New Year is often full of resolutions about eating healthier, exercising more and – horror of horrors – drinking less. Allow us to present an alternative: instead of drinking less, why not just drink better?
What do we mean by that? Simple. Instead of opting for the cut-price Chilean cab sauv, go for something a little nicer from Napa; put down that bottle of barely quaffable Great Wall chardonnay and pick a pinot grigio. Pay a little more for your wine – and savor it a lot more. In the long run, you’ll probably end up drinking less anyway, as you trade in gulping back bottles of cheap plonk for slowly swirling a glass of premier cru vin.
To that end, this month we’re taking a look at a nice bottle of bubbly: Cuvée No. 738. It’s made by Jacquesson, an incredibly storied champagne house – it claims to be the oldest independent vineyard in the world, dating its foundation to 1789. Napoleon awarded the brand a gold medal in 1810, and it was purported to be his favorite sparkling wine.
In more recent times, Jacquesson has been called one of the top three champagne houses in the world. The Cuvée No. 738 includes more chardonnay grapes than usual at 61 percent, combined with 18 percent pinot noir and 21 percent pinot meunier. Dry, with a wonderful minerality and complexity of fruit, it’s elegant, stylish – imagine Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’ symphony is playing on your tongue. It’s the kind of wine that not only entertains the senses but provides plenty of conversational fodder, too!
> Jacquesson’s Cuvée No. 738 can be purchased from Kerry Wines. Hotlines: 8527 7611 ext. 9020 (Guangzhou); 2391 0237 (Shenzhen).
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