As some of you know, there was a time when I didn't really care for Champagne. But like so many preferences formed early in our lives, it turns out that I just hadn't had the good stuff. Unfortunately for my pocketbook, I eventually did find out what all the fuss was about, and now I enjoy it immensely. That is, as long as it is good.

And good Champagne, invariably means expensive. I run the risk of coming off as snobbish, or at the very least elitist by saying this, but more so than most wines, you really get what you pay for when it comes to Champagne. It's hard to find a really great bottle under $30, and even harder to find an amazing one under $60. I'm not sure about the $200-$300 range -- I've tasted a few, but only recent vintages -- but I do know that if you're willing to pay $100 for a bottle of Champagne, you can get something truly excellent.

Which brings me to this wine.

The house of Perrier-Jouet was formed in 1811 with the marriage of Pierre Nicolas Perrier and Adele Jouet. He came from a family with many generations of grape growing experience, she, from a well-to-do family in Normandy. The Perrier family's vineyard holdings in the region that would later become known as Champagne were as impressive as they were extensive. Some of the vineyards would eventually be classified as Grand Cru, and a few are still owned by the family, more than eight generations later.

Because of Perrier's wealth in land and experience, the couple wouldn't move far to settle down after they were married. They purchased an estate at the address 28 on the main avenue of Epernay, a street that would eventually be known as Avenue de Champagne. In that stone building they built what has become of the wine world's most successful brands (thanks to its latter day owners, which included at one point the larger Champagne house Mumm). The house continues to operate out of the same building, at the very same address.

Perrier-Jouet is certainly not the oldest Champagne house in existence -- it's a young pup compared to some houses that can claim to have been in operation since as early as the 16th century -- but it has several ties to history that make for good stories. One of my favorites being the tale that Oscar Wilde ordered bottles of the 1874 vintage of his favorite Champagne to his prison cell. Presumably because he couldn't bear to drink the inferior stuff they were serving him at the time? Perhaps a more important story would be the fact that in 1854 Perrier-Jouet effectively pioneered the Brut, dry style of Champagne, departing from the sweeter profiles of the times to create a wine that quickly became a standard in the region.

Perrier-Jouet, now a brand in the portfolio of drinks giant Pernot Ricard, currently owns and operates about 161 acres of vineyards in the Champagne region, of which, quite impressively, nearly all are Grand Cru classified. This is an achievement that should not be underestimated, as Champagne is famously fragmented among many, many different farmers, estates, and large Champagne houses.

The estate produces several vintage and non-vintage wines, of which this Cuvee Belle Epoque is their top bottling. Made from 50% Chardonnay and 45% Pinot Noir and 5% Pinot Meunier, it is made through careful blending and barrel selection of the winery's best fruit by winemaker Hervé Deschamps.

It's not often that a wine's label begs to be commented upon. In a world where many wines are indistinguishable from one another at a distance of 10 feet, the Perrier-Jouet bottle makes an immediate, striking impression. Whether it is the most beautiful Champagne bottle in the world I cannot say with authority, having not seen them all, but it is certainly one of the nicest pieces of packaging design that I know of in the wine industry.

The bottle is adorned with an enameled image of anenomes, the work of the artist Emile Gallé in the Art Nouveau style, which he created as a work of art in 1902 for the family, and which has been their signature bottle ever since they put it into production for their top cuvee starting in 1969.

Full disclosure: I received this wine as a press sample.

Tasting Notes:
Bright gold in the glass with very fine bubbles, this wine smells of citrus oil, yeast, and the skin of yellow apples. In the mouth it is sunshine bright with a velvet soft mousse that supports flavors of lemon zest, toasted oats, and freshly baked brioche. Great acidity makes it a joy to drink, as the wine sings the whole way down. Delicious.

Food Pairing:
This wine is quite bright and airy, making it a slam dunk with oysters, goat cheese, or egg dishes of all kinds. I'm not sure I can think of anything I wouldn't drink this with, to be honest.

Overall Score: between 9 and 9.5

How Much?: $130

This wine is available for purchase on the Internet.

Social Media Friends

Social media is creating quite a long tail of industries - lots of software companies, consultants, new modes of public relations, etc, etc.  Some of them focused on getting you into using social media, which is great, and many of them aspiring to help you “use” social media for your business.  The latter point is what I find interesting.

I’ve spoken on the topic of social media before (with assistance from the self-proclaimed “Bonafide Marketing Genius” Marta Kagan - FYI, I’m glad she has the confidence in herself to tag herself that way b/c she’s one of the few I would actually agree with) and I think the biggest point from my talk and others that I’ve seen (like Marta’s deck) is that this all is an excercise in sociology.  There are so many technologies that one could use, so many things that you could do, but in the end what is happening to the web is just another means of connecting, interacting, and getting to know people; not unlike joining a social club (like a sports team, a cultural center, or whatever).  In fact, just as you have “different circles of friends” offline (work friends, drinking buddies, sports friends), you’ll develop the same thing online and your community will drive you to the tools.

That’s where the idea “use social media” sticks in my craw a little bit.

I’ve had this blog since 2004 and I’ve interacted with many many people thanks to it.  It’s mainly an outlet for my thoughts, creativity, and passion (wine, technology, and marketing) and I’ve made a serious number of friends in the wine industry because of it.  My goal was to do exactly that, get to know people in the wine industry.  One of the major things its taught me though is that the only way to truly understand what this “social media” thing is all about is to get out and do it.  BUT - do it with a genuine desire and understand that its a means to reach out to a community (blog in particular).  Its not a sales tool and its not a PR tool for social media any more then going to a conference is a PR tool for you.  What I mean is you can go to a conference, chat with people, network, find people that you can stay connected with.  If you contribute to the conference (effectively contributing to the ‘community’ that the conference is bringing together) then you can get noticed and in that sense you get some good word-of-mouth publicity.

