I love it when I’m reminded how well certain wine and food styles go together. Last week — while on a pre-Christmas jaunt to New York City — I had a chance to eat at Buddakan: A restaurant as famous for its dramatic layout as it is for its modern take on Asian cuisine.
Maybe it was the spirit of the holidays (or our dollar’s near par exchange rate), but I had a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Brut Yellow Label Champagne ($64.95 – $69) with my multi-course meal.
The combination of the eclectic flavours on my plate with the fresh fruit expression of the liquid in my glass was one of those gee-whiz wine moments: the kind where you get a few goose bumps when you realize how well these two match-up.
You can get a similar experience without taking the champagne route because there are plenty of budget bubblies that taste dynamite; with Freixenet’s Cordon Negro Brut ($13.95 – $15.99) from Spain, Jacob’s Creek Chardonnay Pinot Noir Cuvée ($13.95 – $15.99) from Australia and Domaine Chandon’s Brut Classic ($21.90 – $30.99) made in California, all offering a champagne sensibility at more than half the price.
Happy New Year!
– Peter Rockwell is the everyman’s wine writer, working in the liquor industry for more than 25 years and travelling the globe looking for something to fill his glass and put into words.
