Celebrate S.E.L.F. (or anything at all) with proper bubbles - a pair of excellent champagnes!

2008 Dom Pérignon Champagne
Light gold color. Drank a glass plus over 45 minutes. This was a transcendent bottle. Stunningly more open and giving than a bottle a few weeks ago. The nose is already showing a lot of toasted goodness, bright fruit, pear and melon, with almond. The palate is riveting, the acid is spot on and this really was harmonious tonight. Pear, nuts, toast and brioche with crystalline minerality; very, long, such lift and tension with a combination of grace and power.

2007 Louis Roederer Champagne Cristal Brut
According to the history books, Louis Roederer created Cristal for Tsar Alexander II in 1876, when Russia was the largest export market for many of the famous champagne houses. Alex, who was not very fond of sharing and caring, called up Louis and told him to make a series of transparent cristal bottles with a flat bottom. They would be filled with sweet Champagne and would cause the winery problems after the Russian Revolution as they had unpaid invoices and a stock of sweet wine that no one wanted. Good times. Today the wine is made in a dry style and displays glorious purity. The 2007 had delicious quince, French toast, green apple and lemon zest bursting on the nose. Rich mouthfeel, perfectly soft mousse and thirst-quenching acidity. Complex with a slight saltiness that persists into the aftertaste. A true representation of class and royalty.

"Something that is very special today might not be special tomorrow, but to hold it, to grasp it, to keep it, to make it special, to elevate it from the ordinary, that's when you open up the champagne. To make it sparkle."

Christoph Waltz