So Alicia brought chips, but not just any chips. So we're here to talk about the different Herr's Creamy Ranch flavors? I thought it was Herr's Creamy Ranch. Herr's? Herr's sounds a little too, you know, second rikish. Yeah, that's why I think, as in German, that would just be Herr, yeah. It's definitely Herr's. We're going with Herr's. Yeah, we brought some chips to go with our champagne. That means it's a champagne episode. Champagne episode, yearly tradition. We should have gotten like fried chicken for this. Yeah, we should have. Yeah. Thanks, Alicia. God, you know, everybody else can just plan a podcast last minute, and I'm the only one who thinks about this kind of stuff. Geez. Maybe we could do Uber Eats, Fry the Coop, real quick. There's no, closest one's Mount Prospect. Is it Fry the Coop? Fry the Coop. It's our go-to at the office in Lincoln Park. The best hot chicken sandwich in the Chicago area. Oh, Pat found an excuse to talk about hot chicken sandwiches. Can we roll the music on this thing? All right. All right. Hey, you're listening to another episode of Barrel to Bottle, The Binny's Podcast. I'm Greg. I'm Alicia. I'm Roger. I'm Pat. All right, so I was actually hesitant to do a champagne episode this year, because if you have read the news, been in our stores, been in any retailer, you have noticed that champagne is experiencing some major shortages. Yeah, there's none. And we're at prices on some Keystone champagnes that we haven't been on ever. Oh, and the prices we're going to talk about today are insane. And then we're also at the high end, we're seeing those prices obviously creep up. And we have limits on some champagnes. We have been told, it's kind of a mix of a couple issues. One, that you all drank too much last year. Roger. So a lot of houses really kind of depleted a lot of their wines, and what they have still needs to continue to age. So we have just a shortage. That's the old bourbon maker's excuse. Yeah, because all you normal households out there have wine cellars you need to replenish. Yeah. And couple that, of course, with the supply chain issues that we read about on a daily basis, you know. So half your wines probably sitting in a container in Newark. Those- Cooking. Yeah, hopefully in temperature control. Those two things, along with I'm sure others, have led to massive shortages across the country in Champagne. But, fortunately, Binny's Beverage Depot- Bought way too much champagne a couple of years ago. There was some writing on the wall with this issue, and so our buyers were quite proactive about six months ago, and made some big buys from some really prestigious producers to make sure that you don't go thirsty this holiday season. And also, because of those large buys, we have some great prices to share too. So we wanted to share some wines that are available in all of our stores, that I personally love, I hope you guys will love. And we're going to talk about the differences and kind of what might attract you to each of these, but some solid choices that are there. So don't cry if your VUV Clicquot yellow label is out of stock. We have you covered. So, Champagne No. 1 is a long time favorite of Binny's staff and customers, and one of the selling points I always share with people in this is that it is so approachable, it is very easy drinking, and no one hates it. I promise you. You're talking about hams, right? You're talking about PBR. There are plenty of people that dislike hams, especially Paprofi when you blind tasted it. But no, we're going to talk about Piper Heidsick. All right, and Piper Heidsick, along with Heidsick and Co. Monopole and Charles Heidsick all date back to 17- How many Heidsicks are there? I'm already lost. What's happening? I'm just telling you that they all were kind of originally connected back in 1785, and this house's own kind of individual entity would come about 50 years later or so. But this is a very affordable champagne. We have it on sale right now for 32.99. 32.99, wow. Yes. Not bad for a champagne. That's like what VUV cost two years ago. Like eight years ago. Yeah. Oh, okay. What I was sharing with this particular style is it's very lively, it is very accessible, and everyone can appreciate it. I don't think it's very divisive, and it's about half Pinot Noir, and then the rest about 30% Mougnet, 20% Chardonnay. And they're blending from over 100 sites, so there's definitely some complexity here, and leaving it on the lease for two months. But this is one that people come in and buy by the case. And if you're having a party or a small gathering, you're not sure of style preferences when it comes to champagne, I think this is just a people-pleasing wine. This is indeed a crowd-pleasing champagne. When I first noticed it, I thought it was kind of like yeasty and bread-y, but I like that about it. But it's not over-the-top though. No, it's really nice. Correct. And some people love that