Cougar Hunting the Yellow Label
I suppose my ongoing love affair with the Widow Clicquot initiated itself in my senior year of high school when liaison with older acquaintances gained me a more reliable access to wine. I had more money then. Without a car, a multitude of lady friends, or a fake ID, I found it hard to put a dent I my summer job paychecks—so I started working my way through the NV Brut Champagnes at the wine shop up the street. And what more obvious place to start than the Widow herself? Although, I must admit, I didn’t realize that then. In fact, my first recollection of the yellow label is in kitchen at my high school girlfriend’s house in late 2006 where her eccentric mother would enthusiastically mix us mimosas in fervent celebration of simple things. It’s been love ever since—and I’m not talking about the girl, I’m talking about the Veuve.
It’s hard to adequately characterize my first experiences of the brut without risking at least some kind of embellishment, but when I finally did taste the Veuve minus the orange juice, I remember being surprised that a sparkling wine could be so rich and so light and clean all at the same time. I don’t recall any particularly yeasty qualities, although, I don’t imagine I was looking for them either. What I do recall is youth, clean fruit, and the almost overwhelming sensation of effervescence. And I was enamored. I couldn’t get enough of it and kept placing new orders with my of-age enablers with the arrival of every paycheck.
After the brut, I found myself experimenting with the rosé, which is a wine I regarded, and still do, as an incredibly masculine and powerful Champagne. After that it was the exceptionally rich 2000 vintage, the demi-sec, and—with the subsidy of my 2009 Christmas money, the 1998 La Grande Dame. It was after tasting the Grande Dame that I really found myself hoisting the black and yellow flag—and that’s a flag I’ve still got flying.
That’s the purpose of this commentary, I guess. I feel like spectacular marketing in the past decade has ignited misnomers about the quality and history behind this Champagne house. In some ways, I feel like brilliant (if sometimes a bit gimmicky) marketing has tied the Veuve Clicquot wines to a notion of questionable quality—and I don’t agree. Of course, I haven’t had the chance to taste more than the past few releases of the NV Brut—which, as we all know, isn’t enough for me to judge the consistency and quality of the wine over time. But I do know that the wine out on the market right now and the wines that the house has released since my cathartic liaisons in high school, are all admirable and well made. I am, as many, partial to grower Champagne. But I think it’s important to keep in perspective how significant large houses are in the big picture. And along with my new favorite, Laurent-Perrier, I think Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin stands at the top of large house production.
In the past I’ve heard professionals lament that a Champagne house is only as good as its NV Brut. And I guess that makes sense—so long the only bubbly you drink is non-vintage Brut. On the contrary, I think excellent Champagne at any level contributes to the overall quality of a Champagne house. When LebBron was in Cleveland, he carried the team, so why can’t a tête de cuvée? That’s not to say that all of the Veuve Clicquot wines don’t deserve merit, they certainly do, but I think it’s a strong non-vintage production along with a superb selection of upper-tier wines that truly makes Veuve Clicquot something special. Sure, the marketing is there, but when push comes to shove the wines speak for themselves.
And that bright yellow label that everyone’s been talking about--well that’s a piece of history all on its own. It dates back to the early 1900s when Barbe-Nicole, the widow herself, began to produce ‘Brut’ to accommodate the British palette that preferred a lighter, drier wine. It wasn’t designed to attract attention on the table at restaurants and nightclubs, but instead to mimic the distinct orange-yellow hue in the egg yolk of a French hen.
So take pride y’all. That black and yellow drank aint just bubble wine. It’s Veuve Clicquot.
