Bollinger Grand Année The Frayed Atlantic Edge, and Happy Christmas

It’s Christmas Eve and I’m at my mothers drinking champagne. Specifically Bollinger’s Grand Année  2008*. We have a tradition that we drink the nicest bottle I have on Christmas Eve. It’s very civilised (though now I’m out of the wine trade the best bottle might not be quite as grand as this next year).

Selfish or not I think the best bottles are better shared with the few, rather than the many - although wine is always better shared. I don’t really hold with waiting for a special occasion for good bottles either. The bottle can be the occasion, or choose a day, like today, to carve out a little bit of time to enjoy something good.

The Frayed Atlantic Edge has been sitting next to my bed for a while now, I’ve dipped in and out of it, and I plan on it being my New Year read. I could start it in earnest tonight but I know there’s a lot of books with my name on them under the tree (or specifically the footstool the dog likes to lounge on) which means I’ll be to distracted by them tomorrow to concentrate on any one thing.

I hope everybody reading this is enjoying similarly nice things tonight and looking forward to good things tomorrow whatever they may be. Happy Christmas.

*It’s rich, full bodied, and fruity with a yeasty character (brioche and toast) and every bit as good as you would hope. I absolutely believe it’s worth the money, though I don’t always think it’s worth that much of my money. I’m drinking this in circumstances where I can think about it and appreciate it. If there were more of us it would be a decent N.V (Taittinger, Pol Roger, Laurent Perrier, Bollinger - all excellent and widely available, there are many more smaller labels from excellent growers worth exploring as well) any good champagne is a treat, this Bollinger is my wine nerd treat.