You might call me a born-again Champagne fanatic. There was a time when I didn’t care for the stuff, but that was only because I had lived my life without ever tasting really good Champagne. Now, unfortunately, I’ve had the chance to understand the difference between the stuff you can get for $30 and the stuff costing around $200, and I live in a constant bittersweet state of longing that marks the lives of the truly devoted.

I’ve written before about the travesty of wine and its associations with upper class sensibilities in this country. Equally as tragic, and no doubt related to this phenomenon, we Americans seem to think that Champagne is really only for special occasions, and deprive ourselves of the joy and the food friendliness of one of the world’s greatest wines. Given how well Champagne goes with fried food, the ubiquitous staple of most Americans’ diets, we’re missing out on some truly great wine experiences every day.

Almost weekly I find myself glaring at bottles of Syrah and Malbec on my cellar wall wishing I could turn them into bottles of bubbly. OK, so maybe it never gets quite that bad, but for whatever reason, I really have decided that I own far too little Champagne.

Which brings me to yesterday’s melee tasting of Champagne put on by the Institute of the Masters of Wine. Part benefit, part community outreach, their annual Champagne tasting is one of the highest quality wine tastings put on for the public each year. They bring in (as you will see below) many of the top Champagnes in the world (minus only a few names like Salon and Selosse, as well as a few top cuvées from the biggest houses) for the pleasure and education of about 200 attendees.

This year’s tasting featured about 120 different wines, of which I got to slightly less than 100 before the evening wound up. My scores, and tasting notes on my favorites are below. Enjoy, and remember the immortal words of Mark Twain: “Too much of anything is bad, but too much Champagne is just right.”

WINES SCORING BETWEEN 9.5 AND 10
1999 Bollinger Brut “La Grande Année.” $110. Where to buy?
1995 Henriot Brut “Cuvée des Enchanteleurs.” $130. Where to buy?
2000 Dom Pérignon Brut. $120. Where to buy?
1998 Dom Pérignon Brut Rosé. $300. Where to buy?
1998 Taittinger Brut “Comtes de Champagne” Blanc de Blancs. $230. Where to buy?

WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9.5
2001 Delbeck Brut. $60. Where to buy?
1999 Alfred Gratien Brut Millésimé. $??
1995 Charles Heidsieck Blanc des Millenaires. $90. Where to buy?
1998 Lanson “Noble Cuvée de Lanson”. $??
1997 Lanson “Noble Cuvée de Lanson” Blanc de Blancs. $??
2002 Perrier-Jouet Brut “Fleur de Champagne” Rosé. $250. Where to buy?
1998 Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blancs. $175. Where to buy?
NV Camilles Saves Brut “Cuvée Rosé”. $55. Where to buy?
2003 Taittinger Brut “Comtes de Champagne” Rosé. $199. Where to buy?

WINES SCORING BETWEEN 9 AND 9.5
2000 Vilmart & Cie. “Coeur de Cuvée”
NV Ayala Cuvée Rosé Nature
2002 Besserat de Bellefon “Cuvée des Moines” Brut
1998 Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame
2002 Deutz Blanc des Blancs
2002 Drappier “Grande Sendrée”
2000 Drappier Blanc de Blanc “Signature”
NV Rene Geoffroy “Cuvée Volupte”
NV Godme Brut Rosé
NV Alfred Gratien Brut “Cuvée Paradis”
NV Alfred Gratien Brut Blanc de Blancs
1998 Henriot Brut Millésimé
NV Krug “Grande Cuvée”
NV A. Margaine “Le Brut”
NV Monmarthe Brut “Privilège”
1998 G.H. Mumm Brut “R. Lalou”
2000 Perrier-Jouet Brut “Fleur de Champagne”
1999 Pol Roger Brut Blanc de Blancs
2000 Pol Roger Brut Rosé
1999 Pol Roger Brut
NV Ruinart Blanc de Blancs
NV Ruinart Rosé
NV Vilmart & Cie. “Grand Cellier”
NV Vilmart & Cie. Brut “Cuvee Rubis” Rosé

WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9
NV Besserat de Bellefon “Cuvée des Moines” Brut
NV Henri Billiot Brut Réserve
NV Chartogne-Taillet Brut “Cuvée Ste. Anne”
2002 Veuve Clicquot
1999 Charles Ellner Brut Millésimé
2000 Gimonnet et Fils “Oenophile Maxi Brut”
2004 Gimonnet et Fils Brut “Cuvée Gastronome” Blanc de Blancs
NV Alfred Gratien Brut
NV Alfred Gratien Brut Rosé “Cuvée Paradis”
NV Piper Heidsieck Rosé Sauvage
NV Lallement Brut “Réserve”
NV G.H. Mumm “Mumm de Cramant” Blanc de Blancs
1999 Bruno Paillard “Brut Assemblage”
NV Bruno Paillard Brut “Première Cuvée”
NV Pierre Peters Brut “Cuvée Réserve” Blanc de Blancs
2003 Pierre Peters Brut Millesime Blanc de Blancs
NV Louis Roederer Brut “Première”
NV Camilles Saves Brut “Carte Blanche”
2002 Taittinger Millésimé
NV Varnier-Fanniere Brut “Grand Cru” Blanc de Blancs

WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8.5 AND 9
2002 Ayala “La Perle” Nature
NV Goutorbe “Cuvée Prestige”
NV Hebrart Brut Selection
1997 Lanson “Gold Label” Brut
NV Lanson “Noble Cuvée de Lanson” Rosé
NV Lanson “Rose Label” Brut Rosé
NV Milan Brut “Speciale” Blanc de Blancs
2003 Moët et Chandon “Grand ”
NV Bruno Paillard Blanc de Blancs “Réserve Privée ”
NV Bruno Paillard Brut Rosé “Première Cuvée”
NV Perrier-Jouet “Blason” Brut Rosé
2000 Perrier-Jouet Brut “Fleur de Champagne” Blanc de Blancs

WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8.5
NV Aubrey Brut
NV Besserat de Bellefon “Cuvée des Moines” Blanc de Blancs
NV Besserat de Bellefon “Cuvée des Moines” Rosé
NV Bollinger Brut “Spéciale Cuvée”
NV Delbeck Brut “Heritage”
NV Drappier Brut Nature Zero Dosage
NV Rene Geoffroy Brut “Empreinte”
NV Henriot Blanc “Souverain” Blanc de Blancs
NV Monmarthe Brut “Secret de Famille”
NV Pehu-Simonet Brut “Selection”

WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8 AND 8.5
NV Gaston Chiquet Brut Tradition
NV Deutz Brut
NV Perrier-Jouet “Grand Brut”

WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8
NV Veuve Clicquot Brut “Yellow Label”
NV Drappier Brut “Carte d’Or”
NV Godme Brut Blanc de Noirs
NV Goutorbe Brut Rosé
NV Monmarthe Brut “Rosé de Ludes” Rosé

WINES SCORING BETWEEN 7.5 AND 8
NV Veuve Clicquot Brut Rosé
NV Drappier Rosé “Val des Demoiselles”
NV Henriot Brut Rosé
NV G.H. Mumm Brut Roséå

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As you know, I think wine reviews should be more than just tasting notes and scores. They should be the stories of the people and the places behind the wines. While the people quite often bring the most life to the story of a wine, sometimes the place, even the vineyard itself, can be the most prominent character in the drama.

In the case of this wine, the story consists of the inextricable link between a family and a vineyard. By most accounts, the Prüm family has owned vineyards in and around the town of Wehlen in Germany’s Mosel river valley since the early 12th century, and they have lived in the area even longer. I’m not entirely sure when the Prüm name first appeared on a wine bottle, but the name became famous in conjunction with wine when in 1846 Jodocus Prüm painted a sundial on the face of a rocky outcrop in the center of a steeply sloping vineyard that would henceforth be known as the Wehlen Sundial vineyard, or Wehlener Sonnenuhr.

