Champagne & charcuterie: exercises in lightness

Also this year, on the occasion of Champagne Day 2025, the Bureau du Champagne celebrated the sparkling occasion with a tasting that naturally continues the path begun last year. Thus, after the voluptuousness of cheese, along the thread of fat and conviviality, we moved on to its worthy chopping board companion: the cured meat.

A pleasant and colloquial tasting, led with Marco Chiesa’s usual (much appreciated) frank and straightforward manner, designed to explore more or less surprising pairings and to joke together about the commonplaces and often bizarre language of wine-that lexical trapeze artist idiom that, not infrequently, loses its balance.

Then again, you know, the language of wine is a pendulum: it swings between the sublime and the absurd. So it happens that, to describe the caress of a bubbly, someone says that it “degreases,” that it “cleanses” (I did that too, beg pardon) and then you almost expect to find it next to the sink the bottle of Champagne, between the detergent and the Marseille soap, as if it were a product for the home, instead of for the soul.

A search for voluptuousness

If on a tactile level, indeed, bubbly in the mouth cleanses and (beg pardon) “degreases,” at the same time those who choose to pair Champagne and cured meats do not seek “cleanliness,” but a voluptuous, enveloping pleasure.
Because fat, the good kind, is not an enemy to be fought: it is a soft and sensual substance, able to give depth and roundness to the taste, to amplify scents, to caress the palate slowly. And Champagne does not come to erase it – it comes to illuminate it with its subtle acidity and that tactile tension of bubbles that gives balance.
A dialogue, not a contrast: an encounter, then, between verticality and softness.

Thus this year’s theme – Champagne and charcuterie – becomes an invitation to play and discovery, a banquet for gaiety seekers who love good things and do not take themselves too seriously.

Lardo di Arnad PDO and Champagne Blanc de Blancs

The first encounter embodies the meeting of softness and verticality. The lard, with its creaminess and the delicate aromaticity of the herbs, finds balance in a young, linear and crisp Blanc de Blancs with balanced dosage. The acidity enhances the savory part, while a slight glyceric sweetness accompanies the roundness of the fat without extinguishing it and softens its somewhat excessive savoriness. A mouth-watering and centered pairing, a balance of yin and yang, my favorite.

• Pommery Grand Apanage 1874 – 100% Chardonnay

Mortadella Bologna IGP and Champagne Brut

After the intensity of lard comes the cheerful softness of mortadella. Sweet, pistachio-scented, a bit boyish in its immediate pleasure, it goes well with a classic, gracious Champagne. A combination that is reassuring, comfortable and domestic., without peaks or surprises.

• Cattier Brut Icone – 50% Meunier, 30% Pinot Noir, 20% Chardonnay

Cup and Brut Champagne

With the cup, the rules of the game change: the aromaticity becomes more pronounced, the matter more fibrous and tenacious. You need a Champagne with broad shoulders, that has time and structure.
An assemblage with reserve wines, a brut with 5 years of aging that does not remain on the surface but ventures into a game of depth with the aromatic persistence of the cup.
The result is a dynamic equilibrium in which the champagne occasionally takes over due to a somewhat tentative aromatic cup. But on paper the pairing is perfect.

• Lanson Le Black Reserve – 50-55% Pinot Noir, 30-35% Chardonnay, 10-15% Meunier

Gentle Salami Champagne Blanc de Noirs Dosage Zero

Gentle salami, classic and sincere, is the archetype of simple pleasure. With it, a dry, upright Champagne finds a good companion (but perhaps a little more dosage is better). The effervescence “degreases” (ooops), the acidity enlivens, the savoriness of the salami is enhanced. A pop, gluttonous and fun pairing.

• Gustave Goussard Purnoir – 100% Pinot Noir

Prosciutto Crudo di Parma PDO 24 months and Champagne Rosé Brut

Color affinity and flavor harmony: prosciutto and Champagne Rosé speak the same language. The saline sweetness of the ham intertwines with the fruity freshness of the wine in a delicate and complicit game of cross-references. A pairing that does not surprise but does its job, balanced and precise just right, to be enjoyed carefree.

• Castelnau Rosé – 50% Meunier, 30% Chardonnay, 20% Pinot Noir

‘Nduja di Spilinga and Champagne Demi-Sec.

A disruptive, fatty and spicy cured meat – on paper practically unobtainable – finds in the contrast with Demi-Sec a new, surprising dimension. For those who, like me, don’t particularly like either, the encounter is a revelation. Fire and silk, spicy and sweet chasing each other in a dynamic and sensual balance.
What seemed like a gamble turns out to be a mouthwatering and irresistible contrast, capable of prompting renewed sip and bite in an almost fordian, repetitive, yes, but deeply joyous. A match perhaps not perfect but one of disarming pleasure.

• Delavenne L’Île – 60% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay

With the cutting board finished and the Champagne finished, looking forward to next year. All that remains is to take a look at the Comité Champagne’s online platform (www.champagne.education), really well done and full of interactive content, e-learning sessions, trivia and suggestions about the world of Champagne.
Santé!