THERE are very few perfect wine matches for Shirley’s light, fluffy meringue cake so this week we’re going to fall back on an old favourite … demi-sec Champagne. Sadly, this is not a particularly popular style at the moment, so you’ll have to be prepared to hunt for a bottle. Trust me though, the semi-sweet style is luscious and lovely and perfect if you find the drier brut releases too acidic. It is therefore worth going to a wee bit more trouble to unearth these unfashionable, but delicious bottles.
Demi-sec Champagne is made in much the same way as brut, with the fizz being created in the bottle that you end up taking home and enjoying. The grapes are also the same, usually comprising a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. The main difference is in the dosage, which is the liquid added after the sediment has been removed from the bottle. The dosage is used to top up the bottle and the sweetness of the dosage determines the final style of the wine. So, with a demi-sec release, the dosage will have a touch more sugar creating the lusher, less acidic style of fizzy gorgeousness in your glass. Traditionally producers didn’t bother adding a dosage, meaning that the bottles were not quite full when sold. This is why Champagne bottles have the long foil on the neck, discreetly disguising the fact that you were being slightly short-changed.
Most large houses produce different styles for different markets. In Scotland, we prefer traditional brut (dry) styles, whereas the Russian market demands a sweeter, more approachable offering. The ability to meet the demands of these specific markets lies in the dosage of the wine. Because 95 per cent of the bottles on the Champagne shelves of your local wine emporium will be brut non-vintage (NV), you have to look out for the demi-sec designation on the label.
Here are two to seek out this weekend …
Louis Roederer Carte Blanche Demi-Sec NV Champagne (Inverarity One to One, very limited availability, £32.99). This is just lovely, and almost too drinkable. Almost. Try a sneaky wee chilled glass at the end of the night after a special meal.
Laurent-Perrier Demi-Sec NV Champagne (Majestic, £36). The LP is undeniably one of the best demi-secs on the market and the honeyed fruit and toasted hazelnuts on the palate make it the ideal match for Shirley’s meringue cake. Pop a bottle in the fridge this weekend.
Pete Stewart is Glasgow director of Inverarity One to One, 185a Bath Street, Glasgow inverarity121.com
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here