|
Champagne shortage revisited
At this point, however, most of the evidence of a shortage seems to be found more at the distribution level than among retailers or consumers. I spent Saturday at the huge Party Source store in Northern Kentucky, near Cincinnati, one of the largest and best stocked wine shops in the U.S., where wine managers Mary Dorr and Gary Boswell said some of the distributors of major Champagne labels have been able to deliver less product this autumn than the store had ordered -- in some cases cutting back orders from 180 twelve-bottle cases to as few as 110. In neighboring Ohio, they said, some shops reportedly weren't able to get some major Champagnes at all. But on the consumer side, demand doesn't appear to be picking up yet. Dorr and Boswell have stocked their shelves with hundreds of bottles of Champagnes and other sparkling wines, at sale prices literally ranging from $5 to $1,500. In the opening days of the sale, however, crowds were sparse, leading to the reasonable conclusion that most people aren't going to start thinking about Champagne for New Year's until the last few days before the holiday. My advice remains unchanged from the article I wrote on this topic back in February: Shortages of luxury Champagnes are possible, especially at individual wine shops in the last weeks before the New Year. The industry certainly shouldn't have any trouble supplying the demand for everyday bubbly, but if you want to celebrate with something special, I suggest stocking up now. What are your sparkling-wine plans for New Year's? Drop me a note at wine@wine-lovers-page.com. I regret that the growing circulation of the "Wine Advisor" makes it difficult for me to reply individually to every note, but I'll answer as many as I can; and please be assured that all your input helps me do a better job of writing about wine. Please feel free to get in touch if you'd like to comment on our topics and tasting notes, suggest a topic for a future bulletin, or just talk about wine. If you're enjoying The 30 Second Wine Advisor, we hope you'll tell your wine-loving friends to register for their own free weekly copy at http://www.wine-lovers-page.com/wineadvisor.
Outstanding Champagne bargain If you're looking for a particularly good buy, however, for New Year's or any other occasion, here's one that Dorr strongly recommends; and I agree.
FOOD MATCH: Demonstrating Champagne's versatility with food, a fine match with roast chicken.
Our new Wine Questionary offers quick, simple answers to dozens of common wine questions, some of which have been the subject of previous editions of The 30 Second Wine Advisor. Our new Wine Lexicon, an enhancement of our old Wine Pronouncing Glossary and Wine Tasting Dictionary, provides definitions of hundreds of wine words and phrases - and if you have MP3 sound software on your computer, you can hear me pronouncing many of the names of grapes and wine places. If you're still new to wine, we hope you'll enjoy these new learning tools. If you're an expert yourself, I hope you'll drop by and offer me your thoughts and suggestions for improvements.
You are on the subscription list because our records indicate that you registered during a visit to Robin Garr's Wine Lovers' Page. If for any reason you don't want to receive this publication, simply send E-mail to 'wine@wine-lovers-page.com' and we'll remove your name from the list. We do not use this list for any other purpose and will never give or sell your name or E-mail to anyone. If your E-mail program is having trouble handling the images in this edition, feel free to request that we switch you from the HTML to TEXT edition ... or vice versa. We welcome feedback, suggestions, and ideas for future columns. Send us E-mail at wine@wine-lovers-page.com. All the wine-tasting reports posted here are consumer-oriented. In order to maintain objectivity and avoid conflicts of interest, I purchase all the wines I rate at my own expense in retail stores and accept no samples, gifts or other gratuities from the wine industry.
If you'd like to talk about wine online with fellow wine enthusiasts around the world, we'd be delighted to have you visit the interactive forums in our Wine Lovers' Discussion Group. If you're from another part of the world and don't feel entirely comfortable chatting in English, visit our International Forum and introduce yourself in the language of your choice. Vol. 1, No. 40, Oct. 25, 1999
Subscribe (free) to The 30 Second Wine Advisor
|
As the calendar winds down toward the most unusual New Year's in many a lifetime -- the first time in a thousand years that the calendar will begin with a digit other than "1" -- there's still talk of a possible Champagne shortage as millions of celebrants around the world uncork bottles of bubbly in celebration.
Champagne Chartogne-Taillet Cuvée Sainte-Anne Brut ($24.99)