Baltic Champagne

Most have already heard of this story, I'm sure, but I thought it was neat when I read it today. And, apparently, a bottle of 1830s champagne will only run you $70,000, so act fast. I'm sure they'll go quicker than '09 Coudert CT.

I feel like this sort of story surfaces every 10 years or so.

I used to work at a venue with 1907 Heidsieck Monopole "Gout Americain" on offer. It was sourced from a similar find.

It is really cool. Thank god for shipwrecks, wine's only archaeology (aside from all of those mysterious "hidden cellars" navigable only by H. Rodenstock).

However, Juhlin's reaction, as described, is a jumble and makes little sense to me:

Richard Juhlin, a Swedish author of numerous books about Champagne, said he noted great variations in the first 10 bottles tasted, from seawater to great stuff. After overseeing the recorking, he said both Juglar and Veuve Clicquot had in common a mature aroma, almost of cow cheese, Brie or Vacherin, almost too strong, combined with a liqueur-like sweetness. Of the two Champagnes, he found the Juglar, a little more intense, bigger, the French would say, rustique, but said they both compared favorably to some of the best Champagnes today.

So even the best ones taste like stinky cheese that's "almost too strong" but still they "compare favorably to some of the best Champagnes today"? I have to get out my thinking cap.

Overripe Vacherin?

Sign me up!

Yes, just bake the champagne and pour it over potatoes and sausage.

Liquid Vacherin...so apparently champagne was the 19th Century equivalent of Easy Cheez in a Can.

No wonder the tsars loved the stuff so much...sign me up!