Taittinger Champagne Brut La Francaise NV (375ml) 070226ROBUST The fruit comes from 26-

The fruit comes from 26- to 30-year-old vines and ferments in stainless steel to keep everything bright and unadorned

A Bavarian-style wheat beer from Portland's Occidental Brewing

Hand harvested and direct pressed to French oak barrique

The wine that comes off it is all tension and line — taut

this XO was designed to complement fine cigars

Taittinger Champagne Brut La Francaise NV (375ml) 070226ROBUST The fruit comes from 26-The half bottle is an underrated format: two good glasses, no commitment, no flat Champagne going sad in the fridge door. This is Taittinger's house wine, and its house style is Chardonnay forward at roughly 40% of the blend, unusually high for a big house non vintage, with Pinot Noir and Meunier filling in the middle. It spends close to four years on its lees in the chalk cellars beneath Reims, far past the legal minimum, which is where the texture