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The French and Champagne

See Post #25.
ETA: Taittinger planted its first vines at Chilham, Kent, in 2017.
First bottles of Taittinger’s ‘English Sparkling’ due to roll out of their new winery in 2024.
That might actually be Brexit related rather than climate-change fuelled.....Britain buys more bubbly than anyone else...Taittinger may be simply thinking ahead to the day when some klutz decides to slap a ridiculous tariff on French champagne......
 
There's nothing wrong with British wines


as long as you boil them for 10 minutes and add a shot of Vimto to ease the burning sensation.

IIRC something with the appellation ‘British’ only has to be bottled in the UK. Hence that deluge of disgusting ‘British’ sherries in the ‘70s.

‘English’ wines on the other hand, are generally quite nice. There was a dry white in Ash in Kent that was believed to be in the site of an old Roman vineyard, IIRC, very reminiscent of a Frascati.
 
Actually I'd go for the French fizzy cider over champagne every time, tastes great & it's pretty cheap.

Cider is often called the poor man's champagne
Crémant from Alscace is highly rputated, Wolfberger for example
Alscace has only 7 cepages of vines that can pretend for an A.O.C.
The main difference between the 2 is that champagne must rest for at least 15 months before being sold on the market..and will obviously cost more
Crémant only needs a year..and will obviously cost less
After the first five bottles, they both taste the same shyte to me
 
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Speaking as someone who knows **** all about wines, is this not a good excuse for the champagne houses to buy more grapes than usual in a year that's likely to become a desirable vintage?

If the growers want them to buy a lot more grapes, can the producers not negotiate to buy more at a reduced rate so the growers get more cash (rather than leaving a large amount of the grape harvest to rot) and the producers put more bottles in storage. The producers could then release them onto the market in 5 or 10 years as a more expensive aged vintage version.

That’s where my head went but it seems the unions have tied them in knots which means they have to throw it away (or freeze it?).

Short term gain for long term pain I hope. Imagine charging £20 for a Yorkshire Pudding made in Yorkshire but a Baby’s Head made in Lancashire is the same but only £2.50.
 
I don't know if it was the fevered dreams of a proud East Midlander, but I think there was a Leicester vintners at some point.

There are two wineries that I know of in rural Leicestershire; Rothley Wine Estate and Walton Brook Vineyard. The latter is just outside the village I grew up in; Walton Brook is the muddy stream that we used to paddle in as little kids.

Anyway, on the theme of muddy waters and champagne:

“Give me champagne when I’m thirsty. Bring me a reefer when I want to get high.”

 
I dislike Champagne - actually, any sparkling wine I can take only very sparingly as it seems to encourage reflux.

Oysters - Salty phlegm (and once a peasant staple eschewed by toffs)

Caviar - Unpleasant fishy tasting tapioca pudding

Foie gras - The attraction seems to be concomitant with the level of suffering caused to the goose.

Lobster - Quite nice but an awful lot of faffing about for a poor return

Langoustine - Even more of a faff for an even poorer return

Wagyu beef - Never tried it but can it really be so good that it's worth mortgaging away your life?

White truffle - Dug up by pigs because it shares the pheromone odour of a sow in season. Mmmmmm!

I think perhaps I was born to be a peasant.

The only two of those I'd like are foie gras and langoustine. Foie gras doesn't have to cause suffering, and good langoustine is worth the effort.

Wagyu really isn't worth the effort and cost over a well treated domestic beef.

edit: mong spelling.
 
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After the first five Kawks, they taste the same shyte to me
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