yeasty, bread-y, brioche pastry quality. And again, that comes from when we talk about champagne and we talk about the time that it spends on lees. So in the second fermentation in bottle, when it's resting on all of those dead yeast cells, that's where it's picking up what we call these autolytic qualities. Some people love them, right? Some people think like the yeastier the better. Yeah. Old bottle-conditioned Adamson over here. And other people want more kind of vibrant fruit rather than those qualities. And I think this strikes a very nice balance, as you say. You know what I could use as a little amuse-bouche with this? What? He's hungry. An hors d'oeuvre. There's the chip. Enter the secret food pairing of champagne, salty junk food. Yeah. I'm surprised that you got that. I mean, I love this flavor, but you're not worried that the ranch flavors of garlic and the habanero of the hers, creamy ranch habanero chip is going to conflict with it. First of all, I purchased... Champagne is fun, all right? Try it. And I bought this bag at 9.30 this morning because I was hungry. Oh, it's almost gone. So. Way to outer is eating an entire bag of chips while at work. Yes. Pregnant woman craving. Greg, what are your thoughts on the champagne, on the Piper? While I have a mouthful of chips? Yeah. Now that you've Cool Ranch blasted it. The house style of Piper is really about the bright, kind of succulent, fruity quality. And as it ages, that'll get a little bit richer, a little toastier as it ages in bottle. But it's really about the fruit here. It's like pineapple and lemon curd. The lemon's not too vibrant and too acidic, but it is bright. Actually, it's nicely rounded. And the yeastiness and then those fruit flavors play off of each other to give it breadth and lift at the same time. So I like it. So we'll vote at the end kind of on some of our favorites, but I think we can all understand why no one hates this. Oh, for sure. This is delicious. And it's recognizable and the bottle looks cool. This would be a good, I know people have been complaining about that they used to, I used to buy cases of Voov for my employees. This would be a great option to sub in, right? Completely agree. Give something to your staff. It's still a very historic champagne house. The label is very festive. It's red and gold. And Voov is also about 50 percent Pinot Noir. So, you know, keep that in mind. Pretty stylistic. Yeah. Take this over in any day. All right. Cool. That was good. What's next? We're gonna stick with Champagne Houses, and we're gonna move to Tantinger. When you say house, you mean brand? Oh yeah. House in terms of type of producer. So there are many different types, but the two kind of main ones that you see most on our shelves are a house and a grower. And a house is someone who by law has the right to buy fruit from other people. They can even buy finished wine from other people. In addition to, of course, you know, many have their own estate vineyards as well. So eventually when you want to produce a certain volume of champagne, champagne is a fixed area, so you can't own everything. You're going to become a house, so it allows you to buy fruit from other growers. Okay. And a grower is just smaller production, grows 100% of their own grapes, ages it themselves, vince it themselves, bottles it themselves, all that. Correct. Correct. I think they're allowed like 5% or something to buy in, but yes. There's a secret code about that, right? Is it RM and NM or what? Yeah, Greg, remembering it from the old days. Yeah. Yeah, I remember stuff. Yeah. NM for Negociant Manipulant is your key for a house. RM, Récoltaunt Manipulant for a grower. It's right there on the label. It's tiny. But if you find it, you've got a little secret code there that will tell you if it's a negotiation buying up lots and then making their blend or if it's a grower making their own. Yeah. I just want to just a quick note on it because there was a fad where everyone was just in love with grower champagnes. That's still very much the case. But do know that many growers actually do eventually become houses because as their demand for the product picks up, they can't possibly supply all the fruit. They do need to buy some and many times buy from friends and establish relationships that they've had for many years. So don't just reject a house and think, oh, it's this big million bottle production. You have this big corporate operation, right? Not all the time. Barrage is a great example. I think you look at it and think it's a grower and people love it. It's a house. Do you think it's analogous to the scotch production where a blended scotch isn't necessarily worse than a single malt scotch. A single malt has a character of that one single malt, whereas a blend, they can use different malts to make something that they want. Very much similar in Champagne, if it's a negotiate, then they can develop a house