F I N E C H A M P A G N E M A G A Z I N E No. 2 1 5 · £ 1 0 · US $ 2 0 · AU $ 3 0 P R E S T I G E C U V É E R O S É

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Page 24 Champagne Areas Page 36 Bruno Paillard 8 Page 42 Rosé Champagnes Page 60 Bollinger Page 76 Taittinger Bottle Art

Page 108 Taittinger Page 116 Caviar 11 15 Fine Avellan Fine Nuikki e Editorial Decanting Champagne Heidsieck 1907 16 Fine Drinking History 24 36 42 60 Page 98 Champagne Auctions 9 Fine Alphabet lp Fine Personality o Fine Selection l c Fine Legend i Fine Larsson n Fine Women i Fine Gallery n Fine Tastings a Fine Vintages i Fine Investing n v Fine Challenge l Fine Cuvée Fine Gastronomy o Fine 1000 n Fine Lifestyle n s Fine Exhibition x b ABC Areas Bruno Paillard Prestige Cuvée Rosés Bollinger Eat and Drink in Pink Carol Duval-Leroy Taittinger Collection Prestige Cuvées 1980­1989 Champagne Auctions Champagne Awards Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Caviar Dom Pérignon 1973 Les Crayères Pommery & Art 66 68 76 84 92 98 104 108 116 124 128 138 Page 128 Les Crayères Fi n e C o n t e n t s

WRITERS Pekka Nuikki Editor-in-Chief Pekka Nuikki, founder and editor-in-chief of FINE Magazines, is an author and one of the leading experts on fine wines in Europe. He has published twenty international wine and art books, among them In Vino Veritas, a book on investing in wines, Drinking History on fine wines and their vintages between 1870­1970, a book about the Château Mouton-Rothschild ­Wine and Art 1924­2003 and most recently a book about the best German white wines. His next book will be about the 100 Most Important Red Wines. Mr. Nuikki is also an award-winning photographer, who has exhibited his artwork all over the world and he has worked as creative director of an advertising agency group. He is also the luckiest man in the world, having hit seven hole-in-ones. Essi Avellan MW Managing Editor Essi Avellan MW is the first Master of Wine from Finland and the second ever from the Nordic countries. She was awarded the Tim Derouet Memorial Award and the Lily Bollinger Medal for excellence in the Master of Wine examination. Ms. Avellan contributes to a number of newspapers and international wine and food magazines. Additionally Ms Avellan judges at several wine competitions. Her expertise area and passion is champagne. Juha Lihtonen Contributor Juha Lihtonen is the Editor of European and American FINE Wine Magazine and manyfold Finnish sommelier champion. He was selected as the best sommelier in the Nordic countries in 2003. Mr. Lihtonen has worked as a wine educator, a wine host on a radio programme, as well as the wine buyer of a major cruising line. He has written books on combining wine and food. Besides his day job, Mr. Lihtonen studies for the Master of Wine qualification. Andreas Larsson Contributor The best sommelier in the World in 2007, the best sommelier in Europe in 2004 and the best sommelier in the Nordic countries in 2002. Mr. Larsson has worked as a sommelier in the best restaurants in Stockholm and won the Wine International Sommelier Challenge in 2005. He is a member of the Grand Jury Européen and has occupied many wine juror positions around the world. Mr. Larsson is also a wine writer and educator. Bernadette O'Shea Contributor Bernadette O'Shea is a Brisbane based wine educator and champagne consultant. She is a holder of the prestigious Vin de Champagne Award. She has been inducted into the L'ordre des Coteaux de Champagne and is a recipient of the very rare Ruban Vert award. In addition, Bernadette has been awarded the Diploma d'Honneur Corporation des Vignerons de Champagne. Andrew Caillard MW Contributor Andrew Caillard MW is a specialist wine auctioneer and wine author. In 1993 he became the fifth Australian to pass the Master of Wine examination winning the highly prized Madame Bollinger Medal for excellence in wine tasting. As an author and wine reviewer Mr. Caillard has written widely on Australian wine and wine investment. Mr Caillard is widely respected in the industry and is committed to the advancement of Australian fine wine on the world market. He is a member of the Australian Advisory Board for The Institute of Masters of Wine. Jan-Erik Paulson Contributor Jan-Erik Paulson is one of Europe's leading authorities on mature wines, specialising in Bordeaux and Austria. Mr. Paulson has been internationally renowned for his top tastings for 30 years and for his Rare-Wine.com online shop. He is a passionate golfer and lives in Germany with his family. Martin Williams MW Contributor Martin Williams is a consulting winemaker from Australia's Yarra Valley. In addition to Australia he has made wine in Burgundy and California. Martin's qualifications are in chemistry, biochemistry and in oenology. He passed the Master of Wine examination at his first attempt in 1999. He won Australia's Vin de Champagne Award in 2008. International Distribution - Pineapple Media Limited · shcirculation@ntlworld.com · www.pineapplemediauk.com CHAMPAGNE MAGAZINE Editor-in-Chief Pekka Nuikki pekka.nuikki@fine-magazines.com Managing Editor Essi Avellan MW essi.avellan@fine-magazines.com Deputy Editor Anne Lepola anne.lepola@fine-magazines.com Publishing Editor Meri Kukkavaara meri@fine-magazines.com Editorial adviser Juha Lihtonen juha.lihtonen@fine-magazines.com Editorial assistant Susan Immonen susan@fine-magazines.com Creative Director Pekka Nuikki Art Directors Samuli Ollikainen samuli.ollikainen@fine-magazines.com Teemu Timperi teemu.timperi@fine-magazines.com 10 Senior Advisers Seija Nummijoki, Tuomas Hirvonen, Sami Martinkauppi, Martti Viitamäki Contributors Pascal Kuzniewski, David Passarello, Philip Tuck MW, Stuart George, Juha Jormanainen, Arja Elovirta Photographers Pekka Nuikki, Jarmo Hietaranta Publishing Director Jarmo Hietaranta jarmo.hietaranta@fine-magazines.com Communication Director Markku Vartiainen markku@fine-magazines.com Translations Lingoneer oy Executive Marketing Director Anne Lepola anne.lepola@fine-magazines.com Marketing and Sales / USA Jesse Weisz jesse.weisz@fine-magazines.com Printing House Libris 2008 Price Subscription 4 issues Europe 75.00 / Rest of the World 105.00 www.fine-magazines.com Subscriptions subs@fine-magazines.com +358 (0)9 2510 7222 Publisher Oy Fine Publishing Helsinki Ltd London Office · Fine Magazines UK 100 Pall Mall St James · London SW1Y 5HP United Kingdom © Copyright: Fine Champagne Magazine Ltd ISSN 1797-0636 Fine Magazines does not keep nor return illustrations or other materials that have been sent to us without request. The opinions of contributors or interviewees presented in this magazine do not necessarily correspond to the opinions of the publisher or editorial staff. We withhold the right to make any modifications in texts and pictures published in the Fine Champagne Magazine. We reserve the right to refuse or suspend advertisements.

F E xcitement was in the air when I visited Champagne a few weeks back. One more harvest had been safely stored in the cellars, making the Champenois sigh with relief. The harvest had not looked too promising during the damp and mildewy summer. However, once again the vine country was rescued by sunny September weather. At this stage it is too early to make definitive assessments on the quality of the medium-sized 2008 crop. It will, at least, be another `classic', low pH vintage in which the winemakers have a lot of faith in the nobility of the Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. Another cause for the sigh of relief is the grape price development. It did not exactly go down, but the skyrocketing trend of recent harvests was broken. However, one fears that the current world economic situation would have demanded stronger moves, as champagne has been known to be a first wave indicator of economic changes. The hyped credit crunch has started to have an impact on the champagne trade, too. Especially, the figures from October and onwards show a significant decline. European countries are still drinking up, but US sales in particular are suffering. Although I assume that there has been a considerable peak ­ worldwide ­ following Barack Obama's Election Day victory! It is the sales of the Maisons and cooperatives that are suffering the most. The growers seem to be hanging in there. This is an indicator of the changing market structure ine bubbles of champagne, which is slowly adding another dimension with its branded luxury goods status. The accelerating international success of grower champagnes, an increasing emergence of terroir wines, as well as the increasing emphasis of late-disgorged mature champagnes all tell us one story. Champagne is becoming a serious wine, a Grand Vin, instead of a mere luxurious celebration fizz. And it is fascinating to see how much this tendency is able to soften champagne's usual economic fluctuation pattern. In this issue we will focus on the most vinous and gastronomical of all champagnes: the rosés. I will introduce you to my top 10 rosés and the world's best sommelier, Andreas Larsson, shares his views on combining rosé champagne with food. We are celebrating the phenomenal ageing capacity of the wine with the stories of Heidsieck Gôut Américain 1907 and Dom Pérignon 1973. In these challenging economic times it is also appropriate to acquaint ourselves with two of the best business noses in the region, Bruno Paillard and Carol Duval-Leroy. To me, the miserable economic times are no reason to stop drinking champagne. The contrary actually. Opening a bottle of champagne never fails to bring the good times back. Even in the worst of times ­ be they economical or personal ­ champagne manages to bring joy and good spirit. Our own `quantum of solace', as James Bond knows it. 11 Happy New Year 2009! Essi Avellan MW Editor Fi n e A v e l l a n

Reference table for the 100-point system vs. the british 20-point system 50 60 07 8 70 9 10 80 11 12 13 14 85 15 16 90 17 18 96 19 100 20 The FINE way to evaluate wine Tasting wine is a personal experience and therefore always subjective. Experience, palate, personal taste preference, and the personality of the taster play major roles in assessment of wine. In reality, tasting wine is an interaction with it. Therefore, it is significant to know who the tasters are, and what are their preferences and experience of tasting the wines concerned. The magazine's experts evaluate the wines based on their personal views and experiences. That is why the initials of the taster are given in connection with each tasting note. Key to our points 100p · Sheer perfection to all senses by every parameter of wine quality ­True nature's gift. 97­99p · A near perfect experience. The wine and its history are of a unique genre. As a tasting experience the wine is extraordinary and unforgettable: Impeccable harmony, complexity and one-ofa-kind personality. 93­96p · An outstanding wine, which is produced with the highest standards of quality, and which gives a balanced and unique experience when enjoyed. 91­93p · An excellent wine that has a refined style, balanced structure and nuanced finesse. 88­90p · A good wine, close to excellent. Harmonious but lacks the complexity and personality of an excellent wine. 80­87p · An average wine with less character, intensity, structure, and elegance. 70­79p · A modest and straightforward wine lacking life and harmony. 50­69p · An almost un-drinkable, empty wine. Pekka Nuikki (PN) Essi Avellan MW (EA) Juha Lihtonen (JL) Wine points All wines evaluated by FINE are awarded points. The rating of the wines is done using the American 100 points scale. The objective is to give the reader an understanding of the quality of the wines evaluated by FINE as well as rate the drinkability of the wine. It needs bearing in mind that our rating differs a great deal, for example, from the rating system used by Robert Parker or the Wine Spectator. The number of points is based on the wine's enjoyability on the day of tasting. We do not give additional points for the wine's future potential, and base our assessment only on its present quality and ability to give pleasure now, both physically and mentally. As the potential of the wine is not taken into account in the points, we will give estimates about future potential in the tasting notes. We taste wine blind, semi-blind or openly. The used method is mentioned in the tasting report. We also mention the date of tasting. In the case of mature wines we mention when the bottle was opened/decanted and how long the wine kept in the glass before starting to lose its character. 14 Reading our tasting notes Style and focus of wine assessment varies by the individual. Our group of experts has agreed on the most important parameters of the evaluations. We focus on describing the personality and essence of the wine: its acidity, fruit, tannin, structure, depth, and length, all of the factors that affect the wine's balance­and balance in our shared opinion is the most important factor in the quality of a wine. Auctions: www.tcwc.com The Chicago Wine Company www.ackerwines.com/liveauction.cfm Acker Merrall & Condit New York auction www.brentwoodwine.com Brentwood Wine Co. online rare wine auction house from US Oregon featuring unusual and interesting wines www.hdhwine.com/content.cfm/auctions Hart Davis Hart Wine Company is offering wines of impeccable provenance from private cellars around the world www.magnumwines.com Rare and highly sought after auction wines including magnums www.christies.com/departments/win/overview.asp Christie's auction house with links to different locations www.sothebys.com/app/live/dept/DeptGlobal.jsp?dept_id=142 Sotheby's London auction house wine department www.winebid.com The largest Internet auction for fine and rare wines www.winecommune.com/auctionindex1.cfm WineCommune.com - the place to buy and sell fine wine online www.butterfields.com Bonhams & Butterfield's auction in US and Bonhams wine department in England www.morrellwine.com Wine store and auction www.winecommune.com Wine auction online www.rare-wine.com Excellent online store with flexible service providing broad range of mature wines from the previous century. Buys and sells wines from private people. www.classic-wines.net Online store for mature wines Where to buy wine Online stores: www.champersdirect.co.uk Luxury champagne online sales www.bordeauxindex.com Fine Bordeaux wine online sales www.chateauonline.co.uk Wine shop with great range of young and mature wines from various regions www.2020wines.com Top wines from major wine regions from 1808 to 2000, including futures www.bensonfinewines.co.uk Special stores for fine and rare wines mainly from private cellars dating back to the 1800s www.nickollsandperks.co.uk Nickolls and Perks have been fine wine dealers since 1797 www.oddbins.com Wide selection of top wines www.nicolas.com France's largest wine store chain www.bbr.co.uk Berry Brothers and Rudd, legendary online store www.bibendum.co.uk Great selection of French wines www.weinco.at High-quality Austrian wine store chain www.spanishwinesonline.co.uk Good selection of Spanish wines also from older vintages www.wyliefinewines.co.uk Peter Wylie's fine wine online provides great collections of mature, fine and rare wines from 1800s www.frw.co.uk Online brokers of fine and rare wines Others: www.dunbarfinewine.co.uk Full investment service including sourcing and cellaring

H ow do you get champagne costing 30 euros to taste like prestige cuvée that costs 150 euros? sometimes wonder about the fine words of often than not improves and becomes drinkable if decanted, sometimes so much so that a young bottle costing 30 euros tastes and seems like one priced at 150 euros after being decanted for 1.5 hours. Most young champagnes, and now I am talking about vintages from the present decade, should be decanted for 30 minutes at the very least. The better quality the champagne, the longer the decanting time. For example, the Deutz Rosé 2002 was a completely different wine after being decanted for two hours ­ the hardness, sharpness and imbalance that were apparent when the bottle was opened had given way to creamy softness, tranquillity and beautiful balance. Veuve Clicquot Rosé 2003 (one hour decanting time), Philipponnat Clos des Goisses Rosé 2000 (three hours), Roederer Brut Millésime 2003 (1.5 hours) and Taittinger Brut Vintage 2002 (one hour) all also clearly benefited from being decanted over a fairly long period. As the air literally breathes life into the wine but also kills it off, it is very important to know how long to let the wine remain in contact with the air in the decanter and the glass. That is why wine reviews in FINE magazines mention the time (and is the only wine magazine in the world to do so) that we think the wine in question needs to breathe and reach its full potential. The time we give is actually only based on our own experience of the wine concerned, and should be seen as well-intentioned advice and not scientific truth. My own rule for young champagne vintages is that 30 minutes in a decanter is the minimum time. This obviously varies, depending on the quality of the wine, the blend and the vintage. Try to apply yourself to this straight away. With a little practice each of us can affect the taste of the champagne we drink. When you are opening a bottle of young champagne next time, decant it for 30 minutes to two hours before serving. It is very possible that the champagne´s taste will improve a lot during decanting, at least to make its enjoyment worth the price you paid. 15 I praise that the champagne I have just tasted and had great expectations for, but now find dull and lifeless, has received from friends or wine professionals I hold in high regard. Occasionally the reason is that the champagne reviews I read date back years, but it is often simply because of me: my inexperience and ignorance ­ I have either opened the bottle too late or too early. Longevity is an excellent quality in wine, sometimes even a magical one when a mature vintage is drunk whilst at its very best, but even the best wine is easily spoilt if you drink it at the wrong time, and I am not now talking about decades, or even years, but hours. I believe that all mature wines benefit from decanting, as many people know. But it is much less common knowledge that champagnes, especially young ones benefit enormously if they are decanted. Most of the champagnes on the market are very young and still immature. But never mind. Today a virtually undrinkable, immature champagne more Pekka Nuikki Editor-in-Chief Fi n e N u i k k i

16 On the morning of 3 November 1916, the German submarine U-22 stopped a small Swedish schooner, Jönköping, off the Finnish coast. In the cargo hold of thi unluck shi wer ,000 ottl of hamp gne this unlucky ship were 3,000 bottles of champagne, is nlucky hip re 0 ttles mpa n 10,000 gallons of cognac, and 17 barrels of burgundy ,000 allo of cognac, and barrels of burgundy 0 lons g arre g y wine ha ha be wine that had been ordered by the court of Tsar in hat had been rder d d the cour f sar h urt Nik la II. The command Nikolai II. The commander of the U-22 decided to kol kolai mmande der th he 2 decid ide ded sink si the schoone but save th liv of its crew The sink the schooner but save the lives of its crew The chooner he ives ew. ship sank into the depths of the North Sea in less than an hour. On the morning of 15 April 1998, in an auction hall ha in Lo on, the ta f gav l end d hall in London the tap of a gavel ended a longLond n tap ong ngrunning tend comp titi running tender competition ­ a world record had nnin nder ompe tion wor record had orld ecor been orn ore be born. Mor was paid been born. More was paid for a champagne bottle ch mpag bottle hamp ha agne l that d ain in th cargo old f Jö ping for 82 that had lain in the cargo hold of Jönköping for 82 h i he argo l önkö ön i y ars than for any oth ch p g bottle befo tha years than for any other champagne bottle before that. y ther ha hamp ottl fore hat

