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Champagne

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AliFlump | 23:03 Sat 14th Jul 2012 | Food & Drink
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Hi, a few years ago we bought a couple of bottles of champagne for an engagement, they were around £36 a bottle in a pub and all i can remember is that they had JB on the cork. Does anyone know what brand of champagne this might be?

Thanks

Alison
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My (very limited) experience of English wines, Nungate, is that most of them are of good quality but (because of the low crop yields in our climate and the small-scale production) they're often nearly double the price of an equivalent wine from a large-scale production facility in a sunnier country.

(We've got several vineyards here in East Anglia and I've tried to sample a few of their products. But, on a limited income, paying £12 a bottle for something that would cost £6 or £7 if it came from South America or Australia isn't something I can do too often).
Didn't know there were vineyards in East Anglia Chris, I have had some wine from Sussex which was very nice though this was years ago. I understand that the geology of that part of the country is the same as the geology in the Champagne region of France which is equally good for the champagne grapes (all that chalk!) I thought it might be nice to give English sparkling wine a try.
I'm assuming you've not had Noisy back
And nobody has mentioned Krug. Bit harder to find than the others, still using the oldest methods, still distinctive full taste but unfortunately still very expensive I bought myself a half-bottle, which the house still made in those days, for my 21st birthday in 1968 and it cost £4-10s then ! Now it's £200 plus a bottle and you can't always find a vintage one. Worth trying a vintage one. once in your life.
I'm currently 'cat-less', Nungate (but thank you for asking). I keep thinking of getting a rescue cat but (as I'm usually unemployed) I need to be able to accept all of the casual work that I'm offered to keep myself financially afloat. As some of that involves being away from home for several days, I can't really take a new feline friend into my home at the moment. (However if a neighbour's cat decides to visit me, I'm not going to discourage it; I bought a lovely stoneware cat bowl in a charity shop this morning, so I might be leaving some food on my front step soon!).

While grapes might thrive on chalky soil, I suspect that a bit of sunshine (and only a limited amount of rain) might also be important. I doubt that many English vineyards will be producing high yields this year!
I've only ever had a single glass of Krug Grand Cuvée, Fred. My impression was that it's (very) good but that you're paying as much for the name as for the wine. (i.e. you can get something just as good for half the price).

A half bottle (of the NV stuff) currently costs around £50:
http://www.thechampag...-37-5cl/prod_116.html
nungate, the schnauzer, alfie will return tomorrow
Shame you have no kitty yet. You'll have to be careful that you don't attract the wrong kind of critter leaving food on the doorstep. We currently have two hedgehogs, a frog a very brave mouse and dozens of garden birds daily in our garden, as well as the 4 cats, one goldfish and 3 humans in the house - daughter asked me the other day if this was a house or a petting zoo! There's a kitty out there for you just be patient Mel
Hooray, Sib!
Nungate (with apologies to AliFlump for cluttering up the thread):
As some of my neighbours regard me as a 'cat-napper', after I inadvertently re-homed two of their cats (which I had assumed to be strays), I'm quite happy to be seen as feeding the hedgehogs, foxes or anything else that might be around here. If one of their cats just happens to enjoy the food (and then discover that I've got an open cat-flap) I can't be blamed for that, can I?
;-)
Definitely not Chris, you're looking after the local wildlife and if a neighbourhood kitty "happens" to find a cat flap no problem I don't mind sharing the cats - particularly Max and Henry, who are a bit of a handful at the moment they just have to spot a moth or a spider and chaos ensues!

Thanks for letting us chat Ali, hope you don't mind too much.
You cheapskate, Chris. Fancy not having the vintage stuff to taste LOL The grand cuvee Krug is very good, as you say, but the vintages are markedly better when ready. I suspect that the grand cuvee itself was cashing in on the name.An attempt on the Bolly market, no doubt.

We haven't yet had the massive price rise in Krug in the market that we have seen for the famous burgundies. That market has been grossly distorted by Chinese money, but that only goes for the most famous names. That all isn't much of a consolation, particularly when slightly less famous names have started to rise now.
Tattingers for me. Dom Perignon is over rated imho. Cristal by Louis Roederer is my special treat champagne
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Wow. Thanks for all your answers. We are going to put a little hamper together for their honeymoon so will check out your suggestions.
I'm guessing they were a house brand bottled by Justerini and Brooks. Bit more expensive now, though.

http://www.justerinis...eId=87&wineClassId=37

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