A WINE TRIP (ERR, WE MEAN TIP)

Bottle Shock: Not the Movie

So, the Roadrunner Shuttle picks you up at 5:30 a.m. for the ride to LAX. You do the airport shuffle: check in, TSA bag screening, tossing half of your water bottle in the garbage and walking in your socks so you can then wait an hour for boarding.

Turbulence over the Atlantic keeps you from achieving that coveted REM sleep. While wandering the Heathrow terminal, you find that a 2 hour layover can make the $150 Johnny Walker Scotch Sampler seem like a bargain.

An hour later you discover that customs officials at Paris-Charles de Gaulle are as jocular as a DMV counter person back home. An E-ticket taxi ride later, and you’re carrying bags up 2 flights of stairs to your “cozy” room in the Latin Quarter. The bed may be small, but it looks so enticing.

But wait, after enduring that 15 hour gauntlet, its early a.m. in Paris. You have to make a PowerPoint presentation that afternoon and explain why your company’s open source software will leave Mr. Gates a penniless pensioner.

Realistically, you wouldn’t be at your best upon arrival after such a journey, correct? Well, the same can be said for a good bottle of Champagne that you buy only a few days before ringing in the New Year. The bottle probably only recently made a similar trip to your local store’s shelf.

That is why where possible, buy that nice bottle of French Bubbly back in October for that special midnight toast. Allowing a month or two for the Champagne to settle down and “rest” on your wine rack will benefit the bottle (wine storage tips in a future missive).

You may ask, where was EWCo. with this information back in the fall when you needed it? Well, we were still trying to figure out which way to turn the corkscrew (righty tightie, lefty loosey?). That aside, for the next big Champagne event (e.g., Valentine’s Day, Graduations, Weddings, etc.) let your bubbly settle down beforehand. It is something to keep in mind in late Winter when leftover Champagne inventories will be discounted.