Pops for Champagne co-owner Tom Verhey plans to pop open a bottle of Taittinger Comtes 1996 this New Year’s Eve. He and his wife, Linda, have something to celebrate: after 24 years on Sheffield they’ve moved their jazz club and champagne bar to a 6,000-square-foot space in the renovated Tree Studios. There’s also an adjoining retail store, Pops Shop, which Verhey claims is the first in the country devoted exclusively to champagne and sparkling wine.
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Pops Shop stocks more than 100 labels, with prices ranging from $16 for an Alianca Reserva to $225 for Louis Roederer Cristal. Everything you need to enjoy the bubbly is on hand, too: flutes, ice buckets, and serviceware. Friday-afternoon tastings are scheduled to begin in 2007.
Tom Verhey at Pops Shop, 605 N. State, 312-266-7676
aJoseph Perrier Josephine 1995 ($80)
aCharles Heidsieck Brut Reserve ($43.99)
aBisol Prosecco di Valdobbiadene NV Brut ($13.79)
The structural elements–the way the acid, alcohol, and sugars are put together–elevate this tete de cuvee from good to truly great. “Buy one bottle to drink now and a second to cellar for ten years.”
