Tuesday, December 9th, 2008
The news is full of doom and gloom, but I have the perfect antidote. Here's what you do:
1. Turn off Fox News. Turn off NPR. CNN too. Use your NYT for fire starter.
2. Turn on your favorite schmaltzy holiday music from your childhood (or teach www.Pandora.comwhat your favorites are!)
3. Invite your best friends over for dinner. Cook all day in anticipation of their arrival. The more involved, the better.
4. Chill several bottles of this affordable bubbly – Charles de Fere "Tradition" – and greet your guests at the door with a nice flute of chilled sparkling wine.
5. Enjoy the next four hours. Note, this prescription is renewable, and recommended during good times and bad.
An impressive value in sparkling wine (buy it here for just $16), Charles de Fere is a producer with roots in the Champagne. After several generations of growing and producing there, the latest generation of Fere's felt oppressed by the intricate network of laws governing the production of Champagne.
So he moved his facility 20 miles outside the boundary of the Champagne, and began mixing grapes from the region with grapes from the warmer southern France, thus blending the crisp, malic acidity that Champagnes are known for with the softer, more fruit-forward characteristics of the South.
Sparkling wine is testament to the art of blending, with the producer striving for a consistent "house style" regardless of what each harvest sends his or her way. And this wine is no exception. How Charles de Fere produces this much wine for so little money is a mystery to be enjoyed but not contemplated. A sparkling wine that just may spoil you.
Charles de Fere, Blanc de Blanc "Tradition" $16/bottle, $173/case
Cheers!
Dave the Wine Merchant
Dave@SidewaysWineClub.com or
Dave@TastesOfTheValleys.com
Today’s Quote:
"Some people bought Champagne and Caviar when they should have had beer and hot dogs."
~ Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890 – 1969), who died before Charles de Fere produced this festive alternative for those on a beer budget!
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