For many consumers, Veuve Clicquot is synonymous with Champagne. The ubiquitous non-vintage Brut---popularly known as the Yellow Label---can seemingly be found in just about every wine shop, warehouse store and restaurant on the planet. I’ve been critical of Yellow Label in the past, because it doesn’t present a good introduction to the Clicquot style (which is what a non-vintage Brut is supposed to do).

In fact, after sipping a glass of Yellow Label you really wouldn’t have any idea how good the other releases are. The folks at Clicquot are taking some risks with their vintage wines and luxury cuvée (La Grande Dame), and those gambles are paying off handsomely. Given that the national average for a bottle of Yellow Label is $55 (although you can do better if you shop around), and that the vintage releases start at $70, you’d be foolish not to splurge a bit. And the Extra Brut Extra Old, a new product, is a real bargain at $80.

In Glass Half Full, our roundup of the most interesting food, wine and spirits stories on the web, we examined the usual range of bizarre subjects: how the impending butter shortage in France will impact the bakery and pastry business; the coming 2018 ban on alcohol advertising on the New York subway system; the dark side of the no-tipping policy, and the fact that spam theft in Hawaii has become so widespread that the stuff is now locked up in glass cases.

Here are last week’s posts:

Veuve Clicquot: Current Releases

Glass Half Full: 11/2/2017