17 Fi n e D r i n k i n g H i s t o r y

18 Jönköping was built at the Sjötorp shipyard in 1896. It was 20.5 metres long and 6.67 metres wide, and was equipped with an 18 horsepower oil engine. The ship was loaded in Gävle on 26 October 1916, and was ready to make its way to Rauma, Finland, for the tenth time that year. After a few hours of travel, however, poor weather interrupted the journey, and Jönköping had to anchor down and stay put for a few days. The unsuccessful attempt of the ship to return to Gävle on time created a rumour that a German submarine had sunk it ­ a rumour that ironically later proved to be prophetic. By 2 November, the weather improved noticeably, and the captain along with his crew decided to continue the journey toward Rauma. At the same time, a German submarine U-22 was positioned 12 nautical miles southwest from Rauma. Even though the commander of the submarine, Bruno Hoppe, had along with his crew already the previous day sunk two Swedish ships, it did not fully satisfy the captain. The sun had not quite risen yet, but the lookout could see and hear for 8 miles despite the slight morning fog. At 5am, he suddenly heard a weak sound. It was the sound of a motor. The commander was called to the lookout spot, and he immediately decided that they should look into the matter. The U-22 left its position and guided towards the sound that was coming from the west. The night was tranquil and calm on the Jönköping. The ship had made its way across the North Sea without any troubles. Because of the dusk and fog, however, the Finnish coast could not yet be seen. Therefore, the schooner cruised calmly in front of Rauma, waiting for dawn. Suddenly, a small island was detected from the ship, and fearing that the coast was already too close, they turned Jönköping toward the open sea. Soon they noticed, however, that the island was not an island but rather a German submarine, which quickly overtook them! Commander Hoppe ordered the captain of the schooner, E.B. Eriksson, to turn off the ship's engine and go up to the submarine to show the ship's papers and explain its cargo. Hoppe soon realised that the cargo contained contraband, and he announced to Eriksson that the ship was to be sunk. Eriksson did whatever he could to save his ship. He suggested that they throw the entire cargo into the sea and even offered to transport it to the nearest German harbour. Hoppe had, however, already made his decision and stuck to it; this was Jönköping's tenth journey that year with contraband, and Hoppe's message was ­ there is a limit to everything, Jönköping's time had come. Two crewmembers of the U-22 rowed to the schooner carrying explosives. After setting the explosives, the men in a hurry took as many bottles of champagne as they could from the ship and then left it. Except for these few bottles, the whole cargo load sank deep to the bottom of the sea along with the ship. The search for Jönköping commenced at the end of May 1997, in which a Swedish search party found the wreck at a depth of 64 metres. Only in July, when the diver returned from the wreck with a bottle of Heidsieck Monopole Goût Américain from 1907 in hand, was it confirmed that it really was Jonköping. (The same product and vintage had also been stored on the Titanic when it sunk in 1912.) The first bottle that the diver brought up, however, did not have a label or anything that would have immediately told what champagne the bottle in question held. The leader of the search party, Peter Lindberg, had the honour of opening the first bottle. This is how he reflected upon it: "I stood at the bow of my ship with my whole crew around me holding plastic cups, waiting for me to open the bottle. I held the cork tightly and tried to pull it up, but suddenly it was really tightly stuck. I had to use force to get it to move, and finally the cork got loose from the bottle accompanied by a little `plop' sound. I was surprised that my heavy-handed handling had not broken the cork. I carefully smelled the cork. My first reaction was that it did not smell very good. There was, however, writing on it: Heidsieck & Co. Reims at the bottom and Goût Américain 1907 on the side. I handed the cork forward and placed the bottle underneath my nose and smelled. Already it smelled much better than the cork, and I knew immediately that the bottle did not contain water but instead champagne. The others around me also smelled the cork, and their reactions were somewhat similar to mine. Therefore, when I placed the bottle on my lips and tasted the first gulp, I thought I sensed crazy things. The taste was very strong, sweet, and fruity. The drink was actually very good! The others were observing me very closely to see my reaction. I took the bottle from my lips, and a smile lit up my face. As a result of this, many plastic cups were immediately held out in front of me. Because I had survived the first sip, my crew wanted to enthusiastically also get to taste this brilliant champagne."

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Peter Lindberg, diver and leader of the search party, established the Swedish rescue group C-Star, which had acquired the rights to the schooner's cargo. However, in early spring 1998, before C-Star had made it back again to the wreck, another ship was already there. Finnish businessman Peter Fryckman had quickly arranged for a ship and divers, and they were also trying to save the golden cargo. Fryckman demanded the right to the cargo, the part that would have belonged to his grandfather. Fryckman, however, could not prove his right to this claim. The local coast guard could not act and intervene in the matter at hand and asked the court for a decision on what to do. At the same time, a minor war was already escalating between the two rescue groups. There were accusations, rumours about death threats and sabotages, and small-scale violence in the air. On 3 July, a Finnish court ruled in favour of C-Star. Thus, the Finnish group should leave the area. On 5 July, all the divers from the Finnish ship suddenly moved to the Swedish ship. The Swedish group had simply offered them 25% of everything that they could lift up, and they all joined their enemy's group. As a result of this, the "war" seemed to be over for good. Fryckman, the leader of the Finnish group, did not comment in any way. His lawyer did, however, have a comment on the departure of the divers: "It's horrible; all the things people do for money." In early 1900, Heidsieck & Co Monopole was the market leader in Europe. The rulers of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia were its faithful customers. Champagne was already known worldwide when in 1911, the King of England granted the Heidsieck & Co Monopole champagne house the prestigious royal warrant, in which the house then became "Purveyors of Champagne by appointment to his Majesty". In Russia, for its part, where Heidsieck's champagne was very well known and famous, Tsar Nikolai II's personal orders even before Jönköping's fateful journey exceeded a modest 400,000 bottles. The North Sea's temperature, hovering around four degrees, the total darkness of the sea bottom and the water pressure at 64 metres had preserved the bottles in impeccable condition for 82 years. When Jönköping sank, its cargo hold contained some 50 wooden boxes of champagne, 60 bottles in each. Of these, some 2,500 bottles were lifted after seven successful rescue trips, and I have had the pleasure to taste three of them. The first of these bottles was bought from the same Christie's London auction house in 1998 where one of the bottles lifted from the schooner was sold for 4,068 dollars ­ the highest price that had ever been paid for an individual champagne bottle. The second bottle was acquired by Winebid.com at the beginning of 2001 for a price of 800 dollars, and the third from a German collector for the price of 1,000. The bottles were packed in wooden boxes and were covered in dried mud and fish-smelling sludge, as if straight from the bottom of the sea. The second bottle was completely oxidised and non-potable due to the poor shape of the bottle's cork, but the first and third bottles were in excellent condition and surprisingly fresh. 21 99p C Champagne Monopole Goût Amèricain 1907, Heidsieck Drink now sweet, even though the Heidsieck Goût American style had a relatively high sugar dosage. Very long and so pleasing wine, which moved smoothly and easily down the throat, leaving a most memorable and historic aftertaste. Excellent level; decanted five minutes before tasting. A high dosage wine. No malolactic fermentation. The result of the analysis: alcohol 12.35°, pH of 2.93, 42.55 grams of sugar, total acidity 5.35g H2SO4/litre. Pale and light, almost youthful color. Still has some bubbles left. Sweet, fruity, and fresh nose dominated by honey and exotic fruit and raisins. One of the richest champagnes I have tasted, and has amazingly good balance and structure. Not very Fi n e D r i n k i n g H i s t o r y

TOP CELLARS COME TO SOTHEBY'S Our experienced team of international experts travels the world in search of the greatest wines from the finest vintages in excellent condition and with impeccable provenance. We are now accepting consignments for our spring sales and are available for consultation and advice on the wine market. 2009 Auction Calendar New York 28 FEBRUARY 21 MARCH 14 APRIL 16 MAY London 28 JANUARY 18 FEBRUARY 18 MARCH 15 APRIL 20 MAY

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This ongoing alphabet series presents essential information on the world of champagne for both newcomers and seasoned enthusiasts. Text & Photos: Pekka Nuikki 25 Areas Vine has been cultivated in the Champagne region probably before time even began to be counted. Some say that the Gauls were the first to begin to cultivate vine in the region, but according to modern knowledge, the first grapevines were planted in the region by the Romans who, already at the time of Jesus' birth, had ruled the area for quite some time. From these times, however, the region's inhabitants still had a long and bellicose period to live before the birth of the first champagne bottle. The region's central location in France and Europe not only brought it benefits, but also problems as a gateway to conquerors heading to Paris from the east, and because of that it acted as the gloomy stage for many bloody battlegrounds. Fi n e A l p h a b e t

The most well-known wine region in the world ven though wine has been cultivated in the Champagne region for over 2,000 years, sparkling champagne started to be made from wine through methods that only did it justice in the early 1700s. At that time, Aÿ was the most famous of the Champagne towns. King Louis XII at one time owned most of its best courtyards. Aÿ is also the place from where the roots of the oldest still functioning champagne house, Gosset, stem from; the Gosset family has produced wines there since the year 1555. The first champagne house that officially started to sell real, sparkling champagne, however, was Ruinart. The Ruinart family has had a long history in the Reims area since the 1400s. In the early 1700s, champagne's desirability and price started to rise in France. This resulted from many of the King's decisions that eased wine sales and production. Particularly notable was the permit that made possible the transport of champagne in bottles instead of the earlier barrel method. The textile trade, which for centuries had been the basis 26 E of the Ruinart family's wealth, had created good connections with royalty, and when Nicolas Ruinart noticed that sparkling champagne increased its popularity in the King's court, he decided in 1729 to start selling champagne. Today, Champagne is the most well known wine region in France. The journey from Paris to the Marne River valley on a multilane highway takes only a two hours. This northernmost wine region of France is still, despite the destruction that was caused by numerous wars, a very beautiful combination of airy, hilly valleys and idyllic towns. The Champagne climate is often critical for the ripeness of grapes ­ rain, humidity, winter frosts, and mould are frequent risks in this area ­ and for this reason, vines are trained low in order to benefit from the heat that is reflected from the soil. The soil of Champagne is made of sediments of chalk, which forces the vine to dig deep into the ground in order to search for water.

27 Fi n e A l p h a b e t

Kingdom of three grapes In the 33,500 hectare-sized vineyards of Champagne, three grapes are cultivated. Of the farm area, 37% is Pinot Noir, which brings strength and posture to champagne, 35% is Pinot Meunier, which gives fullness, smoothness, and fruitiness, and 27% is Chardonnay, from which the champagne receives its sophistication, endurance, and fresh vitality. In the underground cellars, built in the area by the Romans, there sit some one billion bottles waiting for their commercialisation. Champagne is the most recognised wineproducing region in the world. There are over 18,000 wine growers in its 319 villages, although only a third of them make wine from grapes. Some 150 of the largest and most commercially famous champagne houses sell three-quarters of the Champagne region's overall production to the market. Today, the Champagne Country is divided into five regions that differ from each other in many ways including the cultivation of different grape varieties. 28 Vallée de la Marne ­ the fulsome friend A friend of wine who travels from Paris to Champagne first arrives at the Vallée de la Marne wine region. With mostly south-facing, lower-lying vineyards, this region produces the fullest, ripest wines, predominantly from the Pinot Meunier and to a lesser extent the Pinot Noir grapes. Pinot Meunier is Vallée de la Marne's wild card, in which it is a grape that is appreciated for its fruity, spicy appeal, but it is also considered by many a poor candidate for long ageing. It is a very dark, thickskinned grape. As a variety, it is very tough with a zest for life and is a good fit for the cold and damp Marne river valley nights. It has an important role in the production of basic champagne. The region's finest wine is Philipponnat's Clos des Goisses.

29 Montagne de Reims ­ cold sharpness Montagne de Reims is the northernmost and coldest region in Champagne. Its annual average temperature is only 9.5 degrees celsius. Mainly Pinot Noir is planted in Montagne de Reims. Despite having the northernmost vineyards, with some even facing north, its peculiar microclimate is well-suited for growing the Pinot Noir grape. The flavour of the Montagne region champagnes is strong and sharp when young. Fi n e A l p h a b e t

Côte des Blancs ­ home of the blanc de blancs champagne 30 Extending south from Épernay for about 21km is the Côte des Blancs. The ridge is planted on both slopes, but the best vineyards are on the eastern side. It takes its name from the hill-covered vineyards of white grapes: Chardonnay. Côte des Blancs has the hilliest appearance, in which on its slopes almost solely Chardonnay vines are cultivated. The finest, creamy Blanc de Blancs champagnes are crafted from these grapes. They are long-lived and elegant.

Aube ­ home of Pinot Noir The Aube is Champagne's southernmost region. Named after the Aube river that flows through the area before joining the Seine, Aube is a land of lush fertile fields and dense forests. Located about 115km south of Epernay, its climate has more extremes in temperature and the grapes achieve greater ripeness. This eases the cultivation of the region's most important grape, the Pinot Noir. Even though the producers of Aube's champagne are not the most well-known of the Champagne region, they produce bright, fruity, and very pleasing wines. Though rarely talked about, its wines are an important component of the non-vintage wines of the major houses. 31 Côte de Sezanne ­ a forgotten promise Côte de Sezanne has far received the least attention of all the Champagne regions. It was underappreciated a century ago, mainly because there were no easy routes to transport the grapes in good condition from these outlying areas to the main wine centres at Épernay and Reims. Planted again in the 1960s nearly exclusively with Chardonnay, its southern location means that its grapes ripen better than those in most other regions. Even though the area's main grape has traditionally been Chardonnay, Pinot Noir is now occupying valuable soil space, especially for those farmers who would like to develop their wines more in the traditional direction. Fi n e A l p h a b e t

100 per cent classification In Champagne, most of the farmers sell a part of their harvest to the champagne houses. For this reason, the growing places are divided into so-called crus, based on a certain scale. The prices of grapes are calculated every year according to this scale. The best growing places produce grapes that are classified as 100 per cent. For example Verzenay, Bouzy, and Ambonnay are considered 100 per cent Grand Cru villages. The villages which grapes are viewed as 90­ 99 per cent, are called Premier Cru. 17 villages are classified as Grand Cru The Champagne Grand Crus are: Ambonnay, Avize, Aÿ, Beaumont-sur-Vesle, Bouzy, Chouilly, Cramant, Louvois, Mailly-Champagne, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Oger, Oiry, Puisieulx, Sillery, Tours-sur-Marne, Verzenay, and Verzy. This classification is based on strict criteria, such as sub-soil, slope, and aspect. 32

44 villages are classified as `premier cru' or first growth The Premier Cru villages are: Avenay, Bergères-lesVertus, Bezannes, Billy le Grand, Bisseuil, Chamery, Champillon, Chigny les Roses, Chouilly (Pinot Noir), Coligny (Chardonnay), Cormontreuil, Coulommes la Montagne, Cuis, Cumières, Dizy, Ecueil, Etrechy (Chardonnay), Grauves, Hautvillers, Jouy les Reims, Les Mesneus, Ludes, Mareuil sur Aÿ, Montbré, Mutigny, Pargny les Reims, Pierry, Rilly la Montagne, Sacy, Sermiers, Taissy, Tauxières, Tourssur-Marne (Chardonnay), Trépail, Trois Puits, Vaudemanges, Vertus, Villedommange, Villeneuve Renneville, Villers Allerand, Villers aux Noeuds, Villers Marmery, Voipreux, and Vrigny. 33 Fi n e A l p h a b e t

M O D E L M A N A G E M E N T www.paparazzi.fi

36 Bruno Paillard Island of Stability With incredibly high industry entry barriers, such as the cost of vineyards, grapes and equipment as well as the prevailing big brand dominance, few champagne houses have emerged in the past 30 years. However, even in such challenging surroundings, gifted and determined individuals can triumph. Bruno Paillard certainly has. Text: Essi Avellan MW in Bouzy, Paillard informs me and goes on: "As my father was the youngest child, he did not inherit any vineyards. Instead he founded a champagne brokerage business. Therefore, I have always been involved in champagne. I think I got love and respect for champagne as an inheritance." In the beginning of his working career, from 1975 to 1981, Paillard worked together with his father in the broking business. Soon, however, their ways parted: "I did not want to be a courtier for all my life. There is also an appealing aesthetic dimension to champagne. To me, life is too short to do things that I do not enjoy, therefore I decided to found by own business. Most of all, I felt a need to create something instead of being just a middleman." "I decided to build my own Champagne House, because I didn't realise it was impossible", laughs the charming and charismatic Bruno Paillard as I sit across him in his ultra modern winery's meeting room. Even though the Champagne Bruno Paillard brand is a recent creation, the Paillard name has been known in Champagne for over 300 years. Originally the family was a grower