style and then mix things accordingly to stay consistent, right? I think the skill level is analogous. I've definitely heard people talk about how adept you have to be to be able to taste from each year to year, and just like with how many blends are in Johnny Walker, Black, Pat, like 30 or something. Oh, there's like 20, 28, 30, something like that. Yeah. So, I mean, you need to know what you're doing in order to make that Johnny Black taste the same all the time. I'd imagine it's the same thing. You know, there can be a little wiggle room, but you want some continuity when somebody knows and picks this up that's going to be what they've tasted in the past. Very much so. I mean, it's after consistency and to your point of the skill of blending, if you even just look at Krug, for example, one that we're experiencing shortages of, you know, they're blending this latest edition, 146 different wines. Oh, yeah. All right. And that's like what? It's like 250 bucks on a good day. Yeah. And Krug's the goat on that high end stuff, though, isn't it? It is. And it's really just, I think, most wine lovers gravitate towards Krug just because of the oxidative style. Yeah. So to your point, you're not only blending 146 wines, and that's not crazy. You even wrote over there well over 100 at some of their more entry level wines. As I mentioned, even Paperhide Sick is from 100 different crews. You're blending not even just to taste the wine at that point, but you have to anticipate how that wine is going to change after yet another fermentation. So it is pretty impressive that your champagne tastes the same year after year, non-vintage. So we're drinking Tadinger now. The nose is quite different. Yeah, very. Tastes a lot different too. Excellent insight, you guys. Well, I think it's streamlined and a bit sharp on the nose, and the finish is almost tannic or bitter. I don't like it as much as the other one, and I'm not quite sure how to pin that down. I'm picking up more acidity, I feel, than the other one. Right. Also more baking spice, more spice. Yep. So we're seeing a higher proportion of Chardonnay here. Pinot Noir, I think of it as like the doughnut filling, it adds roundness, kind of a softness and plushness to the body. And we're seeing more structure here with the Chardonnay, more acidity, especially in its youth, that'll kind of calm down if you were to bottleage it, but it's kind of a fresher style, you get more orchard fruits, you get more stone fruits. And I do tend to see Chardonnay allowing autolytic qualities to shine through a little bit more than Pinot Noir and Moutonnier do. Like green apple, pear, peach. Peach, apricot, or two that came to mind in both the nose and the finish on this. But it is more acidic too, it's Chardonnay, huh? Yeah. Yeah. And this is another one, very historic, Champagne House. It dates back to 1743. So I'm bringing that up, not because most people care, but if the person you're buying for does appreciate kind of these story producers, you have it here with Tad and Sher. They also own Domaine Carneros, On Our Shelves Domestic Sparkling Wine Producer, and this compared to our two years on Lees with the last wine, four years. So- Wow. You would think it would pick up a lot more breadth too, but it has the acidity to match, so it's still in balance. Interesting. Four years on Lees here. Yes. Wow. What are we selling this for? Yeah. This is on sale right now for $44.99. That's a hell of a price for a champagne of that age. Can I suggest a pairing for this? Shoot. Is it going to be obnoxious? A Gâteau Breton. Yeah, it is. What is that? It's a French, very dense French cake with a jammy filling, sometimes apricot, which is what I really get a ton of in this. With white powdered sugar on top? No, it's egg wash, so it glistens. I just saw it on America's Test Kitchen. He's got agro Breton on the line. I had a slice of this once years ago, I think. It was something similar. But after seeing it, I was like, I need to bother to make one of these, and I really don't like to bake, I like to cook, but this looked really good, and I bet it would be awesome with the champagne. Well, the flavor descriptors match that. Yeah, to a team. Really how style here is more delicate, it's a fresher styles we come in with the elevated acidity, and quite an elegant one. Once again, a match made in heaven with the hers creamy ranch and habanero potato chips, honestly. Creamy ranch and habanero. I don't even, who did that? Hers. Hers. All right, let's go to the next one. It's the third and final house that I brought today, and a very, very different style. This is from Bollinger. I love Bollinger. Yeah, this is their special coupé, so this is kind of their entry level. We sell some of their higher-end wines as well. And a couple of differences here to note as you smell and taste the wine. What's this bottle design? Because right off the bat, it has that unique, you usually