There’s no doubt about it: trying to find the best Champagne is intimidating. While it’s exciting to traipse through the sparkling wine aisle, it can turn stressful pretty fast when you see the French names, opulent branding, and hefty price tags.
This helpful guide is full of tips and tricks on how to avoid common bubbly-buying mishaps and get a great taste for your dollar. So, you’re buying for a crowd. Or maybe you’re switching out your PBR for something a little more special. Or maybe you just need to bring something.
The Best Champagne on Any Budget
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Since 2014, the Mornington Peninsula Pinot Noir Rootstock Trial – involving growers from across Greater Victoria – has been comparing the performance of Pinot Noir scions grafted to14 different rootstocks on two commercial vineyards 15 kilometers apart and with more than 100 meters elevation difference. One vineyard is located in a warmer coastal area of the Mornington Peninsula, while the other sits in a cooler more elevated location.
At both vineyards, Pinot Noir clone MV6 was grafted to 14 rootstocks with three replicates per treatment and one panel per replicate. Grapevines were also planted on their own roots as a control.
Forbidden Fruit
- “I smell and swirl the water I pour into my wine glass in between tasting.”
- “Systematically point out at least one flaw in each wine at the tasting to the winemakers.”
It’s frustrating to be standing in a wine shop, and you find a bottle that excites you with a QR code on the label, so you pull out your phone and get a dead end.
Many producers want to include such codes on their bottles, but struggle to maintain links or keep the information at the end of the rainbow up to date. Leveraging the power of the Global Wine Database, winemakers can dynamically generate wine information cards with scannable QR codes that lead to vetted wine information.