37 Fi n e P e r s o na l i t y

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All it took was a Jaguar Being 27 years old at the time, Paillard was equipped with the courage of youth. He founded an entire Champagne House from scratch with as little as 50,000 francs, the minimum equity at the time required to start a limited company. Paillard goes back in time with a boyish grin on his face: "I have always loved beautiful old cars. I had purchased a Jaguar MK2 1966 model from the second hand market in 1975 with the first savings I made in the brokerage business. I paid 7,000 francs for it. Then, to start my business I had to sell my beloved car ­ which had become a collector's item in the meantime ­ for 50,000 francs in 1981. The early days must have been financially tough, starting without a hectare of land and having to build a cellar as well as a sales network from zero. Paillard nods and says nostalgically: "It was only in 1994 that I was able to buy myself again the same model of Jaguar..." "I don't want to be asking for permission." a lot of maturation as it is rounded and very dry. I try to keep the residual sugar down to be as true to the terroir as possible." It is easy to see Paillard enjoys the freedom of doing things his way: "I don't want to be asking for permission. I am lucky to have the luxury of freedom. Such freedom is a rarity in Champagne. Of course I too have bosses. I consider mine to be our customers and Mother Nature." In addition to his independent mind, Paillard displays an innovative and dynamic spirit. He was the first Champenois to print the disgorgement dates on the bottles as well as the exact grape blends. This is a topic that has awoken a lot of discussion in the area and amongst wine lovers, as many people wish to know more about the wines they are drinking. However, most champagne producers do not wish to complicate the product in the mind of the regular consumers. Paillard's method makes a statement about the product and the target market he wishes to address; Champagne Bruno Paillard is clearly targeted for those who know and love champagne. Since then Bruno Paillard has written champagne history. The Champagne House bearing his name has grown into a well-known and respected one. They produce 500,000 bottles of champagne every year and own 25 hectares of land in the region. Quite an achievement taking into account the current skyrocketing land prices averaging one million euros per hectare. His vision has been for top quality from the very beginning. The house's style is aged and Pinot Noir dominant ­ tailored to the master's liking, no doubt. "I love red fruit character in my wines. And I have always wanted to make wines for ageing. The style we produce requires 39 Aesthetics meet functionalism Bruno Paillard's innovative character and strong personality are visible in his champagne cellar that was built in 1994. It is an ultra modern facility designed to maximise quality and functionality. His sense of aesthetics is also visible in the beautiful, minimalist yet artistic design: "The materials I wished to use around the winery are the classical elements of wine making: steel, glass and wood." These materials give the cellar a very different atmosphere to any other in Champagne. Visiting the region's producers, one is used to wandering in the cool, damp labyrinth-like underground cellars. However, Paillard's winery makes an exception, as there are no parts of the winery built underground. Paillard rationalises, "In the 18th century the only technique to get cooler temperatures was to go underground. Today all conditions are manageable by computers. The cellar is set to a constant 10.5 °C temperature and 80% humidity. We also inhibit ultraviolet rays' access into the winery by using cold sodium lights." Fi n e P e r s o na l i t y His house

"What on earth would I do with the money if I sold the companies?" Island of Stability 40 The growing business and increasing consolidation have caused a lot of turbulence in Champagne over the past few decades. Therefore, even more remarkable than founding his own successful champagne business is Bruno Paillard's involvement in creating the BCC Group (Boizel Chanoine Champagne). Out of the Champagne Houses that have changed hands in the last years, many have joined the BCC Group. It has, in fact, become the second largest in the area after LVMH. Bruno Paillard shares the story behind the group: "I grew in this area in a time when the name on the label was still identical with the name of the makers. Now it all has changed with less and less family businesses remaining. Finance in general has not played a very positive role in Champagne, and with the BCC Group I aimed to create an island of stability in the region." Since 1991, seven wineries have been included in the group including Boizel, Chanoine, De Venoge, Philipponnat and Lanson. The group's annual champagne sales exceed 20 million bottles. Bruno Paillard himself owns 45 per cent of the publicly quoted company. Quite a shareholding for one man. However, he has no intention of giving any of it up. In his mind this kind of stability of ownership is what Champagne requires. In addition, Bruno Paillard owns the entirety of Champagne Bruno Paillard and is destined to make sure none of it slips outside the family hands: "I will never sell Champagne Bruno Paillard. The future is in the family. It is too early to say when and how, but I am confident that my children will want to continue running this show. I am too young you see," he jokes engagingly and stresses, "I am not getting older, I am getting more complex, as the T-shirt I got from my children says. I have four children aged from 26 to 33. Actually, I am a grandfather ­ but this should stay between us..." Comments like this bring out his charm. He has a groomed and sophisticated appearance that is spiced with a witty sense of humour. He is a charismatic man you automatically take seriously and he comes across as extremely diplomatic and sympathetic. No wonder he has been able to create such a dynasty in the heavily competed champagne business. Similarly to most successful people in the wine business, he is not in it for the money. "What on earth would I do with the money if I sold the companies? I cannot take any of it with me when I leave this world, so I think it is better to enjoy what I am doing." If Bruno Paillard cannot take any of it with him, he will certainly leave a lot behind. He says, "My Champagne House is most of all a creation of art. In addition to the maison and operation, I consider every bottle of champagne we produce to be a piece of art." It is tough to say whether he is more a businessman or an artist ­ I'd conclude he is a very rare and talented combination of the two. The long term positive impacts of his achievements suggest, though, that he has at least one more thing in common with artists: his fame is likely to grow as his art becomes even more greatly appreciated by the coming generations.

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43 m . ou hy W nM ll a e Av s, er m ar ch I'd o et l ik 10 op t my re ha s c si as l n io at fic t wi si Es Fi n e S e l e c t i o n

44 rosés are best described as astronomical. The prestige cuvée rosés have very little to do with Some people do not think rosés are worthy of the predominant fruity style of rosé champagne. the price premium. With regular champagnes, one The pink colour may propose a girly drink or commonly needs to pay a 20 per cent premium over suggest it to be the perfect accompaniment to the blanc version. For prestige cuvées even doubling romantic moments. Just the opposite, they are the or quadrupling the price is not unheard of. It is valid most masculine of all champagnes, the ultimate to ask whether it is the flourishing manly bubbles! The prestige cuvée markets or the higher costs that set rosés are predominantly Pinot "It was in 1775 that Noir based with the ripest, best Veuve Clicquot was the prices. Cellar Master Michel Davesne of Champagne Deutz red grapes of the region bringing already shipping the points out that the vinification of colour and structure to them. The first rosé" the red wines is very difficult and best rosés are impressively vinous risky. Taittinger Cellar Master Loïc and highly gastronomic wines in Dupont says that sourcing good raw which the effervescent character is material is almost twice as expensive a mere coincidence. as for the whites and that it is not rare to have to With demand greatly exceeding supply, the taste 15 samples to find two good ones. Billecartchampagne prestige cuvée has become an allocation Salmon's Antoine Roland-Billecart reminds that business where the buyers need to plead and beg there is a 1.35 premium in kilo prices for the for more. This has led to skyrocketing prices for all grapes used for red champagne wine, equalling an prestige cuvées. Therefore the prices today for top approximate 15­20 per cent premium. Also, making an additional vinification and playing with smaller batches brings up the cost. These costs are likely to account for the higher prices of the basic rosés, but the price of the prestige cuvées are set above all by scarcity ­ the laws of supply and demand. Believe it or not, most of them really are rare. Quite commonly the production of prestige cuvée rosés has been a mere five per cent of that of the blancs. For some of them, such as Pommery's Cuvée Louise, it is even less. Cuvée Louise's approximate production is around 200,000­300,000 bottles whereas a minimal 5,000­7,000 bottles of the rosé is made in vintage years. Some of them ­ read Dom Pérignon ­ are not so rare, the production being counted in hundreds of thousands of bottles. As all of their output figures, the share of rosé of DP production is a trade secret. However, Cellar Master Richard Geoffroy did give an overall approval for my guess of around five to eight per cent.

45 I am most delighted by what Moët & Chandon and Richard Geoffroy are currently doing with the DP product family. The focus is being spread more evenly between the three pillars of Dom Pérignon: DP, DP Rosé and late-disgorged Oenothèque. As the Dom Pérignon Blanc is such a slow developer, it is wonderful to have an increased availability to the more approachable rosés and the magnificent mature Oenothèques. Interpreting the grin on Geoffroy's face, we might even see a DP Rosé Oenothèque one day soon. However, challenges in rosé champagne production are well exemplified by the fact that not even the mighty Moët Hennessy can source fine enough red grapes to make a DP Rosé every vintage year. The rosé category has thrived at intervals in history. It was in 1775 that Veuve Clicquot was already shipping the first rosé. However, the prestige cuvée rosés are a much more recent phenomenon. Dom Pérignon Rosé was first produced in 1959 and Taittinger's Comtes de Champagne in 1970. The luxury rosés are mostly a phenomenon of the 1970s and 1980s with first vintages of Cristal Rosé and Pommery Cuvée Louise Rosé having been made. Billecart-Salmon's Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon is one of the most recent additions to the category, first produced in 1988. The prestige cuvée rosés are mainly made by blending 6 to 20 per cent red champagne wine to the white wine. Some, such as Laurent-Perrier, manufacture their top rosé with the challenging saignée (bleeding) method. Neither quality nor style can be explained by the method, as both methods are able to produce excellent wines in various styles. What is significant though is the share of red wine made from ripe grapes that lowers the total acidity of the blend and makes the wine age quicker. Therefore the rosés are generally not as long lived as the blancs, but on the other hand they are more approachable younger. I find for example Dom Pérignon Blanc to hide most of its glories when young, but the rosé is wonderfully approachable upon release. Most houses mature the prestige cuvée rosé longer on the lees than the blanc. Following that, the rosés are brought on to the market at the correct time in my mind, whereas the whites should often be given more time to develop and soften. I have chosen in the following, ten of my personal favourite champagne prestige cuvée rosés and I have even attempted to put them in a ranking order. The rankings might vary vintage to vintage but this is my general order of preference. I have included tasting notes from my recent encounters with the wines. I ask you to bear in mind that the wines are rated according to their current drinkability, as we always do in FINE Magazines. Therefore the points of most of the recent releases are bound to go up as time goes by and they reach their peak. Needless to say, all of the wines are wonderful and putting them in order comes down to personal taste. Fi n e S e l e c t i o n

10 no. Taittinger ttinger Comte Comtes de Champa Champagne Rosé osé of the wine as well as the shor cellaring times well shorter for it, the Comtes de Champagne Rosé stylistically differs from the rest of my Top 10. Both these est factors keep it from being higher on the list. On n the Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs they lancs are ar still selling the 1998, ready to launch the 1999. But the rosés that we drink now are the 2003. The hot 2003 is a vintage to drink young, but outside that I' like to see some more cellaring time on I'd the Comtes Rosé. After all, it's not a short-lived ed champagne; my recent encounter with one of the first fi vintages 1971 was a very pleasant one. And for example the 1995 is drinking perfectly today. Comtes de Champagne Rosé is all about red fruit, minerality and a firm structure. It has a nice fr purity and the delicious benchmark Taittinger fragrant toast. Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Rosé belongs osé to the pioneers of the category with the inaugural y vintage dating back to 1970. The recipe for Comtes e recipe Rosé is mouth-watering: 70 per cent of the blend consists of Pinot Noir from the best Montagne de oir from Montagne Reims villages. 30 per cent comprises Côte des Blancs Grand C u Chardonnay. The added 12 rand Cru Chardonnay e per cent red wine comes from the top red wine om red village Bouzy, where else! So, the high quality of e So, Taittinger's output with these ingredients in the ' edients minimal 40,000-bottle production volume is no oduction volume surprise. What was a surprise was Cellar Master Loïc aster Dupont comment on the style he seeks. Taittinger upont's aims to extract some structure and tannin in the ucture rosé. Th word tannin seems more a swear word in The e swear word Champagne. Due to the slight phenolic bitterness 90p 46 2 2003 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Rosé 2008/2015 term, fruit-forward Comtes Rosé year. Medium deep peach colour with elegant smallsized siz bubbles. Fresh red berry nose of cherries, strawberries and spices. Full and rich body with a lush structure and not much firmness. The mousse is not one of the finest. Medium long fruity finish. One of the lowest acidity years ever, this is a short- 93p 2002 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Rosé 2 2007/2020 to its youthful stage. Firm and fresh, though. Glossy medium deep salmon red colour, fragrant cherry fruit. Sharp, fruity but closed on the palate, cherry fr no marked autolytic influence. Lively acidity, good fruit but all nuances and layers are still hiding due 91p 2000 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Rosé 2 2007/2015 than the nose, showing some phenolic bitterness. However, silky texture with fine bubbles. Beautiful youthful cherry red colour. Bright and tart red berr nose, not much autolysis influence. Bruised berry wild strawberry aromatics, watermelon, smoky minerality and vegetal notes. Palate is more restrained 93p 1999 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Rosé 1 2005/2015 Cinnamon cookies and red berries on the fine and nuanced palate. Medium-deep salmon red colour with hints of development. Open perfumey nose: brambles, raspberries and Christmas spices. A delicate autolytic toast in the background, attractive degree of vinosity. Still somewhat closed on the palate, smooth texture and feminine round structure. 92p 1 1995 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Rosé 2008/2015 Drinking well today and in the next few years. Not one of the longest-lived vintages, however. Beautiful evolving orange-hued colour. Clean and fresh red fruit, raspberry nose with an attractive minerality and a touch of yeasty notes. Wide and smooth mouth-feel with marked development.

no. 9 Veuve Clicquot licquo La Grande Dame R Dame Rosé La Grande Dame R rande Dame Rosé shares the base wine ­ the skeleton ­ with the B Blanc version. In line with the Clicquot style, the wine is made of 2/3 Pinot Noir and 1/3 Chardonnay. The rosé muscle to surround Chardonnay it comes from one par from particular vineyard in Bouzy. The unique character of La Grande Dame Rosé comes from 14 to 15 per cent addition of red wine from fr Clos Colin in the very heart of Bouzy. The new Cellar ver Master Dominique D Dominique Demarville playfully calls the phenomenal plot `R `Romanée-Conti of Bouzy'. The Clicquot winemakers, r retiring Peters and overtaking Demar emarville, wish to extract no tannin to the wine, just fr fruit, colour and the Colin personality. La Grande Dame style is best described as having a firm and muscular Pinot structure with a minority of Chardonnay bringing lightness and vivacity. It can be tight in youth but a few extra years of ageing open up the strong personality of the wine. As always with strong personalities, they're not to everybody's liking. But those who like them, adore them. The perfect tribute paid to Madame Clicquot, La Grande Dame de Champagne. La G Grande Dame pays tribute to the first and most famous widow in the vine country. After Monsieur y onsieur Clicquot's death in 1805 Madame Clicquot, adame later known as la Grande D rande Dame de Champagne, took over running the business at the age of 27. First produced in 1962, Veuve Clicquot prestige estige cuvée cuv La Grande Dame is made of grapes from om eight different Grand C rand Crus ­ the very same that ery wer used for the house's champagnes during the ere s widow's wido times. Veuve Clicquot has a long track record of ecord producing rosé; according to the house's books pr ding house' the first shipments of rosé champagne left their osé premises in 1775, only three years after founding of the company. La Grande Dame Rosé was added to the portfolio fairly recently, in 1988. It was the legendary Cellar Master Jacques Peters' creation that arose from the splendid 1988 harvest conditions, ar increased demand for prestige wines and Mr Peters' incr personal drive for making it. The inaugural vintage ­ even today the personal favourite of Jacques Peters ­ was first launched in 1996. 47 92p 1 1998 Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame Rosé 2008/2015 Deep cherry red colour with orange hues. Slightly reduced rubbery nose at first, very youthful, tight and concentrated and still very closed. Not much autolysis character. Full and rich wine which is still far too youthful, at a difficult stage. 91p 1995 Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame Rosé 1 2008/2010 Deep dark orange-hued pink colour. Pinot Noir . Pinot Noir nose with earthy, animally notes, leather, dried , fruits, caramel and red berries. Vinous smooth fr ed texture textur with mineral gun flint flavours and liquorice. avours A very special wine not to everybody's liking. Red ver wine lover's r lover' rosé that has evolved quicker than I would've expected. D would' Drink from now until 2010. Fi n e S e l e c t i o n

no. 8 Deutz Cuvée William Deutz Rosé Deutz might be one of the lesser known included in the blend comes, as opposed to usual Champagne Houses but an up-and-coming one. practices, from Aÿ. As the company is situated in Since Roederer bought the House in 1993 they the village of Aÿ with most of its vineyard holdings have been able to increase supply of high quality in the neighbourhood, it is no surprise they wish to grapes to manufacture two million bottles instead reflect Aÿ characteristics in their top rosé. of the previous 600,000. The annual two million What is particular about their making of Cuvée bottles are not enough to cater for William Deutz Rosé is that they "It has a lovely everybody, so Deutz aims to reach use a combination of saignée balance of elegance, for the stars ­ meaning Michelin(bleeding) method and blending starred restaurants. The on-trade to create the desired colour and freshness and and superb value for money focus vinosity with a touch taste. Cellar Master Michel make Deutz wines, including of old world charm." Davesne emphasizes how difficult and risky getting the colour and the Cuvée William Deutz Rosé, fruit correct with the saignée wonderful sales tools for qualified method is. Nevertheless, he seems sommeliers. to perfect it as Cuvée William Deutz is consistently 1959 was the birth year of the first Cuvée one of my favourites. It has a lovely balance of William Deutz. The rosé version followed as late elegance, freshness and vinosity with a touch of old as 1985. Since then 1990, 1996, 1999 and 2000 have been released. The rosé is a blend of 75 per world charm. It lacks the polished touch of most cent Pinot Noir and 25 per cent Chardonnay, all of the Grande Marques but instead it offers a lot of from Grand Cru villages. The 8­9 percent red wine personality. 48 91p 1 1999 Deutz Cuvée William Deutz Rosé 2008/2015 Classic and charming with a slight old world touch, harmonious and delightful. Pale glossy salmon colour. Delicate and elegant, slightly toasty ripe red fruit nose. Lean on the structure. Pure, clean and fruity, but very youthful. 94p 1996 Deutz Cuvée William Deutz Rosé 1 2007/2018 in style. The steely acidity is benchmark to this terrific vintage. Extremely glamorous and harmonious already today but will improve significantly with extended cellaring. Seductive. Beautiful pale onion skin colour with fine bubbles. Subtle and elegant nose of spices and minerality. Etheral nuances and dried fruit characters brought extra dimensions to the wine. Classic and very fine