see magnums in this, and it makes a statement, I'm sorry, it looks really awesome. The big thick bottom and the delicate little swan neck. And well, and you said it right there, they actually create this bottle shape to mimic the magnum bottle. And they do that because in bottle, wine ages at a slower pace when it is stored in magnum. They actually store all of their reserved wines, Bollinger does, in magnums. So from previous years, they'll store them in magnums, slow aging process, and they put this wine in a 750, but just the shape is like a magnum to allow that wine to slow or to age at a slower pace. Oh, this is more my style. Okay, so right away, you should smell that this is a more kind of oxidative, richer style. And what they're doing here, over half of the base wines in Bollinger for their special cuvée are fermented in oak barrels. All right, so we're allowing oxygen in there versus a lot of other champagnes are made reductively. So we protect them from oxygen, they're fermented in stainless steel. But Bollinger, and this was a decision that Lily Bollinger made. So anyone who's enamored by Madame Cliquot, and her kind of business prowess and leadership as a woman in the Champagne region, many, many years ago, should also know of Lily Bollinger, who took over this house when her husband died in the 40s, the 1940s, and she ran it for over 30 years. She was the one when everyone was switching to Inox vessels in like the 60s and 70s. She said, nope, we're going to stay with large oak barrels. And that's why you get this really rich style. It's so bready and creamy. It kind of smells like a bakery. I love this producer so much. And that, that, that, oh, it's so good. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, definitely on the yeasty side and, but just plush, pillowy, broad. Yeah. Pillowy. Love that. And you'll notice to the fruit, it's almost like a bruised quality to the fruit. It's an excellent wine. This is on the shelf at 59.99, but just the care taken from, you know, mentioning that the reserve wines are stored in magnums. They use real corks when they bottle and then close to go through second fermentation rather than bottle. Crown caps? Rather than crown caps. Yep. So just a lot of care. Is there an advantage there? It has to be more porous. A little more oxygen. Yeah, a little more oxygen, right? Yeah, that's got to be. It has to be it. So 60% pinot, 25% chardonnay, 15% mouignet, over 85% of the fruit going in here is from Premier Crew and Grand Cru Villages. Another great option for this holidays, again, for that person that wants kind of a richer, bolder style. I don't know. I think you want to knock somebody's socks off with champagne. This is an easy one. We mentioned high tech as a crowd pleaser, because it was like plush in that brioche, and this just takes it up to 11. It's so classy. I think for $60, this is just a bottle that's going to wow at a party. Completely agree. Piper Heidsick, I'm not going to remember it the next day. I'm going to enjoy it when I drink it. Yeah. Right? This is memorable. This is great. Every time you knows this, there's something else you can pull out from the profile. I mean, it's yeastier. It has a nuttiness to it, but everything's so integrated that nothing just stands out in an overbearing way. It's like truly is a blending of a lot of different things it wants. Yeah. Something else. Good stuff. So available around the chain. Bollinger. A lot of British ties, of course. Oh, man. But yeah. 60 bucks. Wow. Nice. That was awesome. It's good, right? It's so good. Okay, so the next two wines that we have, those were the three houses. Now we're going to the Récolte Tente Manipulante, the Growers of Champagne. So we're gonna see much smaller production here. And to kind of put this in perspective, some of these are selling a few thousand cases of wine a year. Wow, not much. I mean, they don't disclose the number, but guess how much Dom is produced every year? Oh geez, 100,000 cases? Yeah, I mean, so it's the, what I read just well over a million bottles. A million bottles. Yeah. And to Dom Perignon's credit, and LVMH's credit, they've managed to flood the market with a product. And still maintain price and integrity. And still maintain this like exclusive, elite brand. I mean, every Costco and grocery store in America still has Dom Perignon on hand. Yeah. So you will see that still in some of our stores. We are running low, but we do have limits in place. So don't plan to go and buy a case, but we can help you find some alternatives to supplement. Okay. So I want to let Roger introduce this one with your beautiful French or Pat. No, not this one. No, I'm not doing this. This is good. Come on. It's funny every time you try to read French. It's Charton-Tallet. All right. I'm halfway there. See? Halfway there. Charton-Tallet. This is their Cuvée Saint-Anne. So I have a question right off the bat here. I