French Champagne

[Botafogo]

Veuve WAS one of the great, quality oriented, family owned houses for literally centuries. But, alas, just like the movie "Wall Street" where Gordon Gecko wants to buy the airline to take it apart for "shareholder value" it has been gutted like a fish by its new corporate owner, LMVH which owns such luxury brands as Louis Vitton, Pierre Cardin and industrial fizz giant Moet & Chandon. They seem to have sold off as much as five years worth of inventory at the alleged Millennium last year thus lowering the average age of the cuvee considerably. While the current bottling is a nice bottle of Champagne in a crisp, lemony, aperitif style, the reputation of this house was built on huge, structured, toasty and yeasty bubbly firmly in the British style. We firmly believe that if the actual Veuve ("widow") Clicquot was alive today she would be in jail for murder having stormed the offices of the new operators with a pitchfork!

Enjoy that bottle with lighter first courses and then try something from Bollinger, Billiot, Gosset or even Charles Elner to see what Veuve USED to taste like.

Roberto @ WINE EXPO
Champagne World Headquarters

[This message has been edited by Botafogo (edited 12-08-2000).]