no. 7 Pommery Cuvée Louise Rosé is to give us only fruit, excluding all tannin. Pommery has a particular recipe for its dosage wine which is always 100 per cent Avize Chardonnay. The added sugar level is kept as low as possible. The Cuvée Louise Rosé is commonly dosed with a mere 5 g/l sugar. Cuvée Louise Rosé's readiness to drink upon release is secured by a 9 month resting time in the cellar after disgorgement. This does not mean, however, that the wine would be at its prime. Thierry Gasco prefers to drink his Cuvée Louise Blanc 5­8 years after release, when possible. The rosé's best drinking window is a bit earlier to him, some 4­5 years after release. Not many people have encountered Cuvée Louise Rosé due to its scarcity. It comprises a maximum 5 percent of Cuvée Louise's total volume, equalling 5,000­7,000 bottles. So buy it when you see it. Typically the rosé is extremely pale in colour with the slightest apricot tinge. It is toasty, mineral and creamy. Quite an attention seeker. The Pommery house style is described by the Cellar Master Thierry Gasco as "fresh, elegant and vivacious". It is reached mainly with a high proportion of Côte des Blancs Chardonnay in the blend. The same formula is used in the construction of the house's white luxury blend Cuvée Louise. There are only grapes from three villages and all those put into the blend come from their own vineyards. The 60 percent share of Chardonnay comes from Avize and Cramant, the Côte des Blancs villages of the greatest elegance. The remaining Pinot Noir share originates in Aÿ. There is a minimum aging period of 6­7 years on the yeast lees, which gives the wine a lovely burnt match and toast aroma profile. The wine has a marked minerality yet the Chardonnay is mature enough to start showing its rich and creamy side. This is the essence of Cuvée Louise. The Cuvée Louise Rosé is born from that exact same base wine with an addition of 6 percent red wine from Aÿ and Bouzy. Thierry Gasco's objective with the red wine 49 94p 1 1999 Pommery Cuvée Louise Rosé 2008/2015 flavour that lingers on and on. Easily approachable charmer whose colour would have suggested much more delicate a wine. Round and easy vintage with a medium-term ageing capacity. An almost white colour with the faintest golden apricot tinge. Pronounced smoky mineral nose with toffee, toast and tart red berries. Superharmonious smooth palate with intense and strong 94p 1 1996 Pommery Cuvée Louise Rosé 2008/2020 attractive vinosity of texture. Well-integrated gentle mousse and long lasting finish. A great vintage for Cuvée Louise Rosé. However, having encountered two corked bottles causes great concern. Delicate peachy-white colour with fine energetic bubbles. Pronounced toasty, lemon and red berry nose with burnt match notes and a delicate spiciness. Powerful and structured on the palate with an Fi n e S e l e c t i o n

no. 6 Ruinart Dom Ruinart Rosé tannin. The wine is dosed with 7­8 g/l sugar and kept to recover from the shock of disgorgement for 6­12 months. The house is one of the internationally lesser known, due to smaller production volumes. However, it is highly esteemed by wine lovers and sommeliers. The latter have gotten to know the house inside out via the prestigious Trophée Ruinart sommelier competition the house used to host for years. The connoisseurs love the Ruinart style and their wonderful habit of ageing the prestige cuvées for a minimum of ten years. Despite that, I still find Dom Ruinart to require a few more years' bottle ageing after release. Out of the rosés, 1988 and 1990 are drinking magnificently today, whereas 1996 still needs more time to show its grandeur. The Dom Ruinart Rosé is an elegant yet vinous and mineral wine. It has a touch of Pinot muscle over its fine skeleton of Chardonnay. Nuanced with delicious, gentle aromas of toffee, coffee and spices. Dom Ruinart Rosé is a fascinating champagne. Cellar Master Frederic Panaïotis calls it playfully `Blanc de Blancs Rosé' as it is made from the Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blancs base wine. The white Dom Ruinart differs a great deal from Taittinger's Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs, since the style is crafted from both Côte des Blancs and Montagne de Reims Chardonnay. It is extremely pure and highly reductionist in style, due to which it can be quite hard to tackle when young. The Ruinart style is all about freshness, elegance and terroir at its purest, highlighting the fruity and floral aromatics. To Panaïotis, the Dom Ruinart Rosé needs even more time to develop than the blanc. Therefore it is kept on the lees longer than its white pair. To exemplify, they are selling today 1998 Dom Ruinart and 1996 Dom Ruinart Rosé. The Chardonnay base is blended with 14­16 percent red wine mainly from Verzeney and Verzy. They do a longer, approximately 10-day maceration for the Pinot Noir grapes, wishing to gain some structure and even a slight touch of 94p 50 1 1996 Ruinart Dom Ruinart Rosé 2008/2020 past 12 months but there is still so much to come. Potential and structure for prolonged aging. Start drinking from 2010 onwards. Palish salmon-peach red colour. Minerally and smoky, mid-toasty nose with red fruit nuances. Delicate and restrained style with attractive coffee and toffee notes. Wonderful development in the 97p 1 1990 Ruinart Dom Ruinart Rosé 2008/2015 glass minute by the minute. Beautiful gentle, vinous yet firm structure with a smooth creamy mousse. Drinking perfectly today and in the next five years. Deep orange colour with lively tiny bubbles. Fabulous toasty and leathery nose with fresh ground coffee, herbs and spices. So nuanced and changing in the 97p 1 1988 Ruinart Dom Ruinart Rosé 2008/2018 vour profile. Tighter, fresher and firmer on the palate. Drinking beautifully but with such firm structure I'd give this a few more years' longer drinking window than the 1990. Deep orange-hued developing colour. Rich and toasty nose with a fabulous coffee aroma dominance. In the background some notes of mushrooms, smoke, dried fruit and oriental spices. Appears more youthful than the 1990 with fresh red berries remaining in the fla- 94p 1 1985 Ruinart Dom Ruinart Rosé 2008/2012 very concentrated with leather and dried fruits. Vinous, burgundy-like and ready to be drunk. Deep orange colour. Bright fresh fruitiness with toast, plums and figs. The nose promised more charm than what is apparent in the palate. Tighter,

no. 5 Laurent-Perrier Alexandra Rosé sourced from the ten top Grand Cru villages of the region. Contrary to most rosés of the region it is made with the demanding saignée method where the Pinot Noir grapes are macerated until the right colour and aroma are achieved. This can take anywhere from 12 to 72 hours, and according to hearsay the previous Laurent-Perrier Cellar Master used to sleep next to the vats to be able to take the wines off the skins at the exact right time. The wine is kept in the cellars from 7 to 10 years. The sediment is guided to the bottle neck by hand-riddling as the flacon bottle shape does not allow for mechanical riddling. Laurent-Perrier use the same Alexandra wine for the dosage as well, the amount of sugar being customarily around 10­11 g/l. Following that the wine is given a minimum three to six months' rest in the cellar. The result is one of the most vinous and exciting rosés. Texture-wise it is as smooth as velvet, the Grand Siècle Alexandra is spicy and muscular with dried fruit, red berries and caramel sweetness. Delicious. There seem to be no rules of thumb at the house of Laurent-Perrier. In a true Champenois spirit they are great believers and masters in blending. Grand Siècle was one of the first blended prestige cuvées at the time of its launch in 1960 (from 1952, 1953 and 1955 vintages). Since then they have made three exceptions to that and produced Grand Siècle Millésimé from individual sublime vintages. However, that fun is now over and there are no more single vintage Grand Siècles to come. However, as an exception confirming the rule, the prestige cuvée rosé of Laurent-Perrier ­ Grand Siècle Alexandra ­ is a vintage wine. The wine was tailored for the wedding celebrations of Bernard de Nonancourt's oldest daughter Alexandra, held in 1987. The first vintage was the 1982 and since then we have witnessed the 1985, 1990, 1995, 1997 and 1998. It was Bernard de Nonancourt who crafted the house style towards the elegance with a significant Chardonnay emphasis. Contrastingly again, the Grand Siècle Alexandra Rosé has nothing to do with that style. It is a highly vinous rosé made from 80 percent Pinot Noir and 20 percent Chardonnay, 51 95p 1 1998 Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle Alexandra Rosé 2008/2015 Deep onion-skin colour with orange hues. Charmingly harmonious and elegantly spicy floral nose. Smooth and vinous on the palate. Long-lasting finish with perfectly integrated silky mousse and lemony acidity. Wonderful from now on until 2015. 94p 1 1997 Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle Alexandra Rosé 2007/2015 Beautiful deep orange colour with amber hues. Developed and vinous spicy nose with roses, perfume and brioche. Silky smooth chewy texture on the palate of charming width and depth. Elegant and lively with red fruit, caramel and dried fruits. Layers and layers of aromas and great development in the glass. This highly gastronomic wine is starting to be in a great drinking age, but it will develop positively for at least ten more years. Fi n e S e l e c t i o n

no. 4 Krug Rosé idea. Sounding so not Remí, the idea was buried until Henri apparently said in 1976: "Do you still dream about the rosé? We could try one this year." 2,000­3,000 experimental bottles were made and the wine was first released in 1983. The blended red wine part came from their own vineyards in Aÿ. The Krug lovers insisted for a Grande Cuvée style of wine. Therefore what they aimed for was "something Krug, yet something spicy with a Volnay-style red fruitiness". They didn't want to overdo the wine but aimed more towards an understatement, "Something vinous, even vulgar". "The rosé is the most challenging wine to make, on a par with the Grande Cuvée. It is also the most rewarding one as it is such a constructed wine with most human intervention." Remì Krug explains: "The compliments for Clos du Mesnil and the vintage we have to share with God..." Remí Krug is known to hate technical questions especially when it comes down to grape variety proportions and the like. So I did not wish to waste my second question on that. Instead I got more information from Olivier Krug later on in the evening: The rosé is not a pink Grande Cuvée but a wine made on its own merits from a richness of terroirs in the Krug manner. The red wine base comes from vineyards in Aÿ and Mareuil-sur-Aÿ. There is less reserve wine influence than in the Grande Cuvée and the wine is aged on the lees for a less extended time, 4­6 years, to preserve the fresh red fruit tone. Stylistically it is very Krug: toasty, vinous and perfected. Again I'd humbly request for a disgorgement date on the bottle to be able to appreciate it at the right moment, slightly developed as I love it. 52 At Krug the perfection in the glass comes always with a great story. My mission in Champagne in June was rosé. At Krug, Remí Krug was apparently `dragged out of retirement' for one more afternoon to share his stories with us. His tales are marvellous, ever engaging and full of witty opinion. But simultaneously it can be very challenging to get one question in during an entire lunch. The current head of the house, Olivier Krug, playfully smiled at me later on in the day when I told him I had gotten only two questions asked. The first one I managed to squeeze in was something as intellectual and specific as: `How about the story of Krug Rosé?' Luckily that was enough and plenty more for what I was after. Apparently the history goes back to the early 1970s when Remí Krug was travelling around the world talking about Krug. He recognised a change in society. Previously the preference for certain brands had run down in families, the father instructing the children in, for example, which champagnes to buy. But he noticed a whole clientele forming out of nowhere, changing the game. It could be anybody from celebrities onwards who would tell people which things are the best. And Remí had to think about addressing a whole new clientele for Olivier's generation and his descendants. Rosé was the emerging "must have" for champagne and Remí returned suggesting they make one too. Apparently the winemaker brother Henri was not keen on the idea as rosés were very much used for clichéd occasions such as Valentine's Day and there was not a serious wine connotation. Krug even considered not having a rosé to be a little bit `chic'. According to Remì's words one cannot force Henri into anything. Soon he forgot to continue to push for the rosé, giving up on the 94p K Krug Rosé NV 2008/2020 silky texture, perfectly harmonious acidity and long powerful length that corresponds to the nose. Great development in the glass. Glowing bright orange-hued onion skin colour. Nose has some oak influence, complex stylish and toasty. Concentrated dried fruit character. Rich full mouth-feel with perfected structure: vinous,

no. 3 Billecart-Salmon Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon Rosé 53 95p 2 2000 Billecart-Salmon Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon Rosé 2008/2020 Deep onion-skin colour. Rich yet elegant nose of pepper, leather, dried fruits and red berries. Bright pure fruitiness and a wonderful juicy mouth-feel. Stylish and silky with wonderful vibrancy and width. A great ripe and fruity vintage of Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon. 96p 1 1998 Billecart-Salmon Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon Rosé 2008/2020 Delicate pale orange-hued onion skin colour, restrained p pure and fruity nose. Silky mouth-feel but very youthful still, stylish, harmonious and layered. Needs some time. 95p 1 1996 Billecart-Salmon Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon Rosé 2008/2020 Medium deep salmon red colour. Bright and intense red fruit, raspberry, red cherry and lemon nose. The balanced, tight-packed palate has a wonderful linear and elegant acid structure. Silky smooth mousse and rich juicy mouth-feel. Delicious now and in the next 10 years. Fi n e S e l e c t i o n occasional batonnage taking place. Billecart-Salmon's phenomenal cleanliness, fruit Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon, first produced as purity and technical perfection are the reason recently as 1988, is a 50/50 blend of Chardonnay why I rank the Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon so high. and Pinot Noir into which around nine percent No question about it, one of the main reasons for Pinot Noir red wine is added. The this style is the double cold settling grapes for the red wine originate in the house has practised since the "The result is their own vineyards in Mareuil-sur1950s. With this technique the one of the most Aÿ, Aÿ and Ambonnay. Eight people must is cleaned very gently, without on the sorting belt ensure the quality pumping, filtration or centrifuging. elegant Rosé The first fermentation is carried Prestige Cuvées" of the raw material and that the grapes are 100 per cent destemmed and out at unusually low temperatures crushed and left to macerate until the for champagne, between 13­ right colour is achieved. No structure or tannin are 14ºC. Antoine Roland-Billecart states it is done welcome in the wine. Just fruit and colour. "in order to preserve the terroir characteristics The result is one of the most elegant prestige and all interesting material originating in the cuvée rosés. It is sensuous and delicate with an vines". Around 15 per cent share of the blend is amazingly smooth silky texture accompanied by fermented in used Burgundy barrels. There is no the gentlest mousse. racking done after the first fermentation, so the wines remain on fine lees for 5­6 months with

no. 2 Dom Pérignon Rosé mouth-feel that left no room for improvement. And the red Pinot component brought beautiful subtle fruit to complement it. The Dom Pérignon style comes above all from blending. The approximate 50/50 blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes is sourced from all over the region thanks to the enviable LVMH resources. But even they cannot come up with a rosé for every DP vintage. According to the Cellar Master Richard Geoffroy, the Pinot Noir is the limiting component keeping down the production figures. He seeks to minimise tannin, welcoming no element of bitterness in the wine. Even though the blend of varieties is the same as for the white Dom Pérignon, he emphasises that it is not a pink version of the wine. To him, they are `like sister and brother, very different accomplishments'. And some accomplishments they are, especially the inaugural vintage made by Geoffroy, the 1990. It is sheer perfection, one of the finest champagnes I have ever encountered. The Dom Pérignon Rosé was first produced from the vintage 1959. Based on the visionary character of Richard Geoffroy and his love for mature champagnes, I guess we can anticipate witnessing a DP Rosé Oenotheque sooner or later. Dom Pérignon is a wine that needs no introduction. What seems to be gaining more attention ­ and hopefully volume too ­ is the rosé. To me, Dom Pérignon is a misunderstood wine. It is such a reductive, mineral and subtle wine that it is not exactly a charmer in its youth. It is fine-tuned and complete, but years away from its full glory. However, the rosé is another story, since the ripe Pinot Noir red wine component seems to bring the wine more forward in youth. It was fascinating to taste the 1998 vintage rosé blind against five other prestige cuvée roses a few weeks ago in Athens. It had the DP complexity and 94p 1 1998 Dom Pérignon Rosé 2008/2020 pure and reductively made. Highly youthful yet approachable. This will improve significantly with 10­15 years' ageing. An elegant yet reserved DP Rosé vintage. Medium-deep salmon colour. Mineral and elegant spice, apple and red fruit nose with burned match aromatics. Smooth and harmonious restrained palate that is subtle yet intense. Very 55 94p 1 1996 Dom Pérignon Rosé 2008/2020 primary aromatics prevailing, red fruit and spices. Very young yet becoming accessible. Palish salmon colour. Ripe Pinot Noir nose with delicate toastiness. Mineral and tight, yet long and structured. Wonderful searing linear acidity. Still 98p 1 1990 Dom Pérignon Rosé 2007/2015 acidity to bring vivacity to this vinous wine monster. A great personality with ever-changing faces in the glass. Wonderful degree of maturity today but there is still a long life ahead. Developed orange-hued deep colour. Beautiful evolved nose with heavy toastiness, freshly ground coffee, dried fruits, ripe woody fruitiness. Pronounced fruit continues on the palate too. Velvety, voluptuous and round with just enough 92p 1 1985 Dom Pérignon Rosé 2007/2013 caramel, wood and spice nose. Smooth and silky with a sweet fruit finish. Easy to approach and fully mature. Will drink well for the next five years. Evolved medium-deep orange-hued onion skin colour. More restrained and modest nose than in the 1990, less opulent toast but a delicious Fi n e S e l e c t i o n

