I’ve always been a bubbly enthusiast – bar the brief phase as a neophyte, vehemently denouncing the region of Champagne out of myopic unfamiliarity (“why would you pay hundreds of dollars for sparkling bread water?!”) – but for some reason the ember has recently been amplified for at least a modicum of time. It struck me as a bit odd, since the grandes marques of the wine world are the opposite of the dark horses I like to champion, but I’ve popped open a bottle of Piper-Heidsieck’s non-vintaged brut (it was on sale, obviously), as I pound away at a daunting spreadsheet covering what I’ve deemed are the 70-or-so most important Champagne houses, everything down to oak regimes, house styles, or whether or not they were fucked over during an acquisition.… read more