With a pop and a fizz, I bid you farewell

(Cue Ol’ Blue Eyes)

“And now, the end is near …”

I’ve written 400 or so columns here in the last eight years, and now I face the final curtain. Yep. I’m hanging up my goblet, my tastevin, keyboard, etc.

It has been an unmitigated pleasure to write for you, faithful readers. Oh, I know you’d prefer I spent my time seeking out five-buck treasures, but where’s the fun in that? Haven’t you ever wanted to know what a MacLaren drives like? Or to what lengths a cork dork will go in pursuit of trivia? (Hint: real blind tastings require a bag over your head, with a mouth cut out, and your feet shackled to the chair legs.)

You have been unwitting, and sometimes unwilling witnesses to the eight-year Booze Cruise. So for this last column I wish to thank you and my long-suffering editors for spending time with me.

How will I go out? With a pop, of course. (And if you are a snob that considers a champagne pop declasse … Will you people just … get a LIFE?) I am pleased to say that any number of you appear to have followed my example and swill carbonated wine with abandon. This is a pleasure you can carry into old age; I fully intend to exit my final home washing down my meds with vintage blanc de blanc.

R de Ruinart is a wonderful Champagne from an old house. Full ML fermentation and a longer time on the lees give this wine an astonishingly fine bead, a biscuity nose, a creamy texture and complex palate.

There are over 200 Champagne houses with maybe a half dozen cuvee each. It is my sincere hope you try them all before you’re done.

R de Ruinart NV $85 *****

(Cue Johnny Rotten)

“I took the blows, I did it my way.”