Roederer Cristal Rosé "I consider myself as `grower de luxe', as at Roederer we are in the unique position to combine the best of both worlds. On one hand I am a grower, looking after the terroir in our exceptional vineyards. But I am also a negociant who follows the philosophy of blending with an aesthetical vision of what a Roederer wine is", Vineyard Manager and Cellar Master Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon of Roederer begins. Cristal is born in the vineyards. Roederer owns over two hundred hectares of vineyards which cater for two-thirds of their grape needs. According to Lécaillon the majority of recent developments at Roederer have been in vineyard operations. To him intensity in the wine comes straight from oederer derer the vineyards, resulting in Roederer y an nd limiting the crop heavily and focusing on mature vines. As a ir result, the grapes from their own vineyards produce juice with one percent higher potential alcohol. Most importantly, there's less tart malic acid in their own grapes. Roederer strives for the highest al possible acidity, but it is essential pe that it is accompanied by a fully ripe fruitiness. The house belongs to the fivepercent minority of Champagne producers who do not use malolactic fermentation to soften wine acidity. But they go so much further with the Cristal Rosé. Roederer is the first major Champagne House that has gone into biodynamic viticulture. They currently have 5 hectares in biodynamic viticulture, 2 hectares of Pinot Noir and 3 of Chardonnay. Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon does not declare himself as biodynamicist but rather `a curious person'. He said: `This is my personal fascination. Back in 2000, the team believed this would not be possible. Now we can say it is possible, but very difficult. We are all thrilled of this success that opens new horizons for our viticulture and in the end, for the quality of our wines." Approximately 30 percent of Cristal Rosé's base comes from the biodynamic Pinot Noir plot in Aÿ. The 70 percent share of extremely ripe Pinot Noir grapes gives the wine its delicate hue. The berries are not crushed, only destemmed and then let to macerate at cool temperature for 5­6 days. When the fermentation begins, the juice is racked off the skins after 2­3 days. Then some 30 percent Chardonnay from Mesnil and Avize is added to this already very pale red wine. A minor amount of red wine is used to fine-tune the colour. The colour of the rosé does not necessarily give any clue to the taste. Cristal Rosé is nearly as pale as its white version. Yet again, the wine is chewy, muscular and extremely vinous and well-built. To Lécaillon it is all about playing with the tannin presence for the structure but without letting it take over the finesse. Fermentation for Cristal wines is carried out 80 percent in stainless steel and 20 percent in large, old oak casks that help to enhance the wine's structure and complexity. Another Cristal secret is the lees contact encouraged in the vats. After some 5 to en 7 years en tirage, the wine is disgorged ye rep replacing the lost volume with 8 8­10-year-old superior Pinot Noir and Chardonnay reserve wines. Dosage is customarily in the 11g/l range, varying slightly vintage to vintage. After recorking, the wine is left to rest for six more mo months in the cellar. Sweet Cristal was first Sw crafted for the Tsar Alexander II crafte of Russia in the late 19th century. However, the Russian revolution crashed the market and no Cristal was produced between 1917 and 1927. In 1928 a small batch ­ using the current packaging ­ was produced under a licensed trademark, but the product was not a luxury blend. It was intended more for personal consumption than as a prestige wine. After this, Madame Olry-Roederer began the ambitious development of the house's flagship champagne. Cristal Rosé was added to the portfolio in 1974. Today, 6,000­8,000 precious bottles are made on the finest years. Cristal is divinely elegant and restrained, with an astonishingly ripe fruitiness. At the same time it is backed up by an unmatchable acidic backbone. It is the most consistent and long-lived of all champagne prestige cuvées earning it the place on the top of my list. The rosé is more approachable young whereas the white version craves time. The charm of the Cristal Rosé has lot to do with the contrast of the pale colour to such a muscular and vinous texture. 56

95p 2 2002 Roederer Cristal Rosé 2008/2025 intense yet closed palate. Perfected linear acidity, lots of depth and a never-ending finish. All elements of a super-premium wine are there, so the points will inevitably rise as the wine ages. This will be a monumental Cristal Rosé. Crystal-clear pale colour with a delicate peach tinge. Bright perfumey ripe fruitiness which is simultaneously powerful and restrained. Pure, 95p 2000 Roederer Cristal Rosé 2 2007/2020 influence. Incredibly stylish, rich and full bodied but surprisingly open and layered palate. Enjoyable, however will keep for ages. Well built, almost chewy velvety texture with very ripe fruitiness, muscular feel to it yet a monumental acidic backbone. Very enjoyable from now on until 2020. Beautifully glossy almost yellow colour with orange hues. Stylish yet not very rosé-like nose: wax, caramel, dried fruits, spices and a delicate yeasty 57 98p 1996 Roederer Cristal Rosé 1 2008/2020 keeps the wine in a tight focus. Iron fist inside a silk glove. A wine monster that shows some signs of development and is much more approachable today than the Blanc equivalent. Maybe not one of the most elegant Cristals but unique and impressive indeed. Pale orange to onion skin colour. Loads of ripe fruit, toast, caramel and dried fruits. The palate is pronounced with an extreme acidic backbone that 96p 1 1995 Roederer Cristal Rosé 2008/2017 nuanced nose: spices, red berries and floral notes. Dry never-endingly fruity and linear taste, wild strawberries and toasty notes. Firm and muscular with a fine, silky mousse. Extremely pale colour for a rosé, glossy and vibrant. Fine small-sized bubbles. A restrained yet delicately 95p 1 1989 Roederer Cristal Rosé 2008/2012 glass. Ripe fruity palate with good weight and depth. Toasty and developed, showing the second life of Cristal. Drinking fine now and in the next few years. Pale orange colour. Soft fudge, burnt sugar and spice nose. Layers of aromas develop charmingly in the Fi n e S e l e c t i o n

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Vieilles Vignes Françaises ­ QUANTUM OF SOLACE Text: Essi Avellan MW and Juha Lihtonen Photos: Pekka Nuikki 61 What do the luxury brands Bollinger, Omega watches, and Aston Martin have in common? They all form an integral part of the lifestyle of the most brand-conscious man in the world. The fictive figure of James Bond, created by the author Ian Fleming, lives each moment as if it was his last, enjoying only the best because of his lifethreatening profession. Of champagnes, the best for Bond is represented by Bollinger. Bollinger, which replaced Bond's favourite champagne Dom Pérignon, debuted for the first time on the silver screen in 1973 in Live and Let Die. Bollinger has since been visible in all of the Bond films produced throughout the last 35 years. Bond, played during these years by Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig, usually enjoyed his Bollinger in attractive company with a bottle of vintage Grande Année or RD, corked late. Even though Bollinger's fine vintage champagnes have been visible on the silver screen as Bond's favourite drinks for many years, the champagne house has in its cellars a specialty in wait, with which Bond has not yet charmed his beauties. The rare vintage champagne Vieilles Vignes Françaises is produced from historical vines on a few tiny plots during only the best harvest years, and represents a mere fraction of the entire production of Bollinger. The creation of this unique specialty separates Bollinger from other champagne houses, even without the Bond connection. The connection between Bond and Vieilles Vignes Françaises, though, is more obvious ­ both live under the constant danger of death. Fi n e L e g e n d

62 Bathed in the golden morning sun of Champagne, three diminutive Pinot Noir plots are under the exacting scrutiny of vineyard workers. The plots, surrounded by stone walls, have been given special attention for over one hundred years. These are the only ungrafted vines in nearly all of Champagne that have managed to escape the ravages of phylloxera decade after decade. It is on this morning that the vineyard workers have discovered a fateful problem on the 16-are Croix Rouge plantation in the village of Bouzy. The year is 2004 ­ phylloxera has landed. "It was over in the blink of an eye. Right when we found out that phylloxera had hit us, it only took a couple of weeks before everything was gone. There wasn't a thing we could do", recalls Bollinger's Christian Dennis. Champagne Bollinger has cared for the vines on these three plots with an extraordinary passion since 1969. Renowned English wine author Cyril Ray was the guest of Madame Lily Bollinger when he recorded the history of the Bollinger Champagne house in 1968. His attention was drawn to these exceptional plots and the truly unique character of the wines they produced. At his urging, Lily Bollinger decided to produce wines from these plots under her own name. The 1969 vintage produced in honour of Madame Bollinger's 70th birthday was released in 1974. The first actually commercial vintage was released in 1970. This `museum wine' instantly became a favourite among collectors and a much-desired rarity, so seldom encountered in a lifetime. Bollinger is one of only a handful of the remaining family-owned champagne houses. Founded in 1829, Bollinger attained legendary status in its pursuit of perfection: its renowned Charter of Ethics and Quality was published in 1992 by Christian Bizot and Ghislain de Montgolfier, when the syndicate of Grand Marque houses was not ready to accept the stringent criteria as a guideline for all houses. Bollinger decided to stick with the Charter and its own values, which respect not only quality, but also family, the region and tradition. In an age of increasing champagne production and giant champagne houses, Bollinger has been able to keep its scale small. Export manager Philippe Menguy explains: "Every year we produce two million bottles of champagne, even though we could sell four million. We have 12 million bottles in our cellars, which is a six-year inventory. We own and cultivate a majority of our grape needs, so we're not dependent on purchased grapes". Christian Dennis sheds light on the role that Vieilles Vignes Françaises (VVF) plays in the house portfolio: "Wine is produced in minimal amounts only during the best champagne years, averaging out to 3,000 bottles. This accounts for only 0.15% of our gross production! The hand craftsmanship that this requires and disadvantageous economies of scale make the VVF three times more expensive than our other vintage champagnes. From an economic standpoint, the VVF doesn't play a major role, but in terms of image it is vital to us. It's also extraordinary to produce a wine using winemaking techniques which were used before the phylloxera blight. The VVF is thus the epitome of the country's original champagne style". Unique vines Phylloxera hit Champagne in the late 1800s, killing all but a rare few plots of the region's vines. Phylloxera does not thrive in sandy soils or extremely cool, windy conditions. However, the soil and microclimate of Bollinger's special plots are very typical of the Champagne region. Christian Dennis relates: "Why these plots were somehow spared from the phylloxera remains a mystery. Maybe the key factor was the stone walls, which separate the plots from other areas under cultivation ­ this made it more difficult for the

63 phylloxera to spread. But this can't be the only factor, because one of these surviving plots ­ the Croix Rouge in Bouzy ­ isn't surrounded by any walls. Two of the plots are located in the Grand Cru village of Aÿ, which is in close proximity to the Bollinger estate and cellars. Clos Saint-Jacques is the smallest of the plots, with a modest 15 ares, whilst Chaudes Terres is the largest at 21 ares. The Croix Rouge plot, which is located in the legendary Pinot Noir village of Bouzy in the Montage de Reims, is 16 ares in size. The combined area of VVF plantations is therefore 52 ares. After 100 years of struggle, phylloxera finally struck the Bouzy plot in 2004, thereafter making Vieilles Vignes a single village wine. Old ways The name `Vieilles Vignes Françaises' means `old French vines'. There is a commonly held misconception that this is wine made from vines more than one hundred years old. The champagne's moniker refers not to old vines, but old winemaking traditions, which were in use throughout the Champagne region prior to the arrival of phylloxera. In this layered cultivation technique, known as en foule or provigneage, vines regenerate themselves: young canes are planted back into the earth and new roots and vines develop from them. No old trunks are visible at the surface, as a majority of the plantings are buried in mounds of soil. En foule plots are planted very tightly and, to the untrained eye, appear chaotic and uncultivated. Whereas the normal planting density in Champagne is 8,000 vines per hectare, these plots have a planting density of as many as 30,000 vines per hectare. Christian Dennis explains: "Four of our 50 workers are specialists in en foule vines, as their cultivation requires specialised skills. Cultivating these is very different and pure manual labour". En foule vines produce only two to three canes for each vine, thus making the harvest very small. Christian Dennis continues: "The crop yield is about 35% smaller than normal, thus ensuring excellent concentration. The grapes are very ripe, but they still manage to keep a good level of acidity". One half of the grapes in the walled plot of Clos Saint-Jacques are grown using the en foule method and the other half are planted conventionally, but with ungrafted vines. Bollinger says that it is trying out these two methods for comparison purposes. Although the end result is an increase in crop yield, the grapes do not ripen as well as when using the en foule method. The Bollinger formula As we walk through the cellars with Bollinger Chef de Cave Gérard Liot, the meagreness of the VVF production yield is striking: the entire year's output is contained in ten barrels lying on their sides against the wall, stacked one on top of each other. Philippe Menguy explains the losses: "When wine is stored in a 225-litre barrel, one litre of the entire volume ­ the `angels' share' ­ evaporates in three weeks". After spending 6­7 months in barrels, the total amount of VVF lost is around four per cent of the entire production yield. Fi n e L e g e n d

Bollinger makes some of the most full-bodied wines in all of Champagne. The use of oak barrels is a Bollinger trademark. Whereas many houses began using cement tanks in the 1960s, Madame Bollinger made a decision to stay with oak barrels. "As with our other wines, VVF is fermented in French oak barrels, which range in age from four to forty years old. We prefer old oak, as we don't want wood or toast notes in the wine", Philippe Says. Chef de cave Liot adds: "In order to avoid bacteria problems, we wash out the barrels as many as five or six times a year. Barrels add nuance to the wine, while steel decreases its level of complexity. We let our wines oxidise gently in the barrels, as it works like a vaccine against oxidisation for when the wine ages." The wine is fermented with cultured yeast at approximately 18°C. Bollinger prefers a long, 6­7-month barrel ageing on the lees. The wine and lees are not actively stirred during this time (battonage). The wine is then bottled in April and moved to 10­11°C cellars for the second fermentation and bottle maturation. Philippe Menguy explains: "Vielles Vignes Françaises is allowed to cellar for a long time: from five to twelve years. In our Special Cuvée, we bring the lees into the bottleneck mechanically, but because the VVF is cellared for so long the end result isn't as good. So, we riddle the VVF manually in racks. After racking and recorking, the wine is cellared for another three months to give it time to settle. In VVF we use around 7­9 g of sugar, so it's fairly dry". Matters of taste on terroir wines Even though one might pay as much as 400 euros for a recent vintage of Vielles Vignes Françaises and it is indubitably one of Bollinger's most expensive wine, it is impossible to claim that it is Bollinger's `best' wine. As a wine made with grapes from only three plots, of only one variety and in only one year, it rarely achieves the subtlety and balance of a Grande Année or R.D. But it's always a great wine. What is interesting about the VVF is its ability to challenge the culture of blending with its terroir foundation and mass production with its small production volume. It also gives us the opportunity to experience what champagne tastes like when made `from its own roots', without any influence from American rootstock. Hand craftsmanship and terroir are always tangible in Vielles Vignes Françaises, which is precisely what collectors and wine connoisseurs are willing to pay for. 64 The best experiences: 99p 98p 97p 97p 96p 95p 94p 93p 1 1969 Bollinger Vieilles Vignes Françaises (1999/2010) 1998 Bollinger Vieilles Vignes Françaises 1 (2007/2015) 1 1985 Bollinger Vieilles Vignes Françaises (2006/2015) 1 1970 Bollinger Vieilles Vignes Françaises (2002/2010) 1 1990 Bollinger Vieilles Vignes Françaises (2004/2020) 1 1999 Bollinger Vieilles Vignes Françaises (2007/2020) 1 1996 Bollinger Vieilles Vignes Françaises (2007/2020) 1 1992 Bollinger Vieilles Vignes Françaises (2003/2020)

DE VISU-REIMS

Eat and drink in pink Andreas Larsson 66 Are you one of those wine collectors who thinks that rosé champagne is merely a fancy nightclub drink, a vehicle for seduction and not to be taken seriously? Think again! The seductive power we can't deny, and in nightclubs the rosé reigns supreme; classier than cosmopolitan, tastier than G&T and far more sophisticated than Jack & Coke. But it is here that I make a bold statement ­ that rosé champagne is also one of the most interesting and versatile wines to pair with food. And I am not only talking about bland canapés. The rosé is a perfect complement to everything from creamy scrambled eggs to the most refined Haut Gastronomie. Unfortunately, champagne is not always enjoyed with the same reverence as a bottle of old Bordeaux, and I think the case is even worse when it comes to rosé champagne. What makes it different from a paler bubbly then? It is a matter of small nuances. Some rosé champagnes would be hard to distinguish from a regular one if you were unable to see the colour. The small dash of red wine they contain adds a dimension of perfume and moves your thoughts towards seductive Pinot Noir and an emphasis on red fruit. We also should not underestimate the aesthetic value of the colour, which at the table ­ served with delicacies such as veal, salmon, tuna, or raspberries ­ easily gets the wine romance going. There are many rosé champagnes that are structured and have a pronounced Pinot Noir driven style that smells and tastes of rosé but develop with age in the direction of a red burgundy, combined with the lovely genuity of champagne. A wine of this genre is wonderful to throw in at any stage of the meal; from starter to dessert. Let's start with the scrambled eggs then! A perfect Sunday brunch chez moi normally consists of scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and slices of avocado and tomatoes. And lately I have added the small luxury of celebrating a well-deserved day off with bubbles. Nothing does it better than rosé champagne! I was recently offered a bottle of the gorgeous 1999 Bollinger La Grande Année Rosé that I decided to sacrifice for brunch. This taught me a few things. Firstly, it is a darn good champagne; powerful with a lot of Pinot Noir character, a nice creaminess, beautiful length and delicate flavours of raspberries and red berries. It was already superb but it will undoubtedly continue to mature for a long time. In addition to its colour, its structure was in perfect harmony with the rich and slightly fatty structure of the salmon, the bubbles easily cutting through the normally difficult texture of eggs. Secondly, champagne rarely has such powerful effect as in the wee hours of the morning, more efficient than the most concentrated ristretto; it not only wakes you up but also makes you a nicer person. Thirdly, I realised it is way out of my budget to have this as a staple beverage for breakfast! At lunchtime a nice bottle of rosé is perfect for two if you have the time or even for four if you need to rush back to the office. The benefits are of course the pleasure factor, but also the extra dimension of structure and aroma that a good rosé will offer. One of my truly favourite dishes is sashimi; I love the pure and unadulterated flavours of the sea found in this delicacy. It is complemented by the high level of freshness, purity and elegance provided by a rosé and the bubbles work a special magic with the proteins of fatty tuna and scallops. We also should not underestimate the sheer beauty of the colour: with shiny clear slices of maguro, otoro and deep pink salmon, the colour adds that extra something. For sashimi and sushi I normally opt for a paler, lighter and more Chardonnay dominated rosé champagne such as the excellent NV BillecartSalmon for its lightness, precision and elegance. The slightly more structured, fragrant and ethereal 2002 Deutz Rosé was a flattering complement last time I was spoiled with a perfect sashimi of toro in Tokyo. Let's stay with lunch a while longer. If we go from raw fish to cooked and more elaborate dishes, we might need additional structure. I think that rosé champagne fills in the gap nicely for when you want something more fun than Chablis yet lighter than Shiraz. For cooked shellfish, such as crab or lobster, it adds to the luxury factor, while remaining within the realms of the freshness/ minerality/lightness factors. On my last visit to New York City I went for some excellent crab cakes at the well-known City Crab restaurant.