Today such an act might be seen as anything from artistic to prankish, but in those days it was merely pragmatic - the equivalent of erecting a clock in the town square. The winegrowers of the region needed a way to keep track of time, and the steep face of the vineyard seemed as good a place as any.

Jodocus Prüm’s health began to fail in the late 1800’s and so he began to split up his lands among his seven children, several of which started their own wineries. The Prüm family is to German wine what the Hearst family is to publishing in the United States. Today there are at least seven wineries that bear the Prüm name several generations later: including J.J. Prüm, Alfred Prüm, Dr. F. Weins-Prüm, Jos. Christoffel Jr. (formerly Christoffel-Prüm), Studert-Prüm, Weingut Steffen Prüm, and S.A. Prüm. Several more Prüm intermarriages and mergers are also responsible for several more prominent names in German wine, including Dr. Loosen.

Many of these scions of Jodocus Prüm still make wine in and around Wehlen, and several continue to own portions of the famous Wehlener Sonnenuhr vineyard (which at last count was parceled out into 200 different separately owned holdings).

One of the largest parcels in Wehlener Sonnenuhr is owned by the S.A Prüm estate, which has been continuously operated by descendants of Jodocus Prüm, since his eldest son Sebastian Alois Prüm began his own winery with his portion of the vineyards bequeathed by his father.

S.A. Prüm has been run for the last 33 years by Raimund Prüm, Sebastian’s grandson, and more recently Raimund’s daughter Saskia Andrea. The winery continues to produce Rieslings from their portion of the Sonnenuhr vineyard, as well as other nearby vineyards totaling about 40 acres.

Grown on the region’s decomposed blue slate soils, at incredibly steep inclines, the own-rooted (non-grafted) Riesling vines in the Wehlener Sonnenuhr average 80 years of age. The non-irrigated vines are, for all intents and purposes, grown organically, though the estate is not certified.

Grapes are meticulously hand harvested and destemmed before being gently crushed into steel tanks where they fully ferment at their own pace before being moved into 50-year-old, 1000-liter oak casks where they age until bottling.

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

Tasting Notes:
Palest gold in the glass, this wine has a heady nose of candle wax, candied tangerine zest, and honeysuckle aromas. In the mouth it is soft and lovely, with less acidity than I would expect (or desire), but nice flavors of beeswax, honeysuckle, ripe pears, and hints of lychee on the finish. Almost completely dry, with a touch of sugar, it is delicate and delicious.

Food Pairing:
Chilled down, this would be a lovely wine to drink with some homemade macaroni and cheese (which I happen to be craving at the moment — go figure).

Overall Score: around 9

How Much?: $23

This wine is available for purchase on the Internet.

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Wine tastings come and go, and while most are a good opportunity to taste a wide range of wines of a given kind or from a specific place, but on occasion they have something more to recommend them than simply the chance to educate your palate.

The Monterey Wine Festival is a great chance to taste a lot of interesting wines from a lesser know wine region, both from local producers, and many other wineries that make wine from grapes sourced in the region.

But as far as I’m concerned, the real reason to attend the Monterey Wine Festival is the change to drink wine in front of this:

While most wine tastings are held in quite unremarkable settings, I can hardly think of a cooler place to taste a bunch of wines and eat some good food than amidst the stunning natural beauty of the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

There will be an oyster bar (of course), nearly 400 wines, and food from the area’s best restaurants. Slurp down some oysters with the sea otters, and then nibble on some tuna tartar while watching…. tuna swim by the big bay window.

Proceeds from the event benefit the National Restaurant Educational Foundation, which provides scholarships for needy students who are trying to go to culinary school.

Monterey Wine Festival
October 1, 2009 7:30 PM - 10:30 PM
Monterey Bay Aquarium
886 Cannery Row Monterey, CA 93940

October 2, 2009, 5:00 PM - 9:00 PM
The Hyatt Regency, Monterey
1 Old Golf Course Road , Monterey, CA 93940

Tickets for the event are $99 and they should be purchased in advance online.

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