noticed when pouring this that there didn't seem to be quite as much carb. Yeah. I mean, it's still, don't get me wrong, it's bubbling. That's one of the things about Ballinger too. It had much finer bubbles and more fermentation or more bubbles, more carbonation. Yeah. They're still fine here, but yes, I would agree, fewer for sure. I don't know, it just dissipated quicker, like that initial, you famously have to wait some, it just seemed to collapse down in on itself. So I was wondering if that's something that's, is that measured then for volumes of CO2 in champagne at all? I mean, they don't add anything, right? It's all natural. Correct. You would really come down to how much yeast and sugar you're putting in. Well, not even the dosage, but earlier on to how much pressure you're creating, and thus how much carbon dioxide will be left in. But I don't know of any kind of stark difference. So the disgorgement date could also be a factor. This is 40% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot Noir, and the rest is Mougnet. And a lot of this is up in the Montagnier to Rheims region, so just north of Rheims. And that area is really known for its Pinot Noir. And- Wait, wait, wait, Reims is pronounced Rheims? I've been saying Reims every time. All right, so this is Chardonnay Taillet, Cuvée Saint-Anne, $49.99 on the shelf. He's doing kind of some barrel fermentation, he's gonna continue to do more of that, some stainless steel, but just a really accessible grower. A lot of times you pay a premium for grower champagnes, but this is at $50. And again, I think a really elegant, beautiful, it's kind of, it's definitely more subtle, obviously, than the last champagne we tasted. In ways, I mean, the fruit screams. Yeah, I think it has the fruit of the tatinger with some of the plushness in the brioche character and the yeastiness of the Bollinger. And do you pick up, like, an anise herbal quality? Yeah. Yep. There is a pastry, kind of peach tart, kind of thing going on in the wine that I think is really nice. And the other cool thing about this particular wine and this particular grower, their first vintage was back in 2006, and all Mougnet that was planted in 1952, un-grafted, so unaffected by phylloxera. We don't kind of think sometimes about the vineyards and champagne that are, but there are a few, all Sandy Soils. So he does have un-grafted Mougnet. Sandy Soils is like the only chance that it isn't grafted at this point. So if it's RM. It's like an Arminia. Are they growing everything like in an estate, or is it still scattered plots around? They could still have scattered plots around. Yes. Okay. Yes, and many do. Interesting. Yeah, they'll have different plots in different villages that they'll slowly accumulate. When was this first vintage from this guy? I'm looking for a little more history in my champagne. New kid on the block right here. No, but it's so vibrant. Craft distiller of champagne here. Is there any chance that there could be any Brett in this? This reminds me, Pat, of some gooses. I can see it. Really subtle. I don't know that Roger knows that he's throwing down right now by making my claim. In the beer world, it's fine, and there's this controversy in wine, where most people are like, well, then it smells like dog s**t. Well, I thought in some French houses, it was acceptable, but maybe not in champagne. Is there any oak fermentation in this? Yeah, 80%. I think you're smelling more oak than Brett. Like vanilla? Vanillin? Not vanillin, like the other associated oak things. I'm talking like dry lumber, like some damp glass a bit. Yeah, I can see a leather thing. Yeah. It is complex. This is one, like the Bollinger, but every time I smell it, there's something different to pull out. I'm standing by it, but just as I love sour beer, this is still a great champagne, but I'm getting wild beer flavor to this. I will say, again, it's really great with the hers, Creamy Ranch and Habanero. Okay, give me a bit of a chip. There's also, there's some like dry extract. There's a little tanginess on the finish. The fruit really takes hold. A little bit of what you're saying. Old jackfruit might be on to something here. All right, so Charteau and Taillet, Cuvée Saint-Anne, on the shelf for 50 bucks. 