As I was not in the mood for a dull Pinot Grigio or heady Cabernet, I selected instead a bottle of 2002 Veuve Clicquot Rosé. It is, without a doubt, a very good champagne; very vivid with generous fruit including plenty of peach and raspberry on the palate, zesty and creamy with a nice structure. I have honestly never enjoyed this champagne as much as with the tasty crab cakes, it really was enhanced by enjoyment with food. If we crank up the intensity a notch and move to meat, such as poultry and red meats, I find myself devoted more to Pinot Noir driven champagnes which often display a perfume and silkiness reminiscent of a great red burgundy. Earlier in the year this was epitomised over a pot-au-feu of chicken with asparagus and duck liver. Quenched down with the 2000 Grand Vintage Rosé from Moët & Chandon on a sunny spring day, it was the perfect match. I tried other wines, both red and white, with this meal, but it was the rosé champagne that was spot on. Moët is no newcomer, however, I think that Chef de Cave Benoît Gouez made a beautiful debut with the vintage 2000. This is a perfectly drinkable bubbly from a ripe year that offers creamy Chardonnay flavours in combination with fragrant Pinot Noir. In fact Moët & Chandon is one of the Houses that makes the most distinctive rosé champagnes: they clearly show a different structure, aroma and flavour profile to the blancs. We can, of course, say the same about the rarer Dom Pérignon Rosé, a champagne that I very rarely have had the pleasure of enjoying at the table. One of the lucky occasions was last year when we enjoyed this in the contemporary and stylish F12 restaurant in Stockholm. The Dom Pérignon was served with a very intelligent dish of sweetbreads with curry, and it was close to perfection! A rather avant-garde pairing but it ended up très sublime ­ a captivating wine in every way; rich, bold, and structured yet very elegant and remarkably fresh. Another one of my old favourites is the majestic Dom Ruinart Rosé that I had the pleasure of tasting on numerous unforgettable occasions in the enchanting cellars in Reims during the Meilleur Sommelier d'Europe competitions. Time after time, a mature Dom Ruinart Rosé was served as the pièce de resistance to pheasant, quail and roe deer. These dishes, enhanced by a dash of truffles and mushrooms, became magical with a mature and complex vintage, such as the `88, `85 or `79. Lighter mousse, more aromatic complexity and a more vinous structure in these champagnes easily substitutes a red burgundy or even a Rhône wine if you like some variation to your game repertoire, and especially in summertime when you are not always in the mood for a rich red wine, this is the way to go. Currently, on the market you can find the 1996 Dom Ruinart Rosé which is nothing less than a masterpiece. More Chardonnay driven in style and topped with a layer of ethereal and almost Musigny-like Pinot Noir, it has beautiful richness and length, it is a wine that will go on for ages. I recently had the pleasure of drinking it with perfectly grilled Kobe beef at the Megu restaurant in New York. Here was gastronomic refinement of the highest level. So, what of desserts then? Often this is where the errors are made. The common mistake is to pair a sweet dessert with a very dry wine, which is a fundamental clash that makes few people happy. Although, I must confess my affection for rounding off a nice meal with something sparkling. The solution then is to choose the right dessert. Desserts based on nuts, almonds, cheese or red berries with very little added sugar can be fun. One all time favourite of mine is nothing less intricate than a fistful of ripe raspberries served with a small crème brûlée made from cottage cheese, heightening the emphasis on saltiness rather than sweetness. Add to this the natural sweetness and acidity of the fruit whose flavours are mirrored in the glass. The last time I tried this combination, it was with serious amounts of the luscious and decadent 2003 Comtes de Champagne Rosé, after which it was hard to avoid thinking of the seductive qualities... So, that apart from the glamorous, aesthetical, and seductive aspects often associated with it, rosé champagne should be considered nothing else than a grand vin and be enjoyed like one. 67 Fi n e L a r s s o n

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champagne women 69 La Grande Femme de Champagne Text: Essi Avellan MW Champagne seems to have a bad "microclimate" for men with many passing away while still young and in their prime. In the hard 19th and 20th century world, it was the strong Champagne widows who stepped forward for their families, following in the example of Veuve ClicquotPonsardin, to run their businesses in the absence of their husbands. However, the concept of widow, or veuve, soon developed into a marketing tool and therefore many of the women were not much more than entrepreneurial faces in reality. In the 21st century champagne business, Carol Duval-Leroy is reviving the spirit of the original veuves with her astonishing work. Fi n e Wo m e n

70 Barbe-Nicole Clicquot-Ponsardin revolutionized the champagne business by taking over her deceased husband's company at the age of 27 in 1805. She ran and developed the business successfully for decades. After her, many strong women such as Madame Pommery, Madame Olry-Roederer and Madame Bollinger have strengthened the cult of widows in Champagne. The Champenois have mastered marketing throughout history and it is no surprise widowhood was soon transformed into a marketing asset. In turbulent times, the idea of veuves ­ dedicated mothers and widows ­ must have brought consolation and safety. Since the 1880s there was in fact a significant increase in the word veuve's emergence on champagne labels. Some of the widows were involved only for marketing purposes, their input not being significant in the daily business. But interestingly, there were also imaginary widows, such as Veuve Damas of Reims, launched by Mercier in 1885. Carol Duval-Leroy's story resembles that of the original widows. Her tale is very real, a life full of hard work rewarded with extraordinary success. Veuve Duval-Leroy Carol Nilens, born in Uccle, Belgium in 1955, became Duval-Leroy by marriage to Jean-Charles Duval-Leroy in 1980. Even though she had studied economics in the University of Brussels, she had no intention to pursue a career in management. She did, however, actively take part in the family champagne business, especially during harvest time, aiding in taking care of the vintage workers and assisting in grape purchases. Jean-Charles' unexpected death in 1991 lead to Carol Duval-Leroy taking over the running of the business. The early 1990s were challenging times due to many unsuccessful vintages and depressed world markets, as well as previously made investments in modernisation of the Duval-Leroy production facilities. However, Carol Duval-Leroy emerged as a winner, being able not only to maintain 100 per cent family ownership, but to turn the company around, increasing both quality and production volume. Turnaround I drive way down to the southern tip of the Chardonnay-heaven, Côte des Blancs, to reach Vertus, the home village of Duval-Leroy. The company has been established here since its very early days in 1859. The modern headquarters do not reveal much of the history as the winery looks up-to-date and functional. I meet Carol DuvalLeroy as she rushes in to the offices accompanied

by her terrier dog. We sit down in her spacious and orderly office. From the very first moment her determination is very clear: "I changed the direction of the company. Before we were known as caterers to the supermarket and Buyers Own Brand (BOB) markets. I changed the focus to building the DuvalLeroy brand." When Carol Duval-Leroy started in 1991 the company produced 3 million bottles of champagne and exported a mere 18 per cent of the sales. By 2001 they had already increased the production to 6.1 million bottles, of which 60 per cent is destined for foreign markets. Duval-Leroy now belongs amongst the 15 largest producers in the area. Carol Duval-Leroy comments on the expansion: "It has not been easy to stay independent and to avoid external capital. We need some volume to keep our 100 per cent independent status. But I wish to keep the freedom to make decisions about my `kid'." Only the beginning As Carol has now led the company for 17 years, I enquire about her view of the progress and direction for the future. Her quick answer does not surprise me: "We have a good basis of development. I'd only like us to go further faster..." A few years back, Duval-Leroy was not reputed for its quality but recent years have seen giant steps in that field, too. In addition to improving the quality of their entire range, she has initiated many new products. The company's flagship wine is Femme de Champagne, first produced in the 1990 vintage. It is a very fine and feminine champagne that gives a great promise of the company's future quality potential. Carol Duval-Leroy has a passion for gastronomy and this is reflected in her winemaking too. The medium-dry Lady Rosé, for instance, is made to complement desserts and she has even written a 200-recipe cookbook to match her champagnes. The latest novelty is the Authentis range, which consists of a single vineyard Clos des Bouveries Chardonnay from Vertus, a monocru Chardonnay from Trépail and a monocru Pinot Noir from Cumières. The first two are the most interesting wines, with the single vineyard showing the spirit and origins of the house. Trépail is an exception on the Montagne de Reims, a Premier Cru village that grows Chardonnay in Pinot Noir country. Additionally, the grapes are organically farmed, a rarity in the region and proof of the company's aim for creating terroir wines of the greatest purity.

Power Woman Carol Duval-Leroy belongs to the small group of women who have become leaders in Champagne. Even though the world has changed a lot since Veuve Clicquot's days, being a woman in the maledominated champagne business must not have been easy. Duval-Leroy answers to my inquiry: "Women have to prove themselves much more. If you agree with the gentlemen you are more easily accepted. But I no longer have problems. I am an `old' personality in the region already." Carol Duval-Leroy certainly has proven her capabilities, and she seems at least twice as dynamic, energetic and decisive than most champagne leaders I have met. Her groundbreaking work for women in the area was rewarded a year ago when she was elected the first ever female president of the Association Viticole Champenoise (AVC), a key trade organization that oversees quality control in the region. This important chair was given to Duval-Leroy at a challenging time. Duval-Leroy sarcastically remarks: "There are important decisions to be made concerning yields and enlarging the appellation. This is all complicated by the current financial crisis. I suspect it is easier to sacrifice a woman." employees and I find working with them easier." Carol Duval-Leroy is an astonishing lady. Her dynamic personality is best described by her own words on the company website: "My philosophy is a striving for constant improvement, individual and collective." Analytical and straightforward as she is, she answered in an interview the question about her link to the famous widows of the region: "I don't think about others' fame... I run my business." However, with tales of those famous widows in mind, I cannot avoid thinking: La Grande Femme de Champagne. 72 Many strong businesswomen of today are not known for supporting their fellow females on their path to success. Carol Duval-Leroy does not fall into this category: "43 per cent of our employees are women. We employ the only female Cellar Master in Champagne, Sandrine Logette. Also our Financial Director is a woman." As I wonder how much of a coincidence this all is, Duval-Leroy continues, "Women are great "43 percent of our employees are women."

Duval-Leroy 89p N NV Duval-Leroy Rosé de Saignée soft mousse and smooth texture. Long, fresh and elegant. Fairly simple yet pure and lively rosé for immediate consumption. 2008/2015 Medium-deep pink onion skin colour. Soft ripe red fruit nose with attractive spicy elements. Pleasantly 89p NV Duval-Leroy Fleur de Champagne Brut Premier Cru N palate which appears very dry yet not sufficiently intense. White fruits and flowers. Pure and fresh 2008/2013 champagne for short term consumption. Pale lemony colour. Appetising, toasty nose of red fruits and ripe apples. The nose is superior to the 73 91p 1 1996 Duval-Leroy more developed than the palate that is still tight. Wonderful citric acidic backbone and impressive fruit intensity. A keeper, which has had positive 2008/2017 development since the previous tasting six months before. Medium deep lemony colour. Stylish and nuanced nose with good degree of autolytic influence. White fruits, flowers, nuts, yeast, and spices. The nose is 88p 1 1999 Duval-Leroy Blanc de Chardonnay the elegant but rather sharp palate. A stylish champagne for mid-term drinking. Letting it rest for 2008/2012 some months will soften the slightly aggressive mousse. Developing lemon-yellow colour. Soft lactic nose of toffee, baked apple and yeast. Medium-bodied on 91p 2 2001 Duval-Leroy Authentis Cumières the palate with an appealing creaminess. With its 7g/l residual sugar it is a very solid effort from the disastrous 2001 vintage. 2008/2013 Medium-deep developing colour. Ripe apples, red berries and hazelnuts nose. Round and muscular on Fi n e Wo m e n

Duval-Leroy 88p 2 2003 Duval-Leroy Authentis Cumières lacking and freshness firmness of structure. Longlasting finish where the prematurely slightly oxidised flavours dominate. No great ageing potential. I have 2008/2012 had a better bottle at the winery a few months earlier, though. 4g/l dosage. Deep lemon-gold colour. Pronounced bruised apple and apricot, oxidised nose. Full-bodied on the palate with a gentle mousse and a vinous texture. However, 90p 74 1 1999 Duval-Leroy Authentis Trépail like style. Nice fudge finish on the seemingly light but long palate. Noticeable oak influence. Fresh, 2008/2015 sophisticated gastronomical champagne for midterm drinking. Medium-deep greenish-yellow colour. Lactic nose of cream, butter and baked apples. White Burgundy- 92p 2002 Duval-Leroy Authentis Clos des Bouveries Touch of apples and cream. Balanced elegant lively palate. Feminine style with ease of drinking. Youthful 2008/2015 but drinkable already. True to terroir but commercial with house style. Medium lemony colour. Sweet, floral, appealing nose. Ripe stonefruit and touch of mineral smokiness. 91p 2 2003 Duval-Leroy Authentis Clos des Bouveries with some oak influence detectable. The palate is wide and easily approachable. Very little dosage, 2­3 2008/2012 g/l suits the hot vintages style. A good 2003 for mid term drinking. Very different from 2002 though. Pale lemony colour, larger bubbles than in the 2002. Soft ripe sweet vanilla nose. Slightly volatile nose 92p 1 1996 Duval-Leroy Femme de Champagne palate with searing acidity. Lacks the greatest finesse and complexity of the finest 1996s. However, fine with good vintage typicity. 2008/2020 Deep, developing lemony colour. Yeasty autumn apple and bread nose. Linear, powerfully fruity

Taittinger collection Text: Anne Lepola Photos: Jarmo Hietaranta 76 bottle art

The Taittinger Collection ­ a series of champagne bottles wrapped in art ­ is an invention of the former Chairman of Champagne Taittinger, Claude Taittinger. He deemed the masters of culinary arts competing for The Pierre Taittinger Culinary Prize as craftsmen and imaginative artists. These chefs sparked inspiration in him as they managed to turn something as commonplace as cooking into an art form. He thought the same passion the chefs applied to their craft could be applied to champagne: "Even in a conservative profession like ours, it should be possible to be innovative, to introduce changes, and to stamp our own style on the wines we produce." a shell, which was to encapsulate the champagne bottle in the finished artwork. him to withstand. The drink invigorated his body enough to give him the will to fight for his life. Eventually he got his surgery and went on to become The Taittinger Collection wasn't established the architect of automatism and creator of the third addition to the Collection (1987). Champagne was a drink of love for Masson, the only drink worthy enough to serve to a lady he was falling in love with. And ­ it has been told ­ the artist fell often. Themes of life's basic forces being quintessential for Masson's art, the 1987 creation depicts a couple rising from a stolen moment of rapture, in his fluid style. merely to delight the eye in a rococo fashion; the Collection's ambition is to arouse real interest in the viewer. This is reflected in the artists chosen. Initially, Marc Chagal was to create the inaugural bottle, but he lost his sight before he had the chance to complete the assignment. As an admirer of Victor Vasirely's work, Claude Taittinger commissioned the spearheading geometrical abstractionist and father of Op Art for the task. Bottle No.1 displays a light blue Vega ­ a three dimensional geometric image ­ Champagne arguably is a wine quite capable of providing bountiful myths and enigmatic symbolism for artists. This is not only because of the sensory dependency champagne houses such as Taittinger succumb to each time they create a cuvée, but that surely does correlate with the process of creating art. Claude Taittinger believes they have "Like any great wine, champagne is produced by a combination of nature and human skill. And as the first pleasure one experiences when tasting a wine is in its appearance, there seemed no reason why we should not bring our creativity to bear on the bottle, as well as on the wine," Claude Taittinger muses. on the golden bottle's surface. It symbolises, in the words of the patron, "the work of Nature which has no beginning and no end and is, as Paul Valéry so aptly said of the ocean, constantly renewing itself ". 77 The Collection came into being in 1983 and has had eleven inclusions to date, the 2007 Rauchenberg established a bridge with the Taittinger Collection, which enables the unification of art and industry. No winemaker wants his wine called a `product', and with the pressure of increased output of bottles, a seal of unique work of art on a bottle aptly does its share in highlighting the uniqueness of each cuvee, or even bottle. One has to weigh the options of indulging the sense of taste or the sense of vision, since the artist's creation envelopes the whole bottle, thus requiring it to be destroyed to be enjoyed. The bridging of art and industry ripples onto other areas apart from the mere sensory: those who withhold The idea was materialised into a strong tradition by Philippe de Rothschild, who first in 1945 commissioned Philippe Jullian to create the year's Mouton label, a tradition built on each year by a different artist, and one that carries on to the present day. Claude Taittinger wanted to do the same in Champagne, but in a freshly inspired and original way that would tie a suitable level of creativity to the drink of all things sublime. Thus, he endeavoured to include the whole bottle in the concept and invite contemporary artists of international stature with distinct ties to France and, particularly, a bond with champagne, to make the bottle their own. In order to provide a canvas for the artists, the house created being the latest. Claude's nephew, current President of the House Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger is taking the Collection forward with enthusiasm: he has two new artists ready to join to the impressive list of peers. The collection presents unique visions of artists of a diverse array of nationalities. They all pay tribute to champagne through the myths or personal stories related to the wine. Frenchman André Masson is one. Masson begun his affair with champagne when, after being fatally wounded in the First World War, he was given the wine as a last comfort in a battlefield infirmary, as queues to the surgery were too long for the temptation of opening Vasarely's creation, have in their hands one of the most valuable bottles of champagne in the world. Fi n e G a l l e r y

78 HARTUNG 1986

79 DA SILVA 1983 Fi n e G a l l e r y

80 MATTA 1992

81 LICHTENSTEIN 1985 Fi n e G a l l e r y

Taittinger Collection No. 1 1978 Victor Vasarely (1908­1997), Hungarian Brut 1978: 60% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay No. 2 1981 Arman (1928­2005), French ­ Brut 1981 Brut 1981: 60% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay No. 3 1982 André Masson (1896­1987), French Brut 1982: 60% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay No. 4 1983 Vieira da Silva (1908­1992), Portuguese Brut 1983: 60% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay No. 5 1985 Roy Lichtenstein (1923­1997), American Brut 1985: 60% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay No. 6 1986 Hans Hartung (1904­1989), German-French Brut 1986: 60% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay No. 7 1988 Toshimitsu Imaï (1928­2002), Japanese Brut 1988: 55% Chardonnay, 45% Pinot Noir No. 8 1990 Cornelis Van Beverloo alias Corneille (1922­), Belgian Brut 1990: 50% Chardonnay, 50% Pinot Noir No. 9 1992 Matta (1911­2002), Chilean Brut 1992: 50% Chardonnay, 50% Pinot Noir No. 10 1998 Zao Wou-Ki (1921­), Chinese Brut 1998: 50% Chardonnay, 50% Pinot Noir No. 11 2000 Robert Rauschenberg (1925­2008), American Brut 2000: 50% Chardonnay, 50% Pinot Noir 82 VASARELY 1978

