My wife loves champagne but by the time the kids are in bed and we’re exhausted, we may only have a glass each and every time I open a “good bottle” during the week, I feel like a significant portion goes to waste. So I am looking for a few options to keep around.
As most folks probably know, my tastes lean towards somewhat geeky growers (Vouette&Sorbee, Bereche, Ruppert-Leroy, Agrapart) and classics (Krug, Cristal, Bollinger GA, Pierre Peters chetillons). My wife can probably tolerate a bit more dosage than I can. We can meet in the middle. If I could find half bottles of Cuvee Ste Anne from Chartogne-Taillet, I’d buy a case.
Any thoughts on why to pick up for:
1: guilt-free daily drinking (sub-$25/375mL)
2. Almost guilt-free (sub-$40/375mL)
I know I can get a half bottle of Krug for just under $90. Not looking to break those open in half bottles often…
Godme from Verzenay. Rose. About 25 US. Excellent, i have gone through several already and drink them during the week when i want to avoid a full bottle between my wife and i.
Have you thought about giving your children away? You and your wife will feel more refreshed and be able to enjoy full bottles. Heck, you may even feel frisky enough to start popping mags! I say this in the vein of an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Take this with a grain of salt, as I am not a connoisseur of champagne and have no clue whether this would be considered geeky, but my wife and I drink quite a bit of this in 375s:
Ployez-Jacquemart Extra Brut Rose
I get it for about $20 per. Quite enjoyable to us and priced right.
We love love the Salmon Billecart rouge but that is double the cost.
Interesting observation Russell. I recall reading that the half bottles are vinified differently, and I have always wondered whether the halves suffered as a result.
I never really buy champagne in halves because I am never willing to stop there as I am sometimes with reds. I’d be interested in hearing if what I read was prejudice or solid info.
Pretty sure 375s undergo secondary fermentation in the same bottle.
Hard to eliminate prejudice and I admit to never having done a blind tasting (as I have with magnums vs bottles). But halves also have little utility in my household. In fact I currently have none, but many magnums.
A few months back, JJ Buckley was offering 375 mls of Bollinger Special Cuvee for $23.75 with a 12-pack purchase. Can’t go wrong with that wine, especially at that price!