I was feeling a little pétillant last night, having worked on a champagne and sparkling wine article since returning from Madrid (more on that later) last Monday. I love a good sparkling wine; it’s the only fizzy drink that doesn’t give me the hiccups. Seriously. So it was perfect timing when an invite hit my mailbox from importing company Wilson Daniels on behalf of Delamotte champagne. The event was held at a penthouse suite at the new Thompson LES hotel on Allen. Sort of a weird PR trend to have events in hotel suites where the views are breathtaking but you (at least I do) have to fight the urge to kick off your boots and jump into bed with champagne glass in hand. After all one of my very favorite luxuries is watching TV in bed from posh hotel rooms.

In any case, I had tasted Delamotte before but it has always been next to its sibling champagne house, Salon. Delamotte tends to get lost next to Salon but on its own it is a very pretty, mineral little creature. The rosé is stunning. Jean Baptiste Cristini, the director of both champagne houses described it as savory and I knew exactly what he meant with its salty-mineral tang, earthiness and herbaceous notes. It’s a saignee champers and throughout their line they add pretty low dosage (7 grams per liter), which I appreciate when so many champagnes have horribly high dosage. Their grapes are all from grand cru sites, mostly in the Cotes de Blancs.

I took my dear friend May to the event and after her one hundred-plus questions (she’s a DSW and man do they like to ask questions) we headed to Ten Bells for more pétillant. Jorge Riera (formerly of 360 and Le Cercle Rouge) is now working the bar at Ten Bells and he’d recently told me about this incredible sparkling Pineau d’Aunis that they were serving by the glass. Chambers Street brings it in directly to sell at their shop and now Ten Bells is the only on-premise spot to serve it. It was amazing. The wine had all that white peppery character so typical of the grape. It was refreshing, earthy and packed an honest serving of vibrant fruit. It was too easy to drink.

Then I asked our gruff, jaded yet endearing bartender about another wine that they had by the glass. “It’s a Chardonnay from the Loire.” Huh? Is it any good I asked? “I love it,” he quipped. So he poured me a taste and I can still taste it the following morning. I ended up getting two glasses because it was so unlike Chardonnay. It tasted like a natural wine more than it tasted of Chardonnay. I tasted terroir more than I taste the grape. It is produced by the same folks that make You Are So Nice (Gamay and Côt) and You Are So Beautiful (Côt and Pineau d’Aunis): two wines that I place up there next to the Clos Roche Blanche Holy Grail of red wines from the Loire. The Chard is, of course, a vin du table and it is called Galimatias. Double yum.

Tonight I’m off to the fabulous Kristen’s house for a jeroboam of Vilmart ‘93!