83 IMA I 1988 Fi n e G a l l e r y

Recent Tastings Blind Tasting Seminar on Champagne Prestige Cuvées Place: Athens, Greece Time: October 2008 Organiser: Konstantinos Lazarakis MW Presenter and taster: Essi Avellan MW I was visiting Athens to lecture the WSET Diploma students on Champagne and Sparkling wines of the World. After the day's lecture, head of the Wine School Konstantinos Lazarakis MW set up a wonderful extra curricular activity for me and the school's students. He had sourced prestige cuvée champagnes ­ both Blanc and Rosé ­ from 6 top houses. He gave me free hands to lead the participants through "Understanding Champagne House Styles through their Top Bottlings". We gathered a full house of over 40 students as the fun was about to begin. After giving a compact briefing on the significance of House Styles and the making and role of the prestige cuvée in the Houses' portfolios, I went through each individual house's and wine's style on paper. Then it was about time to let the students loose to taste the fantastic champagnes. As the brand images are so strong on champagnes there were many surprises when the names of the blanc champagnes were revealed to the tasters. Taittinger Comtes de Champagne and Billecart-Salmon Grande Cuvée were the favourites of majority. Especially Dom Pérignon was found unimpressive by many compared to its image. Blind tasting the blanc champagnes was found challenging. It proved to be much easier to put the rosés in order after having been acquainted with the blancs. The level of the rosés was more even compared to the whites. Also, most of them seemed more approachable at this age than their blanc equivalents. This was the case with Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Rosé, Roederer Cristal Rosé and Pommery Cuvée Louise Rosé as well as Dom Pérignon Rosé. The rosé category's top performers were Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon Rosé and Cristal Rosé. All in all this was a magnificent opportunity to go beyond the brand images of the luxury cuvées and to taste what they are all about. Here are my assessments of the wines tasted. 84 93p P Pommery Cuvée Louise 1999 2008/2018 mousse and a bit reserved finish. Deep lemony yellow colour. Toasty burned match, coffee beans and red fruit nose showing developing signs. Quite tight, round yet focused palate. Lemony acidic bite. Harmonious, well-integrated 95p Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs T 1998 2008/2018 highly elegant. The wine is starting to spread into a wide and toasty fruitiness. Intense lemony colour. Toasty evolving, sweet burned sugar and toast nose with elegant perfumy notes. White fruits, vanilla and candle wax. Fine tight, linear and compact palate. Still youthful and 92p D Deutz Cuvée William Deutz 1998 2008/2018 fruit intensity and great structure. Creamy mousse and long length. Medium deep lemony colour. Rich, open classy tropical fruit, dark fruit and butter nose with a touch of dirtiness. Some autolytic influence. Chewy, powerful and wide palate with wonderful 91p M Moët & Chandon Dom Pérignon 2000 2008/2020 and deserves a minimum of 5 years of additional maturation. Medium pale lemony colour. Delicate, subdued, lactic nose with honey, apple and flowery characteristics. Not much autolysis effect detectable yet. Elegant mouth-feel, very tight fruitiness with vegetal notes. Texture is fine, round vivacious and accessible. This wine is yet to show its full glory

96p B Billecart-Salmon Grande Cuvée 1996 2008/2025 drink wonderfully but will improve considerably with 5 more years of cellaring. Evolved deep golden colour. Very rich, toasty, extremely ripe fruity nose. Dried fruits, brioche and honey. Extremely silky mouth-feel and mousse with wonderful focused lemony back bone. Long, superbly clean and intense. Monster of a champagne with a lifetime to live. Starting to 96p L Louis Roederer Cristal 2002 2008/2025 and fruitiness ­ are perfected and the wine has decades to go. Intense yet pale youthful yellow colour. Highly restrained elegant nose of flowers, honey, light spiciness and dried fruits. Only light autolytic effect to date. Tight-packed fine fruitiness with long linear mouth-feel. Gorgeous acidic backbone and vibrancy. Fine, elegant and reserved. A wonderful Cristal vintage that is surprisingly approachable today. However, all elements ­ ripeness, acidity 90p Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Rosé T 2003 2008/2015 One of the lowest acidity years ever, this is a shortterm, fruit-forward Comtes Rosé year. 95p Roederer Cristal Rosé R 2000 2007/2020 acidic backbone. Very enjoyable from now on until 2020. Beautifully glossy almost yellow colour with orange hues. Stylish yet not very rosé-like nose: wax, caramel, dried fruits, spices and a delicate yeasty influence. Incredibly stylish, rich and full bodied but surprisingly open and layered palate. Enjoyable, however will keep for ages. Well built, almost chewy velvety texture with very ripe fruitiness, muscular feel to it yet a monumental 85 91p Deutz Cuvée William Deutz Rosé D 1999 2008/2015 and charming with a slight old world touch, harmonious and delightful. Pale glossy salmon colour. Delicate and elegant, slightly toasty ripe red fruit nose. Lingonberries, g y y dust and lactic notes. Lean on the structure. Pure, clean and fruity, but very youthful. Classical 94p P Pommery Cuvée Louise Rosé 1999 2008/2015 more delicate a wine. Round and easy vintage with a medium-term aging capacity. Almost white colour with the faintest golden apricot tinge. Pronounced smoky mineral nose with toffee, toast and tart red berries. Supertoffee, harmonious smooth palate with intense and strong flavour that lingers on and on. Easily approachable charmer whose colour would've suggested much 94p M Moët & Chandon Dom Pérignon Rosé 1998 2008/2020 10-15 years' aging. An elegant yet reserved DP Rosé vintage. Medium-deep salmon colour. Mineral and elegant spice, apple and red fruit nose with burned match arom aromatics. Smooth and harmonious restrained palate that is subtle yet intense. Very pure and reductively made. Highly youthful yet approachable. This will improve significantly with 96p B Billecart-Salmon Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon Rosé 1998 2008/2020 harmonious. Shows some development but needs some more time. Delicate pale orange-hued onion skin colour, restrained pure and fruity nose. Toast and spices. Silky mouth-feel but very youthful still, stylish, harmonious and layered. Extremely stylish and Fi n e Ta s t i n g s Medium deep salmon to peach colour with elegant small-sized bubbles. Fresh perfumey red berry nose of cherries, strawberries and spices. Full and rich body with a lush structure and not much firmness. The mousse is not one of the finest. Medium long fruity finish.

M P A G N E C H A D OMAINE À U RVILLE D EPUIS 1808 C AVES À R EIMS - F RANCE

Shopping list of Vintage 2002 Taster: Essi Avellan MW 2002 is a truly classic one with a combination of power, freshness and elegance. It is my personal favourite vintage since the monumental 1996. The good thing is that they are still emerging on to the markets. It is a vintage to lay down, so it is advisable to stock them up as they are launched onto the market. Here are my assessments of the over 90 point 2002s I've tasted since April. The focus is on vintage champagnes, as most of the prestige cuvées still rest in the producers' cellars. 93p T Taittinger 2002 2008/2020 purity of fruit of the 02 vintage. Lovely. This is well worth laying down until 2020. Lemon-green medium intense colour. Soft, forward red fruit nose with delicate yeasty complexity and spiciness. Some gunflinty minerality. Muscular firm structure with good degree of stylish minerality. Autolysis aromas starting to emerge. Smooth mousse and fresh tight acidity. Power and 87 92p Louis Roederer L 2002 2008/2025 with great potential. Classy with charm and power. Drink now-2025. Medium-deep lemony colour. Elegantly smoky and toasty nose over peach and acasia fruit. Pure and fragrant. Smoky minerality continues on the focused and firm palate. Tightly packed fruitiness 91p H Heidsieck & Co Monopole Silver Top 2002 2008/2025 until 2025. Has it all, elegance, complexity and structure. Youthful lem lemon-green colour. Stylish fragrant and minerally nose with autolytic presence. Very pure and appetizing. Wonderfully round and silky palate with linear acidity. The fruitiness is more restrained on the palate but time will be the aid to that. Great pleasure now but will drink superbly 91p V Veuve Clicquot 2002 2010/2015 This style is well enjoyable as racy as it is now or in its more tamed form from 2010-2015. Medium-deep light yellow colour. Mineral and slightly vegetal nose dominating the underlying green apple and citrus fruit. Focused, firm and tight palate. Wine for purist friends of steely, lemony champagnes. The mousse will soften with further cellaring. Fi n e Ta s t i n g s

90p D Deutz 2002 2008/2015 Further layers to be revealed with aging. Pure and straight-forward elegant. Now-2015. Medium-deep lemony colour. The nose is fruit forward with not much aging effect. Elegant white flower and stone fruit nuances. Delicate feminine style continues on the palate. Round and fresh with pleasant fruitiness. 91p C Chapuy Livre Noir 2002 2008/2015 well but will benefit from 5-10 years of storing for emergence of further autolysis aromas. Intense brigh yellow colour. Smooth harmonious bright nose with peach, acasia and apple pie aromas. Stylish smoky minerality. Similar seamlessness continues on the palate. Enough power, volume and freshness for great aging capacity. Firm with well integrated mousse. Starting to drink very 91p 88 P Palmer & Co Brut Millesime 2002 2008/2015 The palate advances like a train. Wonderful to drink from 2010 to 2015. Pale youthful lemony colour. Clean soft sweet stone fruit and green apple nose. Elegantly reserved. Same style continues on the seemingly delicate palate that hides a lot of power and fruit. Fragrant with good balance between smoky minerality and fruit. Long and intense with outstanding freshness. 90p L Louis Roederer Blanc de Blancs 2002 2008/2015 width and length for now. Drink 2010-2020. lemon-green colour of medium depth. Bright lemon Smooth, ripe white fruit nose with smoky minerality. Reserved and tight on the palate, not revealing much. Pure and firm but needs time to tame the aggression of the bubbles and to bring more charm on the palate. Searing acidity, lacks 90p A Agrapart Vénus Brut Nature 2002 2008/2015 good example of a pure grower terroir wine. Drink 2010-2015. Medium-deep developing lemony colour. Very pure peach and red apple nose. A purist palate with no dosage. The foam is still a bit aggressive and needs some time for perfect integration. Very 90p P Pierre Gimonnet Fleuron 2002 2008/2015 and tightly-packed fruitiness. Great length and depth. Drink 2010-2025. Medium-deep lemony-green colour. Soft, ripe fruit nose, peach and red apple. Delicate smokiness and some hints of deliberate oxidation. Powerful, structured palate with a wonderful acidic backbone

CHAMPAGNE TASTING Autumn 2008 · Tasted by: Juha Lihtonen 93p L Louis Roederer Cristal 2000 2008/2020 at least for 3-5 years. Blossoming assumingly 2015-2020. 92p D Dom Pérignon 1999 2008/2025 month now and has shown extraordinary vividness for Dom Pérignon. Truly a great wine ­ drinking lovely now but will keep and evolve for next 20 years! 89 Bright, yellow colour with refined small bubbles. Lovely toasty nose with creamy, lemony aromas and delicate complex yeasty touch with peppermint. The taste is very fresh. It is crisp, mineral, moderately light-bodied, complex, refined, balanced, and showing oily structure with fresh peppermint flavours in the lingering long finish. This wine has been tasted 4 times in one 91p L Louis Roederer Cristal Rosé 2000 2008/2015 Surprisingly approachable already not benefiting for long-term ageing, max 5-7 years. Light, bright weak rose colour with small bubbles. Open, voluptuous nose for Cristal ­ ripe strawberries, peaches, and apricots. Dry, broad, firm mineral, cherries and cranberries, elegant refined finish very mineral finish. 89p B Boizel Joyeau de France 1995 2008/2014 harmony and precise lingering finish. Drinking well now but will keep another 5-7 years still. Bright, golden yellow colour, rich in bubbles. Elegant, yeasty nose with toasty, brioche and biscuity aromas. Dry, crisp, and elegant palate with lean, fruity style. Light-bodied wine with lovely 89p L Louis Roederer Blanc de Blancs 2000 2008/2020 This wine is build to last. So keep at least for 3-5 years. Will keep another 10-15 years. Bright, green, small elegant bubbles. Very expressive and linear nose - very intense, mineral, lemony and peachy. The taste is also very intense, crisp, mineral, medium-bodied, broad but firm structure, very long lemony finish. Fi n e Ta s t i n g s Medium intense yellow colour. Intense, very pungent nose ­ lime and flint. Crisp and rich texture with great finesse and concetration. Mineral, lime flavours dominate with moderate finish being still closed. Lovely concentration and balance but benefit definitely from further ageing

88p G Guy Charlemagne Bague Carrée Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs 1999 2008/2025 slightly too harsh for my taste. The time will do a favour to the wine and it is probably peaking in 10-15 years and lasting 20 years or so. Very rare champagne made only 250 magnums. Moderately pale steely yellow colour with vivid fine bubbles. Pronounced nose is full of yeasty and buttery notes enhanced with toastiness and smoke. Dry and crisp palate with very pungent style, edgy and austere, toasted bred, broad phenolic finish with very mineral and citrussy aftertaste. Still too young to show entire complexity. At this stage 88p B Boizel Brut Ultime Extra Brut NV 2008/now palate. No further ageing needed. Bright, straw yellow colour. Fresh apple nose with toasted and elegant yeasty tones. Crisp, dry, light- bodied, mineral and elegant structure. Fresh apple flavours and long silky finish. Very harmonious 88p Moët&Chandon Grand Vintage Brut M 2000 2008/now Moderate length. Drink up! Lemony yellow, bright, fine bubbles. Very pleasant and broad nose with opulence, intensity and creamy richness. The taste is crisp but mellow and round enhanced with creaminess and ripe fruit. 87p Boizel Brut Réserve B NV 2008/now Persistent wine with good balance. No further ageing needed. Lemon yellow colour with vivid bubbles. Toasty nose with lemon and apple tones., Bone-dry palate with lovely crispiness. Lean, mineral and crisp green apple character. Long lingering finish. 90 87p B Boizel Rosé Brut NV 2008/now taste to immediate use. No further ageing needed. Pale, bright rose colour with vivid bubbles. Very delicate, less complex but appealingly fresh red fruit nose w with raspberries and strawberries. Dry, crisp palate with very elegant and smooth structure. Light-bodied and lean wine with lingering and concentrated finish. Harmonious 87p D De Saint Gall Blanc de Blancs Brut NV 2008/now light-bodied style. Easy drinking and joyful wine to enjoy now. Light, straw yellow colour with vivid and refined bubbles. Fresh and floral nose with apples, touch Fres of yeastiness, and hints of toffee. Crisp, fresh and and creamy texture with supple palate, fruity and 86p M Moët&Chandon Grand Vintage Rosé Brut 2000 2008/now the gums and medium length. Drink up! Moderately light, rose colour, fine bubbles. Intense nose is almost too much of a bubble gum sensation. Ye opulent with creamy strawberries, Yet brioche aromas. On palate wine is round, mediumbodied, moderately crisp and light-bodied with ripe strawberries, delicate phenolic sensation on 86p A A. Chauvet Brut NV 2008/now long finish. No further ageing needed. Straw yellow, vivid bubbles. Creamy, yeasty nose with pears a and apple aromas. Rich, round, less refined but balanced and creamy texture with pungent apple and citrus flavours in moderately 82p G Gosset Grande Cuvée NV 2008/2012 and little burning finish. Lacking balance now, might improve after ageing 3 to 4 years. Light, yellow, vivid bubbles. Medium-intense nose with toffee and apples. The palate is dry and crisp with rich mousse. Very lean taste with onedimensional style. Green apple flavours. Austere

Decade in Bubbles Champagne Vintages 1980-1989 92 Text: Juha Lihtonen Unlike what is commonly thought, champagnes are very long-living wines. Depending on the style, they usually improve over the years, even decades. When comparing different decades, the champagnes of the 2000s and 1990s are often still tight and closed, while the champagnes of the 1980s start showing their complexity and opulence. One can now sense very subtle aromas in them, and the sharp acidity often troubling young vintages has disappeared. The balance of the champagnes are now highlighted, and the wines' multidimensionality and layers stand out. The best champagnes of the 1980s preserve their vitality and deliciousness for a few decades still, while the most modest champagnes are at their peak. At times, champagne's joy of life may continue for a very long time. We have experienced it at its longest in the 1884 Moët & Chandon, which still a few months ago was lively and very rich in nuances. If we now had to choose the most enjoyable vintage champagnes from one decade, we think they would be from the 1980s. These wines combine a lively youthfulness in harmony with a fine maturity. Therefore, we decided to direct our gaze to that fascinating decade and its vintages. For what is the decade remembered in Champagne? As international demand grew stronger, the small producers lost their grip on the market as the big ones grew even more influential. In 1982, ten of the largest champagne houses were responsible for 70% of the entire champagne sales. As competition got tighter and sales grew, producers experienced in the 80s the biggest harvests in the history of Champagne until then. From the massive harvests of 1982 and 1983, in total some 600 million bottles of champagne were produced, which exceeded sales by 70 percent. As a result of the more modest and smaller harvests of the previous years, the merchants had a great need to be able to sell vintage wines of abundant harvests quickly. The situation was slowed down by the fact that the champagne's production regulations had defined a year's minimum maturing time from bottling to releasing for sale. Some of the producers thus brought the bottling forward and were able to get the wines on the market for Christmas next year. As a result of this, wines whose fermentation and maturation had been interrupted and whose acids were unbalanced ended up on the market, and the development of the wines in bottles was not stable. The quality suffered and threatened to stain the reputation of the whole area. CIVC, the organ overseeing the area's interests, intervened in the matter and set a regulation in 1984, which forbade the bottling of the harvest year's wines before the first of January next year. The situation was fixed. Even though the abundant harvest years of the early decade were followed by quantitatively lean years, the Champagne region's and its wines' decade of growth culminated in the year 1989, when a quarter of a billion bottles of champagne were sold.