50 bucks, pretty cool. So we got one more, one more rounding out this quintet. We do. Another grower, this is Pierre Peters, and we are now going to- Pierre Peters? Pierre Peters. Oh, PP. Yes. We are leaving the Montagnier de Reims in the north. We're kinda coming around on the east side to the Cote de Blanc, and this subregion, really well known for how chalky its soils are, and prized for Chardonnay. So, it is no surprise that growers that have Leandre here in the Cote de Blanc will emphasize the Chardonnay, and Pierre Peters takes that to an extreme because this is now Blanc de Blanc. This is 100% Chardonnay, all from Grand Cru villages. So again, when you see Grand Cru on the label, it's the village that has the designation, so it isn't, say, the vineyard, like it is in Burgundy, or it's not the producer, like we see classifications exist in Bordeaux. It's the village that actually... See, I knew it was pronounced village. Years ago. Yes, the village, Pat. So all Grand Cru fruit in this wine, 100% Chardonnay. What do you guys think? Crazy floral. It's like lilac and honeysuckle. I can see the honeysuckle. I think there's a lot of kind of like honeyed peach and nectarine in there too, orange blossom. I mean, it smells awesome. This is really nice. This is like if... Like springtime. If the tattinger was better. Whoa. If the tattinger were more lifted and fruity on top of all the baked goods. Yep. Yeah. A little more substance to it. I agree. Tons of florality. There's even kind of like a nutty butterscotch kind of thing going on that will even come out more as it spends time in bottle. There's an herbal thing underneath them and at the finish too. That's probably like a creme de violette kind of quality with a little bit of anisette quality too. I get melon on the finish too, like a honeydew melon, even kiwi a little bit. Yep. This is a grower. Randolph Peters took over the reigns of this producer back in 2008, becoming now the fourth generation to run it since it was founded back in 1919, so a little bit older for you, Pat. Good. This is a history I'm looking for with a bottle of the finest French champagne. Vintage dated, no? No. Yeah, this is non-vintage as well, and they'll pull reserve wines from years past. This is one that I sell a lot of on the floor because this is, again, all ground crew fruit, blanc de blanc, tends to be a little more expensive, and we have this for 59.99. Passes the Hers Creamy Ranch and Habanero test. Nice. Do you guys get a little bit of limestone cut at the finish too? Yeah, a little bit of minerality there. Little habanero? Little habanero. Yeah, a little like Riesling-esque on the finish. I used to work in an office next to our champagne buyer, Bob, and he took me to a buying event once where we all got to have a pretty good lunch and taste through all these things, and the one that stuck out to me was, I think, a special cuvée from Pierre Peters, and I think one of the coolest things about working at Binny's or shopping at Binny's is it's not brought in through traditional distribution methods like supplier makes it, sends it to distributor, distributor, sells it to the stores, and there it is. The buyer tries it and then commits and says, we're going to buy so much of this because we just like it. In one way, it's a little bit of a gamble, but in another way, it's a little bit of a standing behind a product and caring Trusting that the distributors do their job and adequately stock and warehouse product for you to order. It's grower champagne. It's esoteric and that our buyers are actually committing to this and then sharing it with our wine managers and sharing it with our wine consultants so that they can share that passion with you. And if you're out there looking disappointed that we're running out of Vufoco, Yolo Label or some other big brand, like here's something that- Was vetted. Yeah, was vetted. Exactly. We stand behind and that we're putting our money where our mouth is and we're saying this is something that you're gonna like too and that's why we bought so much of it. And that's ultimately better for that producer, right? They can plan on when we make that big purchase and make that commitment rather that they can adjust to. It's not just a little bit here and there. You know, they're making their fiat payments. You know, one thing with Champagne that I just I want to point out and kind of encourage people to try and push back on slightly. I mean, this is a lot of it is brand loyalty and people come in and they buy the same brands over and over again. And just the other day, I was on the floor. Guy wanted a few bottles of Dom and we have a limit, so I couldn't sell him all of the Dom that he wanted. All of the Dom in the building. So we went into the seller and I sold him a magnum of Bollinger 2012 Grand Inet. What did that cost? As you taste it. I want to know what that cost. $325. Oh, that's not bad. No. That's spectacular. Wait, $325 you can get a mag of vintage-dated Bollinger? That's really not that bad. Yep. But guess what? Dom and Bollinger are so different. Right? We tasted how oxidative Bollinger is, how rich, how bruised fruit it is, and Dom is clean. It's all stainless. It's 50-Pino, 50-Chard. So just completely different styles. Oh, what a boring wine. But this guy... I mean, it's not in the room to defend itself. I've had some vintage Dom's that's slapped, but that sounds boring. But he loved them both. And it's really the brand, it's the name, it's the prestige that so many people are just committed to and keep coming back to. But I just want to