Champagne is for many an essential for New Year's Eve, and the golden drops often accompany welcome snacks, dinner and the obligatory wreath cake on the last night of the year. Champagne comes in many different versions, and it's important to make sure that the chosen New Year's champagne matches the menu.
While dry and semi-dry champagnes nicely complement the early evening servings, the sweet wreath cake needs a sweet or semi-sweet champagne. This ensures the complete enjoyment of both kransekage and champagne. In champagne terminology, dry is referred to as brut, semi-dry as sec, semi-sweet as demi-sec, and sweet as demi doux. These terms are useful to familiarize yourself with in the search for the perfect New Year's champagne to go with the kransekage.
The tradition of eating kransekage with champagne became widespread around 100 years ago. Back then, champagnes were generally much sweeter than today, as much more sugar was added. Therefore, the sweet kransekage was a natural match for champagne. Today, when many champagnes are dry, it's important to choose a champagne that is demi-sec, or even sweeter. This type of champagne has the right amount of sweetness to balance out the wreath cake, and it's also tart enough to enjoy without it. A common misconception is to drink bone-dry brut champagne with the wreath cake. The dry taste of the champagne makes the cake taste sickeningly sweet and inedible, while the sweetness of the champagne makes the champagne sour. Therefore, it's a good rule of thumb to steer clear of brut champagne when buying bubbles for the wreath cake.
The amount of dosage liquer determines how sweet or dry a champagne is. Dosage liquer is a sugar syrup that is added just before the cork is inserted into the champagne. The more dosage liquer, the sweeter the champagne. A good suggestion for a New Year's champagne that goes well with wreath cake is a
Deutz Demi Sec Champagne at 12%. This is a well-made champagne with a clean and welcoming taste that is further enhanced by a well-balanced sweetness. The semi-sweet champagne is ideal as the icing on the New Year's Eve dinner, and it adds a fresh but sweet touch to the wreath cake.
If you want the champagne to really come into its own, you should follow a number of guidelines. Naturally, the champagne must be chilled before serving. The optimal serving temperature is around 10 degrees. However, cheap champagnes should be served slightly cooler, while expensive champagnes can be served slightly warmer. It is usually appropriate to remove the champagne from the fridge half to a full hour before serving. When serving champagne, pour gently until the foam reaches the top of the glass. Once the foam has settled, the glass can be refilled until it is no more than three-quarters full. This leaves room for the aroma and bouquet of the champagne in the glass. It is a good idea to serve the champagne in tall, slender glasses that can be narrowed at the top. This way, the aroma is concentrated at the top of the glass and the carbon dioxide evaporates as slowly as possible.
