rarer year. And like all wine producers, if the champagne
becomes a cultish item, the Houses will greedily ratchet
up production (Roederer went cultish a decade ago
which instantly resulted in a drop in quality). The big
Houses will produce vintage wines, that is grapes from
only that year if the year is exceptional (if they thought
you would pay for higher priced vintages every year
you���d never see a non vintage blend again except in the
most crummy years), and also produce special blends in
ornate bottles. Everyone has heard of Dom Perignon or
seen the Perrier-Jouet flower bottle; such top of the line
luxury bottles famous opera singers can���t live without.
Compared to a $15-20 bottle of a good domestic, they
often seem poor values for those of us who can���t over
emote.
HYLAND
