Field Test: Armand de Brignac Champagne

Jay-Z's Armand de Brignac

Jay Z's Armand de Brignac might be one of Oprah's favorite things, but now it's also one of mine. To celebrate a little 11th anniversary, and a visit with some friends Kurt and Courtney Woodworth from New York, we popped one of the fancy $300 bottles. Truth be told, I wasn't as excited about it as I should have been. There had been rumors that the quality was so-so, and that it was really a fancy repackaging of one of the vineyard's more basic cuveés. Fortunately, this proved to be totally wrong in our taste test, which included one champagne snob (that's me), one Frenchman with a precise palette and two seasoned New Yorkers who have had more than their fare share of fine bubbly. 

To Mr. Z's credit, it was unanimously decided that the Brut was definitely a superior champagne with a very crisp, mildly fruity taste with minimal sugar. We were not alone either - apparently according to the website, something called "Fine Champagne Magazine" rated it the number one Champagne in the world. Wine & Spirits gives it a score of 94 and a very glowing review which mentions "a blonde James Bond" and "brioche." Go figure. It also comes in Blanc de Blancs with a silver bottle, and a rosé in a pink bottle, but I'll have to wait for another special occasion to sample those.

While there is no doubt that a fair amount of your dollars go towards the beautiful lacquer box it comes in as well as the over-the-top gold bottle, it's worth it. Besides, this is South Beach and presentation is as important as acting like a baller at all times. So I downed a whole glass and pretended it was just an average night at Jay and Bey's. Santé!

I served it in PJ flutes!

3 cuveés

Just like Jay & Bey!