Wine columnist Eric Asimov of The New York Times covers the bubbly side of the 2007 International Pinot Noir Celebration over at The Pour.
The bubbly side of Pinot Noir, you ask? Indeed, Pinot Noir is one of the three grape varieties permitted in the Champagne region and the backbone of many a great Champagne house.
Eric’s focus during a seminar he co-hosted was on the rise of Champagne’s “grower” producers, who shun selling their grapes to the large Champagne houses in favor of making Champagnes that reflect a specific place within the Champagne region.
The Wall Street Journal’s Europe edition also weighed in on this subject recently, and WRO has covered the topic in the past. These small-production Champagnes can be very interesting, but they’re still not easy to find at the retail level in the U.S., and consumers have little to go on when they do stumble across a “grower” Champagne.
Asimov, bless him, has several recommendations.
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