger in the air for that little bit too long. Any good champagne will be able to strike the right balance, which means it’s over to you to find out what you like and then go in search of as much of it as the mood takes you!
Price is always a factor
I know it’s the last thing you want to hear, but finding the best champagne isn’t always something your budget and your grumpy old wallet are going to let you do. If money is no object (lucky you) then you might as well skip this section, but if you want to make your money work for you, read on.
Price will come into it as the most expensive bottles of champagne typically only come up at auctions and through specialist dealers and brokers. If what you want to do is try a whole variety of different tipples and then see what you like then this isn’t the best approach for you. Start at the other end by setting yourself a budget and then figuring out how best to use it: one bottle or a whole cellar full.
Think about what you’re having it with
If you’re someone who wants to do more than just drink champagne (I know, who are these people) then you’ll want to give some careful thought to the environment you’ll be drinking it in. What’s the occasion? What’s going to be served with it? And what will your guests be expecting.
The reason I’ve put this one is that what makes a good champagne very much includes the occasion that you’ll be popping it at. If you want to get the party started and everyone enjoying your latest discovery, take the time to find something in the middle of the taste spectrum that isn’t going to overpower those with the more delicate tastebuds. Trust me, they’ll thank you for it later when they leave happy and ask you where on earth you managed to find that elegant little vintage they’d never heard of before.
Make sure it really is champagne…
Last but not least, don’t confuse it with prosecco! Now don’t get me wrong, I love it as much as the next blogger, but that doesn’t mean I call it something it’s not. Real champagne can only come from the earthy slopes of the Champagne region (named after it in fact lol) which means that if you call anything else by this name than you’re creating a faux pas your guests are never going to let you forget.
You certainly don’t want to be that person, so make so you check what you’re about to serve is the real deal and you won’t have any wine snobs pointing it out to you midway through the night. Trust me, I’ve seen the red faces from these kinds of showdowns before, and they’re not pretty!
Anything else I need to know?
Honestly, I think that’s everything covered, but if you do want to make a good champagne even better, why not put a label on it? And if you’re not sure how to do that, click around on the rest of the site and you’ll soon see that you’ve landed in exactly the right place. Enjoy and have fun with it folks!