For the 29th Monthly Wine Writing Challenge (#MWWC29) on the theme WineStory, I submit the WineStory of our just born baby.

My wife and I had different plans for Election Day. Those plans involved drinking Champagne.  Instead, our baby was coming.  Even the local paper announced, “Today’s The Day”:

I dropped my wife off at the hospital at 10am to settle in. However, on Monday I had made a last minute sale of Pinot Noir.  It had to be delivered today. So, I ran to our warehouse, picked up twenty cases, blasted to town, dropped them off, then blasted back to the hospital.  My coworkers thought I was mad.  But I made it by noon, just before her water broke and contractions ramped up. After seven hours of strain, stress, and cherry popsicles, Alexandria came into the world.

Plotting our sleep deprivation…

A girl!  We did not know the gender beforehand. Now, Champagne was the last thing on our minds. How do we feed her? Hold her? How do we sleep? Is every toe there? When do we eat? When can we go home?

Time evaporated between feeding, burping, and pretending to nap. We traded the baby off like the walking dead. But somehow, my wife returned. Nine months of pregnancy had turned her off to any alcohol.  She even disliked its smell.  But a week with Alexandria, she looked me in the eye and told me, “I want Champagne”.

To celebrate Alexandria, I had a special bottle of Champagne. Since we had kept her gender a surprise, I had also kept a few bottles. Krug if a boy. But since we did not get our first female President, what better way to celebrate a new girl, than with the only Champagne house with a female President and female Chef du Cave: Duval-LeRoy:

President Carol Duval-LeRoy at center. Chev du Cave Sandrine behind the barrel.

I had suggested their regular Brut (read here) for the election, but Alexandria was more important than any election. It had to be Premiere Cru.

Duval-LeRoy, Premiere Cru, Champagne, France NV

In short, it is 70% Chardonnay and 30% Pinot Noir, 80% of which comes from Premiere Cru vineyards and 20% from Grand Cru. It aged more than three years in their chalk cellars.

We take her on her first walk of the neighborhood, then open the bottle.

What do you mean I look tired?

The APPEARANCE looks a mild straw color fired up with a rapid pearl of small bubbles. AROMAS smell delicate yet compact, centered on crunchy, granny smith apple, chalk dust, and blanketed by an ethereal lemon blossom. The PALATE holds eight grams of sugar per liter, so it feels dry with frisky acidity, a lean body, and fine-grained fizz for texture.  FLAVORS match the green apple, floral, and mineral aromas seamlessly with a shave of blanched almond. These last a long length.

Duval-LeRoy’s Premiere Cru drinks beautifully now.  It is outstanding (5 of 5). It is sprightly, delightful, and mouthwatering.  It begs for oysters, sashimi sushi, raw goat cheese: basically everything my post-pregnant wife can eat now (also white fish, lemon chicken or a vinaigrette salad would work).  It is the perfect way to celebrate a fabulous little lady.

So, welcome to the world Alexandria. Thank you for returning my wife’s love of Champagne.  You will find life full of challenges.  But do not despair.  We love you and there is always Champagne.