R2OK!

ruddlescat · Joined: 16 Sep 2010 Posts: 18010 Location: Near Chester

As we leave behind 2010 I expect many of you will see in the New Year with a seasonal glass of Champagne or perhaps even a bottle but how much do you know about the quality of the product you are drinking

Now I'm no wine buff more of a Real Ale man myself but it may surprise you to know that the price you pay has very little to do with the quality of the Champagne you are drinking

Many years ago a French customs officer told me that the trick is to look at the coding on the bottle which every genuine French Champagne carries and it is this which reveals how good the wine in the bottle really is

Anything beginning with the code NM is generally the best non vintage available in Britain and the code MA also tells you that you have purchased a product of reasonable quality

However if you see the code RM or CM the chances are that the quality of the Champagne may not be wonderful which can leave a very bad taste in ones mouth, not to mention a sometimes nasty hangover and so before you buy Champagne especially in a Supermarket you should always read the label carefully and check the code which is always found in very small print

Today I bought a bottle of NM from Tesco which was half the price of a bottle of RM I saw in another well known Supermarket so my advice is to forget the price and pay attention to the code

I'd be interested to receive any feedback from others as to which Champagne they bought and how much was paid and what the quality was like
Have a very Happy New Year
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John W · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 3367 Location: Warwickshire, UK

ruddles,

We have quite a lot of champagne in the house, much of it left over from our 25th a few years ago, so we don't know what people paid for the various brands, some are in very smart bottles; not great lovers of it, we only drink about one bottle a year, but I did some investigating to determine which were the best.

I am aware of the types and the abbreviations that you note. Your customs fellow seems to be totally ignorant I'm afraid.

NM does not mean non-vintage. It means négociant manipulant, and that means the producer has bought the grapes with which to make his champagne, e.g. Moet & Chandon, Lanson or P.Boutet which we have.

MA means it is a brand name but not the name of the producer, e.g. Louis Dornier, Bricout or ASDA'a own which we have

All the champagnes we have in the house are NM or MA.

An RM is grower's champagne, produced from his own grapes, though it needs not be 100% own grapes, and CM is made by a producer who is in a co-operative of growers. There are other abbrevs, check wiki.

Anyway I don't think you can gauge quality based on the abbrevs, there are charts available that have judged quality of brands over the years.

Happy New year, we're off to the pub at 10.30, didn't need tickets as one of the trainee managers got us an invite!
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John W

ruddlescat · Joined: 16 Sep 2010 Posts: 18010 Location: Near Chester

Thanks for the information John

As I said I'm not an expert on the subject but the fact you have only NM and MA categories in the house does tend to tie in with what I was told

I wasn't aware of how the other codings came about but perhaps the person I spoke to regarded them as inferior in his own opinion without there being an actual scale of quality as from what you say the codes seem to relate to the source of origin rather than anything else

At the end of the day I'm fairly sure that the French keep back the best ones for themselves but in my experience with a NM or MA you can't go very far wrong and I'm staying at home tonight so I be cracking open a bottle later

Happy New Year
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ruddlescat · Joined: 16 Sep 2010 Posts: 18010 Location: Near Chester

Champagne is wonderful John

Just like to say many thanks for your efforts at running this forum over the last twelve months and may it continue to be successful throughout 2011
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becky sharp · Joined: 01 Dec 2008 Posts: 6791

Sadie Su · Joined: 14 Sep 2010 Posts: 146

And me

ColinB · Guest

I love good champagne but I can't mix hop with grape so it was quite a few pints of Old Hooky from Hook Norton Brewery in Oxfordshire for me last night!

SantaFefan · Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 11:10 am Post subject:

A very nice thought Ruddles.. yes, well done John and thanks for all the work you must put into this place..I'm sure it's appreciated by all.
Keeps me off the streets at least Razz

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John W · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 3367 Location: Warwickshire, UK

At 7.49pm ruddlescat said,