Legend has it that on first tasting the bubbles of champagne, a monk named Dom Pérignon exclaimed, "Come quickly, I am tasting the stars!" Though there are doubts to the validity of this story, there is no doubt that since Pérignon's time, champagne has become a celebrated--and celebratory--drink around the world. In Champagne, Uncorked, Alan Tardi (Romancing the Vine) invites readers into the mysterious and complex world of this sparkling drink through the history of the house of Krug, one of the smallest and most respected of the Grandes Marques (a group of well-established champagne brands).
While the history of the Krug brand forms the center of Champagne, Uncorked, that story is wrapped up in Tardi's story of his time in Champagne, learning how champagne is made--from vines to grapes to picking to pressing to aging to bottling to effervescence. He also expounds on the even larger story of champagne itself: its accidental discovery; its rise to popularity, and how that rise was shaped in France and abroad by royal competitions and wars; the roots of modern-day marketing and brand recognition in the strictly regulated champagne industry; and how the pop of a champagne bottle ultimately came to be one of the greatest symbols of celebration in today's drinking culture.
Champagne, Uncorked packs an enormous amount of detail and complexity (historical, chemical, biological, emotional) into a rather small package--a fitting tribute to the nuance and complexity found in every glass of champagne Krug has produced. --Kerry McHugh, blogger at Entomology of a Bookworm