When people know that you are into wine, sometimes they find something that they haven’t used or forgotten about.   Cordon Rouge 1937 is an example of this.   This is a very celebrated bottle of champagne from the Mumm Company.  Champagne producers do not like to declare vintage years, because of the blending they do, to produce a quality and a singularity of taste to their product.  When a year is stellar, and all the stars and sun and moon all line up, there is a vintage year, with all the hoopla that they can muster.

This bottle was probably a gift that was given, and forgotten about.  The storage of it was also, I would venture not the best.   I received it in the late seventies, not expecting it to be even salvageable, I still accepted it graciously.   I am rather unique, in that I do not, return or re-gift, gifts.  I feel that if somebody has taken the time to find something for you, accept it, smile and thank them deeply.

So here was a unique item, in my limited knowledge of wines.  A bottle of vintage champagne, that was surely to be over the hill.  Do I keep it as a curio, or should I be curious and hope for the best.

One night, I went for the gusto and I chilled the wine.  Then the moment of truth was at hand.  I uncorked the bottle; there was no pop, and no whoosh.  It was like opening a bottle of wine without a corkscrew.   I poured the wine into a glass, one of the old style glasses, which at the time were considered traditional for champagne.  A side note to that style glass, is that it was supposedly molded from a woman’s breast, leave it to say, that she was not one, that was overly well endowed, but I digress.  Actually the flutes, that most restaurants use are much better suited for champagne, as they allow the bubbles to rise slowly to the surface, and retain the taste for a longer period.  The flat sherbet style glasses dissipate the bubbles too quickly.

As I stated, there was no pop, the wine was poured and there was no bubbles.  I looked at the wine in the glass; the liquid was clear, not cloudy.  I then cautiously raised the glass to inhale the smell.  It was not corky, “skunky” or having whiffs of vinegar.  So the next step was to try it, I was this far along, so I was game, even with my naive status.  The wine was still drinkable.  Even though champagne is made from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes, this bottle had more of a Chardonnay taste, then a white burgundy.

So, this was a learning point for me, never presume that a wine is over the hill, and to try any wine that is offered.  The worst that can happen is that you don’t like the wine, and you have to open another bottle.  There are much worse things that can happen in life.