Pop Open the Perfect Bottle for the New Year with Tips From Mohegan Sun’s Wine and Beverage Manager Joseph Vita

2008-12-22

This year, compliment your New Year’s celebration with the perfect bottle of champagne. Mohegan Sun’s Wine and Beverage Manager Joseph Vita shares his tips for choosing the ideal bottle of champagne to bring in 2009. 

Champagne is Supposed to be Fun

When you hear the word “champagne,” you automatically think of festive celebrations. Every day is festive when champagne is involved and we should enjoy it as much as we can because it accompanies so many foods. One does not have to buy expensive champagne to enjoy it; surround yourself with friends to make the experience all the better.

Know What Champagne is

The French culture is very particular about this because champagne originated in this region. Everything else is considered sparkling wine. From surrounding areas you can get Sekt from Germany, Spumante from Italy and Vin Mousseux from other areas in France.

Know the Different Types of Champagne

1. Méthode champenoise is the name for the exact multi-step process of producing champagne fermentation in the bottle. Look for this on bottles of sparkling wine from the US and Italy.

2. Vintage champagne is made in the year stated on the bottle. Eighty percent of the wine must be from the year stated and is a blend of numerous wines that the master blender puts together to get the style the producer wants. The remaining twenty percent is from reserve wines aged within two to three years that the blender uses to produce a house style.

3. MV – Multi-vintage, These make up the most popular champagnes. The champagnes are blends of wines sometimes with over five different vintages. This allows the master blender to keep a particular style as he fashions various amounts from different years to create a singular year-to-year style.

Understand the Label

Understanding the label will help you identify which champagne will satisfy your friends and family.

1. Brut is the dry style of champagne and is most popular; there is also an Extra Brut which is drier with little or no sugar.

2. Extra-dry is unusual; it’s a little sweeter than Brut.

 
3. Demi-sac is the sweetest of champagne.

Understand the Style of Wine

Champagne is made of using these varietals: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier.
 
1. Blanc de Blanc is made from Chardonnay. This is crisp and a little lighter in style with notes of green apple.

2. Blanc de Noir is rich, full bodied champagne generally made up from Pinot Noir and Pino Meunier.

3. Rose is made in a variety of different ways. Some add a still red wine to the White Wine Cuvee, or by letting the skins of the Red Pinot Noir/Pinot Meunier grapes soak for a short time with the whites, which is called Pink Champagne.

Mohegan Sun, owned by the Mohegan Tribe, is one of the largest, most distinctive and spectacular entertainment, gaming, shopping and meeting destinations in the United States.  Situated on 240 acres along the Thames River in scenic southeastern Connecticut, Mohegan Sun is within easy access of New York, Boston, Hartford and Providence and located 15 minutes from the museums, antique shops and waterfront of Mystic Country.  More information is available by calling 1.888.226.7711 or visiting mohegansun.com.

 

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