Champagne is the quintessential wine for New Year’s Eve. While it’s certainly appropriate for a toast as the clock strikes midnight, it’s also a wine that you can enjoy with food all evening. We reached out to a few Champagne experts to get their recommendations for the best Champagne for New Year’s Eve.
If there is any day of the year that caviar is called for, New Year’s Eve is it! Kat Morse, Swiss Champagne Ambassador and Wine Academy Director at wiine.me in Geneva, explained that when pairing wine and caviar, more saline caviar calls for a structured Champagne.
She typically pairs caviar with dry Champagne, usually a brut or drier. Rich, creamy caviar can be paired with Champagne that has seen oak, but unless she is familiar with the caviar, she usually selects Champagne that has seen little to no oak.
We paired Billecart-Salmon Brut Reserve Champagne with Browne Trading Galilee Prime Osetra caviar from Water2Table.
Gary Westby, Champagne buyer for K&L Wine Merchants, recommends Le Brun de Neuville “Authentique Assemblage” Brut Champagne with caviar. He also suggests pairing Champagne with sushi. We thought this was a fabulous idea. He recommends Franck Bonville Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Champagne. All you have to say is “Blanc de Blancs” and Clayton is sold. We tried this wine with Alaskan king crab legs and can guarantee that it will pair with fish and shellfish.
Finally, it’s important to remember that not all Champagne is white. It’s hard to imagine any wine more delicious than pink bubbles. Morse suggests that caviar can be paired with rosé Champagne if it is elegant, like our favorite rosé, Billecart-Salmon Brut Rosé Champagne.
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Happy New Year!
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