encourage you, and maybe if you have a crowd that is in that boat, like pour it for them blind. See how they like it, because we have so many beautiful Champagnes from producers that are much smaller, that are doing different things and producing different little bit different styles that are really interesting. So, you know, stand out at the party and bring something fun. Totally. Roger, what was your favorite? Probably the Bollinger. But I mean, the Piper for the money is... Piper for $32 is ridiculous. I bet we end up running it cheaper before the end of the year. I bet Roger makes a cocktail with that later. I bet he does. Favorite, gentlemen? Yeah, what's yours? Bollinger and Pierre Peters. Different, I think stylistically different enough, but Bollinger gave me that kind of, like you said it best, kind of that plush fat champagne character that I usually reach for. But the Pierre Peters had a really interesting fruit and acidity quality to it that was just awesome. I agree with Pat. Those would be my two. Yeah. I got to go with the Bollinger because it's just like the easy chair of champagnes, you know? Like the easy chair, like it's a lazy boy? Yes. Is that- Finally, a branchy nose. Yeah. I mean, it's just that, it's comfort. It's the comfortable champagne. It's so good and it's so easy. There's a bag of creamy ranch habanero chips in front of me. I like the Pierre Peters. I like its vibrancy and its spine, and I like the explosively expressive fruit too. I mean, that's the dichotomy, right? Yeah. Nervy and there's acid and there's tension, or is it round and rich and plush? One's an artisan loaf of freshly baked bread, and the other is like lemon tart, and you can love both of those things so much. Yeah. Yeah. So my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, shout out Matt and Lisa, our avid podcast listeners, and they also shop at the Lincoln Park Binny's, and they normally let wine manager Gabe do what, you know, they trust his pal or whatever. They're also big champagne people, and they can buy whatever champagne they want. So you two have Gabe grab you some of this Bollinger, because it's next level. And he's a big Bollinger fan too. There you go. They probably already have some then. Yeah. Are we doing individualized recommendations on the podcast now? No. Okay. Just in that sense. We like to reward the loyal listeners every now and again. I'm not going to say what another friend of mine told me recently because it was pro Roger. It always is. Roger has a fan club. That's because Roger often is trying to make these just really insightful comments and you two are just exchanging inappropriate jokes. Roger probably made him like a good cocktail once in my 4th of July party or something. He's buying them off. All right. Hey guys, this is why we have Alicia on the podcast, because, hey, nice job with this Bollinger and Pierre Peters. The rest of it, whatever. But those two, big winners today. Alicia, what are your favorites? The Pierre Peters. I love the Bollinger too, trust me. In the right mood, I'll drink that. I'll drink all of these every day. What were the grower price points? Pierre Peters, $49.99 for the Chardonnayet and then $59.99 for the Pierre Peters. In the grand scheme of Champagne. It's cheap. Yeah, not bad at all. You're not going to be able to enter the Champagne world under that Piper Heitzek price really. You can go well north of 100 bucks for a lot of stuff on our shelves. Except old reliable Baron Fuente, which we still have for like 25 bucks or whatever. And that's awesome. Yeah. And that, if you're into a little more floral, a little more fruity, very accessible in youth, it's a Mougnet lead, Pinot Mougnet dominant, which is different from everything we tasted today. So that too is a really accessible style. So you're saying it's Mougnet for less Mougnet? What? I, there are times I love Mougnets. The door's over there, Adam. I can't even. Seriously. Get the f*** out. Oh, you made her swear. Yeah, I got it. Achieved. Nice. All right, cool. Glad you guys like them. Hopefully this has helped you maybe narrow down your holiday selection and assure you that there's plenty of excellent champagne to drink on our shelves. I, for one, am glad that you bought a case of Bud Select so that you get the hers chips for a penny. Alicia, thank you for bringing this wonderful lineup of Champagnes. It's terrific. My pleasure. They're great. They're available in 2021, and they're great. I'm going to go slam some hams in the parking lot. Pat's going to go slam some hams in the parking lot. Everybody else, thank you for listening to another episode of Barrel to Bottle, The Binny's Podcast. This has been a great one. Happy holidays, everybody. Really excited to see what we do next year. We'll see you guys soon. All right. Until next time, I'm Greg. I'm Pat. I'm Roger. And I'm Alicia. Keep tasting. A fun wine episode. Because it had her's chips.