At a recent wedding I attended for a then-future brother-in-law, I wanted to find a nice, good quality champagne to celebrate the occasion. I’ve tried Moet and Chandon’s White Star champagne, which is always delicious and I would never refuse the opportunity to drink it. But I wanted to try something new.

I bought a half-bottle of Veuve Cliquot Ponsardin-Brut Yellow Label, which retails for about $30 on wine.com. This is a non-vintage type of champagne; a lesser quality, but also, a bit more affordable.

Veuve Clicquot is a champagne house in Reims, France, founded in 1772. The Wine for Dummies book I recently bought is a good primer on wines in general, but it also has a section on Champagnes. One basic rule– Only sparkling wines from the Champagne region in France can be called Champagne, and everything else is called sparkling wine, so don’t be fooled if something happens to say champagne, check the label to see where it was made. The Veuve Cliquot Web site lists the general variety of grapes that are in Yellow Label. It is:

50 to 55% Pinot Noir

15 to 20% Pinot Meunier

28 to 33% Chardonnay

But let’s ignore the numbers- back to finally sipping the champagne! It was bubbly, dry, had some fruit taste at the beginning and the different layers of flavor vanish quickly. It was refreshing, light. It had some oakey flavor and was very smooth. It was a fine taste, and worth the extra price to celebrate a happy event. We enjoyed it while getting dolled up for the evening wedding. Since we only got the smaller bottle it was good for just two glasses, but it was great to taste a good champagne.

Later, at the reception, during the toast, I had a sip of champagne from the head table, and I could automatically taste the difference between the VC and whatever was in the glass at the wedding; I’m guessing it was Korbel or something of that caliber. (I would not expect a high-quality champagne to be served at a wedding with 200 people.) The taste was pretty one-dimensional, just bubbly and sweet, but an almost sickly-sweet ending taste.

In contrast, the Veuve had layers of taste and texture in it, very satisfying. The rest of the night was basic– beers were $2.50, so that was the drink of choice for the rest of the night, with a couple of screwdrivers along the way. But was most memorable was the VC. It’s always fun to have a bit taste of the good life!

Next up- Cristal! (just kidding, but that would be nice…)

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