Did a French monk named Dom Pérignon invent Champagne? Is it true that the bowl-shaped Champagne coupe was modeled after Marie Antoinette’s breast? Did Marilyn Monroe really say that she went to sleep wearing Chanel No. 5 and awoke to a glass of Piper-Heidsieck?
None of that matters come New Year’s Eve. All you need to know is that, to bid farewell to 2013 and ring in 2014 first-class, it’s got to be Champagne. Sure, it’s a splurge, but if you can afford it, go for it.
Hundreds of Big Apple restaurants are offering a New Year’s Eve menu, but only a select few perform the Champagne honors with extra flair. At Bistrot Bagatelle in the Meatpacking District, your $280 magnum of Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label (or, if you’re feeling ultra-flush, $2,650 Armand de Brignac “Ace of Spades”) may well be delivered by a waiter wearing a tablecloth for a cape who is carried in flying position by two other servers. The bottle arrives in a shower of sparkles as the “Superman” theme is sounded.
Another scenario, this one out of “Rocky 4”: Two waiters, one playing Rocky Balboa, the other Ivan Drago, meet in the center of the restaurants, wielding Champagne bottles instead of boxing gloves. Meanwhile, the song “Eye of the Tiger” plays.
“We bring it to life, says co-owner Remi Laba. “We get people dancing on the tables. We’ve had a patron buy Champagne for every table.”
Meanwhile, at hot Bowery bistro Pearl & Ash, which will be celebrating its first New Year’s Eve party, wine director Patrick Cappiello will “sabre” off the top of your bottle of bubbly with an upward flash of a scarily long blade. (Don’t worry — the flying cork will be heading toward a vacant corner of the bar).
There will also be derring-do at the Gramercy and Midtown East locations of Flute, the popular bubbly bar, where a tabletop pyramid of 50 Champagne coupes will be erected. At midnight, a waiter will mount a ladder and begin to pour the first of two double magnums of Piper-Heidsieck into the top glass. As it overflows, the coupes below will begin to fill.
“It’s a Champagne fountain,” says Flute owner Hervé Rousseau, who also promises burlesque dancers and a DJ.
But why all the fanfare for fizz, despite sporting price tags way above all challengers? Those rolling, vine-covered hills in northeastern France are where the business of bubbly all started, way back in the 17th century. The Grandes Marques — as the big Champagne houses are called — as well as the artisanal grower-winemakers who are now in fashion, have never stopped refining their style. Champagne is complex stuff, often orchestrated from as many as 200 individual vineyards, each making its distinct contribution to the blend. It takes a long time to get it right, and the iffy weather in this northern part of France makes it doubly difficult.
Still, the steep gradient in Champagne prices can be a head-scratcher. Is it worth the difference to pay, say, $300 instead of $30 for a bottle? In short, yes: “It’s a waste of money for the average person to buy a bottle of Dom Pérignon or Cristal because they take 15 years of cellaring before they’re at their best,” says Ed McCarthy, author of “Champagne for Dummies.” On the other hand, McCarthy says, “most people can tell the difference between a cheap thing with bubbles and real Champagne, which has more depth, finer bubbles, and isn’t all in the front of your mouth.”
So if you’re buying for a gift for a pal’s New Year’s Eve party, it’s best to stick with names your host will know — think Moët & Chandon, Mumm Cordon Rouge, Lanson, Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label, Pol Roger and Nicolas Feuillatte, all of which retail for less than $50 a pop.
But if you’ll be at a restaurant when the 2014 bells ring — and you’re not sitting on a pile of cash — you’ll need a Champagne strategy.
“The only possible way to arm yourself against restaurants preying on the natural tendency toward sparkling wine on New Year’s Eve is knowledge,” warns Josh Fossitt, sommelier at stylish Tribeca den The Harrison. “Do some homework. Go to your local wine shop, and see which brands are selling for how much. That’s the only way to get a feel for mark-ups. Also, most places mark up the stuff they think you’re more likely to buy. Try something out of the box. If they have a list of three or four bubblies they throw in front of you as soon as you sit down, ask to see the full list. Those featured bottles are almost certainly the ones that are padding their costs.”
The ultimate locale to celebrate a Big Apple New Year’s Eve might just be Aureole, Charlie Palmer’s sleek restaurant a few steps off Times Square. His five course “Black and Gold” prix fixe dinner ($295 or $395), concludes with a dessert called “The Ball Drop”: a Manjari chocolate sphere with chestnut mousse. As midnight approaches, you can step out onto 42nd Street, where the sidewalk will be all but empty due to restricted access. Your view of the ball drop will be up-close and unobstructed.
Champers by the numbers
300
Number of bottles Le Cirque expects to sell on New Year’s Eve. The Four Seasons predicts it will move 275.
5,000
The amount of cases Sherry-Lehmann (the city’s top-selling shop) has sold for December. That’s up from 4,700 last year.
$7,150
Cost Per Se charges for a magnum of Krug Clos du Mesnil 1990 — the most expensive at any NYC restaurant
17 mill.
The number of bottles Americans consumed in 2012. The Brits beat us, though, by drinking 34.4 million!
30+mill.
How many bottles of top brand Moët & Chandon Brut Imperial sell annually worldwide. Right behind is Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label.