Demi Sec Champagne

[Jason Perlow]

Ok -- I admit it, I tend to like my wines, particularly my sparklers, on the sweet side. But I find it exteremely difficult, nay, impossible to find a really nice demi sec, especially a French one, from some of the best wine stores.

Anyone had any luck? Especially in NYC? I end up drinking Prosecco as a substitute, sometimes a Riesling Sekt, and thats really nice, but what I REALLY want is a Demi Sec Champagne. hell, a Sec would be good too. Doux? I've never even SEEN one. Its a friggin myth.

What the hell is wrong with American wine drinkers anyway?

[A Balic]

Jason how sweet do you like them? Prosecco doesn't seem to fit the bill of a sweet wine to me (unless there is a sweet version for sale in the US). Many champagne houses produce a sweeter style for the US market labeled as "Extra Dry" (go figure). What about Asti spumante? Yeh, most of it is not great, but there are some good houses making good wine.

[TCD]

I've had some very nice demi sec Vouvrays over the years.  Refreshing and delicious, with decent body and weight.

[Steve Klc]

In "demi-sec" style champagnes and sweeter sparkling wines, I know of only two widely distributed in the US Jason--the Moet & Chandon Nectar Imperial, which I adore, and the Veuve Clicquot.  I was just in a Total Wine superstore down here over the weekend and they had the Clicquot demi-sec. I have also seen the Moet in smaller splits, which would seem to be a natural choice for a restaurant to offer two diners after a meal.  You don't see the sweeter champagnes more often because there is an entire marketing scheme in place to position champagne in our market--and sweetness complicates the message. Sweetness is perceived as inferior.

The fact that the French drink sweet sparklers all the time as apertifs, that sweet champagne is a nice match with several cuisines and that sweet champagnes are the only champagnes that go at all well with dessert--is irrelevant and counter-productive to marketing and promotion.

The Italian sparklers are just so cheap and innocuous I suspect that's why you see them on restaurant lists and in stores.

Sometimes the demi-secs from Vouvray that TCD mentioned can seem to be different animals--with their own grades of sweetness and effervescence.  Chappellet Vineyards made a wonderful 1998 Demi-Sec Chenin Blanc in this style, released it in 1999 and I think it's still available.  Shramsberg Vineyards makes a delicious--and unique--"Crémant Demi-Sec" that is an off-dry, dessert-style wine. Crémant traditionally refers to a sparkling wine with less pressure and softer effervescence--and the way Schramsberg does it results in a creamier texture.  This is an impressive wine--and doubly so when paired properly with dessert.

[Jason Perlow]

The fact that the French drink sweet sparklers all the time as apertifs, that sweet champagne is a nice match with several cuisines and that sweet champagnes are the only champagnes that go at all well with dessert--is irrelevant and counter-productive to marketing and promotion.

I got a feeling I know what I'm bringing back from France this summer besides

the Calvados.