Champagne / Sparkling Wine / Cava

In fact, I was somewhat randomly given a bottle of Dom Perignon that I'll need to drink at some point.
**lisashea: I believe champagne was invented in 1693.

I drink champagne if someone serves it to me. I'd be pretty unlikely to seek it out for myself.

It is ok. I have not really had enough to develop a taste for it or a favorite brand.

"If you put enough sugar in it, it tastes like Ginger Ale"
- Fozzie Bear

I had thought Asti/Asti Spumante (I usually get Martini & Rossi) was a champagne, but I guess it is a sparkling wine? Either way, I like it. Most of the other stuff I've tried I dislike a great deal. **lisashea: ah! okay. got it. Maybe i should try more asti spumantes.

It's all spoiled grape juice to me.

I used to very much enjoy Martini and Rossi's Asti Ricadonna.

Dom Perignon. I just drink it once in a while, not on any regular occasion.

bleah. instant hangover.

I don't drink alcohol, but back when I did I didn't much care for champagne.

We like to have a bottle on hand for those rare, rainy afternoons when we are both home together & we can sip it in bed.

I don't have a favourite (I don't drink it enough to know) but I do prefer dry.

I love champagne and we drink a lot of it. We normally drink Australian Sparling Wine. Great Western (from Oz, not New York) is our back up champagne, and I can't recall our current favorite which we buy by the case but are out of. Yellow (by Yellow Glen) is also nice but it's not available in Hong Kong. I hate Moet & Chandon. Gloria Ferrer is not bad (we had it on a flight this summer).

We don't need a special occasion to drink champagne. In the marine where I live, champagne is a regular offering on most boats. My best friend's theme song is "Champagne Si, Aqua No". I was even offered a glass of bubbly while walking down the dock this afternoon!

The last time I had Champagne, Jen and I had just touched down (near a cow pasture, moo moo) from a hot air balloon ride in NY state (wonderful experience). The pilot made a big fuss about the tradition of hot air ballooning and drinking Champagne. The (apocryphal?) story goes that early balloonists (in France) were not originally welcomed by farmers when they landed in their fields - the farmers were fearful of the giant flying device (aliens?). But, when the balloonist brought Champagne with them, the farmers knew they were civilized and friendly.

I don't drink in general... and would avoid champagne or other such drinks.

i love dom perignon(sp??) also made by moet and chandon

I like good methode champenoise wine. The problem with it is that the bad stuff is very bad indeed, so you wind up paying more. I don't especially have a favorite brand, though Veuve Clicquot is reliably good. I drink it when I feel like it, which is seldom because I don't like it so well that I often think it's worth the money. Birthdays, New Year's eve, Christmas. It does seem festive.

The closest thing that I've found I really like is a Gran Spumante,
which I discovered at Phi and Rachel's wedding. Thanks, guys

I have a web page on Champagne at http://wine.miningco.com/library/types/bl_champ.htm if you want to learn more about it. We just hosted a Champagne tasting last Saturday that was quite intriguing - until recently I was the Asti Spumanti girl (sad to say). I've found, having tried *good* sparkling wines that I do like those. I now like the Taittinger US version - Domaine Carneros. For those in Massachusetts, Westport Rivers also has a great sparkling wine and they give free tastings and tours. Definitely worth a visit.

I think like a lot of aspects of celebrations it's a psychological thing. We're trained to believe we need shiny hats and horns and sparkles and things. I can just as easily celebrate with Bob by a fire with just two glasses of port, but I do admit that it seems special when we pull out "our glasses" and the special bottle of sparkly that we bought just for this occasion. I don't think that's a bad thing, to have certain objects you associate with "special occasion", regardless of how they got there in the first place.

Lizzie: Asti Spumanti is the 'given' name of all Italian sparkling wines - like Cava is the name of all Spanish sparkling wines (made in the "Champagne Method"). It was coined in the 1920s I believe, and yes, Martini & Rossi used to be my favorite brand of it.

Daver: Hmmm, I never found an exact year that Perignon invented the process (his wife, I believe, cut holes in her kitchen table to figure out the disgorging process). I'll have to do some more research ...

Hmmm, *nobody* has not tried a sparkling wine yet. I wonder if it's the only universal alcoholic beverage ...

I don't really have a favorite brand, because I usually drink champagne in mimosas in restaurants and either don't have a choice or don't really care what brand it is.

I can say that I've enjoyed Dom Perignon a lot, and that my family's traditional champagne sparkling wine was Martini & Rossi, so I have a little bit of nostalgic attachment to that.

lisashea: I think it's the alcoholic beverage most foisted upon people.

I don't have a favorite brand, but it's good stuff

Veuve Cliquot is probably my favorite of the moment. Since moving to California I've been drinking a lot more wine and champagne (and a lot less beer). I really enjoy a hearty champagne with dinner, actually.

Oh I can't spell it. Drat. It's something like: Verve Cliquot - the orange label.