Vegas Magazine - Niche Media - There is a place beyond the crowds, beyond the ropes, where dreams are realized and success is celebrated. You are invited.
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PHOTOGRAPHY BY SVETLANA SAYAPINA BAR EXAM pop art UNCORK THE LOVE: THE NEWEST BLENDS AND LATEST RESERVE RELEASES HAVE ARRIVED JUST IN TIME TO INSPIRE A NEW YEAR'S EVE KISS. BY ROBERT HAYNES-PETERSON N othing says New Year's Eve in Vegas like the pop from an expen- sive bottle of bubbly. From the latest reserve releases to a brand-new jeroboam from a Nevada-based company, the highest level of Champagnes will get everyone in the mood for a New Year's Eve midnight smooch. "Right after Christmas we get very busy, and a lot of people are looking to celebrate with Champagne," says Phillip Park, sommelier at the Michelin-starred Restaurant Guy Savoy at Caesars Palace (877-346- 4642; caesarspalace.com). He would know: The très French outpost from the iconic chef Savoy starts each table's dinner service with a Champagne cart offering seven to 10 Champagnes ranging $29 to $75 a glass (in addi- tion to the nearly 200 bottles on the list). "It's one of those items where people realize the value of what they're enjoying," Park says. "There's nothing like it to start a meal." The restaurant's intimate Krug Room seats seven to 34 guests for a $750-per-person, six-course Champagne din- ner. In the Krug Room—one of only five spaces throughout the world sponsored by the venerable House of Krug—each course is meticulously paired with a different sparkler, the entire meal elevated by each specific pairing with bottles in vintages from 1995 to 2008, including a 2000 served with the "Colors of Caviar" course. Part of the joy of Champagne is that although it's a rela- tively rules-driven wine—from the region in which its grapes are grown to the required secondary bottle 84 VEGASMAGAZINE.COM fermentation—each vintage and tweak in the blends, the presence or absence of residual sugar, and the fine points of production at each house create a vast world of complex, subtle variation. Two new releases exem- plify the broad possibilities that exist in the realm of Champagne. The celebrated Charles Heidsieck has unveiled the first expressions of the brut and rosé reserve releases bottled by Thierry Roset in his new role as chef de cave. The expressions maintain the full-bodied, yeast- influenced flavor profiles that Heidsieck aficionados have grown to love, now enveloped in an even more refined elegance. The new blends feature 60 different crus (fewer than before) and the use of more than 40 percent reserve wine. The reduction in crus gives the finished Champagne added finesse and a softer approachability. "[With Champagne,] people realize the value of what they're enjoying." —PHILLIP PARK At the same time, Beau Joie—a young label—has released its limited vin- tage 1999 jeroboam (three-liter "double magnum") edition. Though it's made in Epernay, France, and is true Champagne, the dar- ing brand was developed by Nevada-based Toast Spirits. Limited to a total of 300 bottles, the ultra-brut jeroboams have been resting since 1999 in the very bottles they're sold in (some brands re-decant to larger formats between sec- ondary fermentation and final bottling). The distinct copper-clad bottles are most likely to show up on high-pro- file bottle-service menus at nightclubs such as Marquee, The Bank, and Lavo. The more demure 750ml bottles of both the brut and rosé are available at restaurants including continued on page 86