But here is how to think of “use social media” (Ugh!).  Its a sociological, human based filter.  Its not a broadcast engine like the “information super highway” or the “series of tubes”.  Doesn’t matter what tool/site you use, first and foremost your community has to be on that site and/or using that tool.  There is always a “critical mass” that needs to be achieved before the tool gets useful.  Kind of like a party, its not really fun until there are a bunch of people you know there.

Once your community is there, interacting, chatting, whatever then the dynamics of what happens is facinating.  Things start to get “useful” and the human filter is formed.  It becomes a situation where the community is as close as a bunch of office mates even though they are all over the world.  I literally consider the community I interact with on Twitter my “virtual office mates” and I genuinely like interacting with them.  The reason is that you can contribute (chat, answer questions, and otherwise participate) just like you would any other office.  In the case of Twitter, it becomes just like a hallway conversation in an office.  You can ignore it for a while, pop your head in with a little bit of nothing to say, put out some information or useful tool to the community, or you can put out a serious question to the group and get some solid answers.  Pretty much how you would for any office with cubilcles and hallways.

The best part of all this is that when the community reaches critical mass of people in a certain technology/tool who genuinely like to talk about a particular topic, forming an open community, thats when the best things come out.  If you contribute something to that community that is truly useful, it will get passed on to everyone very quickly.  People will decide if what you said is interesting, show their friends and, if its applicable, their friends may pass on the information to their other “open communities”.  The network effect takes over and your information has just become “viral” (i.e. it will spread not only in the current ‘circle of friends’ but to other ‘circles of friends’).  More importantly, the human filter took over and since that useful piece of information you generated is actually VERY useful, it will get passed on for a while (or very funny, or very interesting in some other way - the latest on Twitter was a streaming video of puppies, not useful, just very Zen).

So if you find an open community or want to know where there is critical mass already for a community you want to learn about (for instance - the wine community is embracing Twitter and Social Networks) on one of these tools the best way to “use social media” (I hate the term because it makes me feel like “use your friends”, but I guess there isn’t a better way to say it) is to contribute in significant ways.  Add to the community but more importantly be YOURSELF.  If people like you, they like you.  If they don’t, guess what…they don’t.  There isn’t alot of advice that can be given there that your parents should’ve taught you before Kindergarten.  Thats the funny truth of this “social media” craze.  The fundamental sociological point is that this is making friends.  Because even if you contribute something that spreads from network to network like wildfire, when those people check you out and “follow you” on Twitter, or Facebook, or whatever, then they start to get to know you in a more personal way then anyone over 25 ever thought possible.  If you’re obviously contributing to promote your business it will come across.  If you genuinely approach this medium (regardless of technology) as “getting to know people” in the way you’ve always done then you’ll not only have that “viral hit” you won’t be an online “one hit wonder”, you’ll have friends who can help you when you’re down, connect you to others, help you build business, get emotionally invested in your brand…. i.e. you’ll be a part of a community and how you do that is something your Mom and Dad shoulda taught you.

FYI - if you’re doing it for a business/brand it doesn’t matter - if people don’t like your personality, they won’t like your brand.  These things have a way of piercing the corporate PR veil.  Want an example?  Supposedly Cisco “gets” blogging.  Read their blogs and you tell me what you think….

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The results are in from last month's 2008 Denver International Wine Competition and here are the top-honor Gold Medal Winning Wines:

...

Vinturi Helps Wines to Breathe Faster, Taste Better! - 03 October 2007

Wine, Women, and Robert Parker - 24 October 2007

Who Needs Robert Parker... - 18 December 2007

Free Downloadable Wine Book - 05 September 2008

Catch Champagne Sales - 06 January 2007

Wine Sellers Dream of Amazon - 18 January 2007

British Spending More on Wine, Less on Beer - 13 August 2007

TiVo and Amazon will Deliver Digital TV Shopping - 24 July 2008

For some reason it has taken me around three years to even try a Cabernet based wine from Margaret River. I will atone for my sins and swiftly include several of these wines in my cellar, starting with the Sandalford Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2005.

Sweet blackcurrant and blackberry aromas draw you into glass, on the front palate it’s all juicy, velvety and mouthfilling followed by a long and drying finish with plenty of chalky tannin and a little oak.

The finish is a touch warming, a trait I have noticed with other Margaret River Cabernets and feel is best described as a dash of white pepper. Overall a very good package, enjoyable now (after a serious decant) however should be much better after some time in the cellar.

Score: 92/100
Price: $28
Closure: Screwcap
Alcohol: 14.5%
Other Opinions: Sandalford, The Wine Front
Would I buy this wine again?
Yes, I feel the wine is priced reasonably.

Since everyone loved my review of the Fish Eye Merlot, I figured I’d give the Cab a shot.

Ringing in at 13.5% alcohol by volume, this cheap wine was an equal match to the FishEye Merlot. From Ripon, California, this wine lets the fruit speak for itself. Along with the dark plum taste, I also experienced a little pepper in the nose.

At only 8 dollars a bottle, I found this to be a great wine. I had mine with Spicy Montreal seasoning. Try it!

Rating: 7/10
Price: 7.99
Place of purchase: L&L Grocery
Vineyard Info:
FishEye Winery
Ripon, CA
www.fisheyewines.com