Frizzante Wine Bar and Speakeasy

We went to Frizzante last evening for a class on champagne in our quest to continue our education about the bubbly. We were to meet our friends Mary and Barry there, but Barry, who is the real champagne aficionado was ill with something that Mary had the previous week. The class is usually taught by the owner, Steven, but tonight, Jason Starkey stepped in at the last moment to conduct the class. Usually, the class is free, but this evening there was a nominal fee of $15.00 to taste 6 champagnes. During the tasting, we ordered off of their tapas menu. All of the tapas are $5.00 so it made the tasting a wonderful repast. We began the tasting with a champagne called Veuve Fourny & Fils Grande Reserve Premier Cru Brut. It is made from 80% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot noir. The Veuve Fourny is imported by Kermit Lynch. We learned from Jason that part of the cuvée goes through malolactic fermentation. I did not know that. The next champagne that we were served was the Moët & Chandon Impérial Brut Champagne. I thought that the addition of Pinot Meunier in the Moët & Chandon Impérial, made this champagne taste a bit more complex and not as austere as the Veuve Fourny. We moved on to tasting the Heidsieck Monopole "Blue Top" Brut Champagne, similar in composition of grapes to the Moët & Chandon. The fourth champagne that we tasted was the Montaudon Brut Depuis 1891 followed by the Forget-Brimont Premier Cru Brut. We thought that the Forget-Brimont Premier Cru Brut had a nose of Camembert cheese. We ended the evening with a taste of Ayala and learned from Jason that is contains no dosage. During the course of the champagne tasting, Jason answered questions, talked about food pairings with champagne and explained the various bottle formats that champagne can come in. Jason did a great job of leading the class and we learned a lot by having the opportunity to taste and compare the various champagnes.