Weak vintage delayed the flowering. The volatile weather led to an unstable fruit set, which resulted in millerandage, i.e. different-sized berries developing in the bunches. This led to a small harvest, which matured unevenly. The weather, which continued to be chilly and rainy over the summer, made the harvest arrive much later than usual. As if by miracle, at the end of September, a dry and sunny weather front which saved the harvest year from catastrophe arrived in Champagne. The sugar content of the grapes, however, remained modest, which forced most of the producers to chaptalize higher than usual. As a result of this, there are big differences in wines. Even though the result was for the most part passable, a few champagne houses whose sites were favorably situated in regards to the sun delayed their harvest all the way until November. The harvest remained small, and the vintage can hardly be seen on the market. Sharp acids and a light taste have marked the wines from the start. If you can still find this wine in the cellar, enjoy it quickly. Best experiences 1980 Moët & Chandon Dom Pérignon 88 (2006/2015) 93 Good vintage winter sleep early, and vegetal growth began early in the spring. Unfortunately, heavy night frosts came in April and damaged the young sprouts. The situation only got worse when in May hailstorms damaged the vineyards. After this, the weather stayed cold, and the vines did not flower until very late. In general, Chardonnay succeeded better than the red varieties in the flowering phase. August and September brought belief back to the producers, when the weather turned hot and sunny. Grapes matured in record speed, and it was possible to do the harvest right before the late September rains. As a result of previous lean harvest years, producers confirmed the sufficiency of non-vintage blends, and a large part of this vintage's wines ended up as blend wines. Thankfully, some of the producers also produced vintage champagnes. They have generally proven to be balanced and even excellent. The wines still have posture, elegance and concentration, even though the wines do not improve further in the cellar. The best experiences this year have been produced by Krug, whose blend exceptionally is half Chardonnay. For friends of Pinot Noir, the best wines were produced in Aÿ. Challenging weather conditions left a small harvest and kept the producers in suspense up until the final moments. The final result was a good but very scarce vintage. The mild spring woke up the vines from their Best experiences 1981 Charles Heidsieck Charlie 1981 Krug Collection 95 (2008/now) 93 (2002/2010) 1981 Krug Vintage 90 (2004/2014) Fi n e V i n ta g e s The difficult and unstable weather conditions that prevailed during the whole year produced a small and modest vintage. The chilly and rainy spring and early summer

Great vintage One of the decade's best vintages, which can be well enjoyed now. The winter was cold and the spring cool. The cold weather moved the start of the growth season and enabled the vines to avoid spring frosts. The inflorescences, which bloomed in June, enjoyed perfect conditions. The warm and sunny weather continued through summer all the way until early September, when refreshing and needed rains arrived in the area. They saved the grapes from overmaturing. The result was an excellent vintage, which in addition to being high-quality was quantitatively one of the biggest harvests ever. The vintage was favorable especially for blanc de blancs. Stylistically, the wines are giving, heavy and rich in nuances. They are now at an excellent age, but can still endure maturing 5­7 years on the average. Best experiences 1982 Louis Roederer Cristal 1982 Krug Vintage 1982 Dom Pérignon 97 (2006/2016) 95 (2007/2018) 93 (2008/2016) 1982 Philipponnat 1982 Krug Clos du Mesnil 92 (2005/now) 87 (2007/now) Very Good Vintage 94 The 1983 vintage was one of the decade's most mature vintages and is at its best today. This vintage was not born without pain, either. If the 1982 winter was cold and the spring cool, then this year it was many more times so. The damp and chilly spring delayed the start of the flowering. When the flowering finally took place, the weather conditions were excellent. The summer was warm and sunny. As in the previous year, fall rains saved the grapes from drying up. Along with the rains of early September, temperatures fell and the maturing slowed down. The weather improved toward the end of September, and the harvest was reaped in early October. The vintage grew to be even bigger than the 1982 one. The wines have matured noticeably faster than the 1982 vintage. Stylistically, the wines are robust, lush and at a really enjoyable age right now. Best experiences 1983 Krug Clos du Mesnil 1983 Alfred Gratien 1983 Charles Heidsieck Blanc des Millénaires 98 (2006/2020) 93 (2007/2015) 93 (2008/2012) 1983 Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque 1983 José Michel Cuvée Pere Hodart Brut 92 (2007/now) 91 (2001/now) Poor Vintage Miserable harvest year. The whole year was marked by rains, chilliness and mold problems. All the wine was used for blending in the non-vintage cuvées.

Excellent Vintage harvest year. The frosts that plagued the area tested the residents of Champagne in a way that was last felt 150 years ago. In January, the temperature in the area was -25 degrees Celsius. As the vines were still hibernating, they were saved from massive destruction. When the vines finally awoke, the temperature had risen to -15 degrees. It was not enough, however, and about 10 percent of the vineyards froze. The temperatures in the area were still many degrees below zero in April. Thankfully, the sensitive flowering phase was saved from the frosts, and the weather changed substantially. The summer temperatures were hot in August and September. The long Indian summer continued, and the harvest took place in late September. The result was a small harvest of concentrated grapes. Stylistically, the wines were still tight and vigorous. The high concentration of their taste and the aroma layers, however, reveal the potential of the wines. The wines are still young, and some are only opening up, so they will improve by being stored for 7­10 years. Champagne year of the decade. One can forecast a long life still for these champagnes. The year 1985 turned out to be an exceptional Best experiences 1985 Bollinger Vieilles Vignes Françaises 1985 Krug Clos du Mesnil 1985 Philipponnat Clos des Goisses 1985 Louis Roederer Cristal 1985 Billecart-Salmon Blanc de Blancs 1985 Charles Heidsieck Charlie 1985 Krug Collection 98 (2006/2015) 98 (2007/2020) 97 (2006/2015) 97 (2007/2020) 96 (2005/now) 95( 2008/now) 94 (2008/2017) 1985 Dom Ruinart Rosé 1985 Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame 1985 Bollinger Vintage Rosé 1985 Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque 1985 Dom Pérignon Rosé 1985 Deutz Vinothéque 1985 Pol Roger Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill 94 (2008/now) 94 (2008/2015) 93 (2008/2015) 92 (2007/2010) 92 (2007/2015) 90 (2007/2013) 90 (2006/2020) 95 Moderately Good Vintage Generally, a good vintage and even excellent in places. The mild and rainy spring turned into summer fairly early, and the flowering of the vines began in late June in good hot and sunny conditions. At the turn of August and September, the weather turned rainier. Rots took over the vineyards and caused problems in the quality of the grapes. At the same time, rains delayed pickings, and they took place from late September to early November. Many producers hesitated to begin the harvest hoping the weather would dry out. The result, however, was a fairly abundant harvest, from which the wines produced by careful selection are excellent. The best example of this is Philipponnat's Clos des Goisses, which with its heaviness, tropical fruitiness and richness in nuances represents the best of the vintage. On the whole, the champagnes of this vintage are at an ideal age to be enjoyed now. Best experiences 1986 Louis Roederer Cristal 1986 Krug Clos du Mesnil 1986 Philipponnat Clos des Goisses 95 (2007/2018) 95 (2008/2020) 94 (2008/now) 1986 Dom Ruinart Rosé 1986 Pol Roger Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill 1986 Dom Ruinart 93 (2004/now) 92 (2005/2020) 92 (2004/now) Fi n e V i n ta g e s

Poor vintage group CIVC introduced new regulations to improve the quality of champagnes. The farmers were paid bigger compensations when selling grapes and not wine. For the producers, however, it was made so that buying ready wine was more expensive than from the grapes themselves. This year was the gap year of the decade. It was still not enough to save the weak 1987 harvest year. The spring was exceptionally rainy, and the summer continued in the same vein. In between, however, there was a suitable moment for flowering in June. In August, three more good weeks were still experienced before the fall rains and rot problems. A few announced they had made vintage wine, but in general, the vintage was really modest and was used solely for nonvintage wines. Generally speaking, the rainy year produced a lean harvest, and it was impossible to produce ntage good vintage wines. This year, the area s intere This area's interest Very good vintage Winter and spring were fairly mild. Flowering began in good weather in June. Already during the next month, the cloud masses swarmed to the Champagne province. Finally, the sky broke right before harvest. The harvest remained smaller than in the previous year. Even though the weather was unstable, the vintage produced fine and elegant wines, of which many have just reached their peak. The wines are marked by high acids and a concentrated, precise style. A real classic vintage. There is no rush to enjoy these wines, as they endure storage well and will continue to develop well for the next 10­12 years. Indicative of a slowly maturing vintage is that Krug released to the market first the Clos du Mesnil 1989 vintage before the 1988 vintage. This year has also stayed in mind as the vintage when Jacquesson & Fils produced the first of its three late bottled special cuvées ­ the Jacquesson DT (Dégorgement Tardif). h h l d fi From this year, the most classic and refined champagnes were produced. Champagnes are longlived and mature slowly to their peak. Best experiences 96 1988 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne 1988 Dom Pérignon 1988 Louis Roederer Cristal 1988 Piper-Heidsieck Rare Millésime 1988 Krug Clos du Mesnil ug 98 (2008/now) 97 (2008/2016) 97 (2006/2030) 97 (2008/now) 97 (2007/2014) 7 (200 1988 Louis Roederer Cristal Rosé 1988 Dom Ruinart Rosé 1988 Krug Vintage 1988 Salon 1988 Philipponnat Clos des Goisses 96 (2008/2020) 96 (2008/2015) 96 (2007/2010) 96 (2007/2020) 95 (2007/2020) 1988 Taittinger Brut Vintage 94 (2007/now) 1988 Jacquesson DT 92 (2007/2012) 1988 Dom Ruinart 90 (2008/now) Very good vintage warmth throughout the year. The spring frosts killed some of the sprouts reducing the harvest by even 20%. Flowering was interrupted as a result of the exceptionally cold weather. This was followed by the maturing of grapes in two phases. The first harvest was done already in the beginning of September and the second in the beginning of October. All in all, the result was a big harvest of good wines. The vintage has been compared to what others think are the legendary hot vintages of the century ­ 1947, 1959 and 1976. The wines are marked by a rich essence, a heavy taste, a tropical fruitiness and milder acids. The vintage matures noticeably faster than 1988 and 1990, reaching its peak in the next 3­5 years. A warm vintage, when simply charming wine wines were produced. There was not, however, enough Best experiences 1989 Louis Roederer Cristal 1989 Charles Heidsieck Brut Millésimé 1989 Louis Roederer Cristal Rosé 1989 Krug Vintage 96 (2007/2017) 95 (2008/2012) 95 (2008/2022) 95 (2007/2010) 1989 Philipponnat Clos des Goisses 1989 Jacquesson DT 1989 Krug Clos du Mesnil 1989 Deutz Blanc de Blancs 94 (2005/2010) 1989 Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame 93 (2008/now) 92 (2008/now) 94 (2005/2010) 1989 Pommery Cuvée Louise 92 (2008/now) 94 (2007/2019) 1989 Louis Roederer Rosé 94 (2008/2014) On the whole, the decade offered many good vintages, of which the best sensations were provided by the vintages 1983, 1986 and 1989. Right now they are at their best, while the 1980 and 1981 vintages are already in a more mature phase, and it is a good idea to enjoy them quickly, if they are still found in cellars. Still waiting for their best days are the vintages 1982, 1985 and 1988, which during the next five years will mature to be more subtle and more enjoyable than before, so it is a good idea to store these wines in the cellar for a longer time. Indeed, especially fortunate are the people born in the 80s, because almost without exception, brilliant, beautifully matured yet youthfully vital champagnes are enjoyed at their 30th birthdays.

BE RESPONSIBLE. ©2008 CHAMPAGNE MOËT & CHANDON

98 Champagne as an investment The Champenois have probably never had it so good. "We are working in utopia at the moment," says Patrick Le Brun, president of the Syndicat General des Vignerons de la Champagne. Over the last year or so, Méthuselah of Dom Pérignon Rosé were allegedly selling for $100,000/74,000 each in Dubai nightclubs, where a motley crew of sheiks, Russians and international playboys are all trying to outspend each other. Veuve Clicquot has produced "Yellowboams," packaged in alligator and ostrich skin, costing 1,500 a bottle, and Harrods sold the self-proclaimed "most expensive Jéroboam in the world" for £7,750/9,765 ­ a "limited edition" Dom Pérignon 1995, with a matching Chaumet necklace available for a further £21,000/26,460. Laurent-Perrier offered its own "limited edition" of 250 bottles of Cuvée Rosé Brut, each accompanied by a Baccarat crystal vase, for £1,000/1,260 each ­ again available only at Harrods. For three weeks in February 2008, Harrods was offering Dom Pérignon Oenothèque 1975 for £250/315 ­ per glass. The 1995 Oenothèque was "only" £60/75.60 a glass. Thank you, Messrs Al-Fayed and Geoffroy... In April 2008, it was announced that Krug Clos d'Ambonnay would be sold by the glass at The Connaught in Mayfair for £750/945. Afterwards, one could wander down to Peter Jones in Sloane Square and drink a cup of coffee for £50/63. And in June, Perrier-Jouët released ten "limited edition" 12-bottle cases of the world's first "tailor-made champagne" ­ Cuvée Belle Epoque "By & For" at £35,000 (sic) per case. Text: Stuart George

In her study of the British Empire Pax Brittanica, Jan Morris points out that during the Diamond Jubilee year of 1897 Britain imported more champagne than at any other time in its history. But a new record for champagne imports was established in 2007, doubtless helped by the high number of wealthy expats in London these days. At Harrods, champagne accounted for 25 per cent of fine wine sales in 2007. In these supposedly difficult times, it is perverse that luxury is outselling commodity. The super-rich spend their hardearned money as if to mock the economic climate ­ "Credit crunch? I eat it for breakfast" ­ and they do it accompanied by plenty of champagne. Demand for champagne is static in its homeland, but the value of global champagne sales has doubled since 1988, while the number of bottles produced has risen only 23 per cent, according to the Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne. The CIVC has named China, India and Russia as its top three targets. Russia in particular has a long history of drinking Champagne ­ after all, it was the Tsars for whom Louis Roederer created Cristal. According to figures cited by Newsweek in its March 24, 2008 edition, consumption of champagne in Russia grew by 41 per cent and in the UAE by 18 per cent in 2007. Like the Bordelais, the Champenois have taken full advantage of the global rise in wealth and the opening up of new markets, and are attempting to capture new business from the top down, promoting their most prestigious wines before its larger volume brands. Subsequently (and also like the Bordelais en primeur system), they have offered recent releases such as the aforementioned Dom Pérignon Oenothèque 1975 and Krug Clos d'Ambonnay 1995 at record prices. Champagne houses are under less pressure than Bordeaux châteaux to finance the production of their top wines because they have cash flow by selling large quantities of non-vintage wines each year. This puts them in a position to exert much more control over supply and enables them to wait until the wines are maturely drinkable before releasing them onto the market ­ at a higher price, naturally. Investing in Decadence Fuelled by insatiable demand, the prices achieved by top champagne in the secondary and auction markets over the last few years have been remarkable, though in volume terms it remains insignificant. Overall, champagne has underperformed in the Liv-ex 500 (a composite index that tracks the world's top 500 wines, with prices taken from the list prices of Liv-ex's merchant members, estimated to account for 70 per cent of the world's fine wine sales) since the start of the current bull market in 2005. Since 2002, however, champagne has slightly outperformed the broader market and provided an average compound return of 15 per cent. Production volumes are high compared to other "investment" wines ­ according to Clive Coates MW, Dom Pérignon produces "more than the combined total of all the other deluxe brands put together" ­ but the vast majority of champagne is bought to drink (or spray) rather than as an investment or to cellar, so supply in the market tends to disappear quickly. And top prestige cuvées arguably have less competition than the top red Bordeaux brands because there are fewer of them. Even though the top wines meet most, if not all, of the investment criteria in terms of status, quality, ageing potential, price appreciation, rarity, critical acclaim, and demand, the portfolios of professionally managed wine funds apparently hold less than one per cent of assets in Champagne. Prices are therefore likely to be less sensitive than other wines to recent turmoil in the financial markets, hence Bernard Arnault's "agreeable problem" (see p. 102). 99 Fi n e I n v e s t i n g

Secondary Fermentations The Liv-ex Champagne 25 Index ­ which tracks the price of 25 of the world's most sought after vintage champagnes ­ has risen 27 per cent since June 2007. Figures for the year to the end of September 2008 show that the Champagne 25 Index has outperformed the FTSE, S&P and Nikkei stock market indices. It has even outperformed the Liv-ex 100 Fine Wine Index (based on the price movement of 100 of the most sought-after fine wines), which rose by 8.5 per cent. The Champagne 25 Index was up by 13.6 per cent; the FTSE was down by 24.1 percent. The best performing Champagnes from the acclaimed 1996 vintage are up by as much as 56 per cent since 2007. Champagne Vintage Price June 2007 Price June 2008 % increase Krug Cristal Dom Pérignon 1996 1996 1996 £1,500 £1,750 £1,200 £2,350 £2,500 £1,700 +56% +43% +42% (All prices are for 12x75cl cases excluding VAT and duty) 100 Based on these figures, the case for investing in top champagne during these troubled times is irresistible. There is, however, one dark cloud looming on the otherwise sunny sky over Reims. Recent high prices have been part-supported by a limited supply, but the boundaries of the region that held firm since 1927 have finally been breached. In March 2008, the INAO approved 40 new areas in which to grow Champagne grapes, bringing the total number of communes to 357. Planting is not anticipated until 2015 and wine will not be available from these new vineyards until at least 2021 ­ and (we hope...) even later for prestige cuvées. Until then, prices are likely to continue to rise. During 2007, the price per hectare of Champagne vineyards increased to an average of 95,300. In Bordeaux, the average is 64,400, and in Burgundy 87,000, according to SAFER (Société d'Aménagement Foncier et d'Environnement Rural Secs). Yields have also been increased from 13,000 kg/ha to 15,500 kg/ha from the 2007 vintage. This has allowed the Champenois potentially to squeeze more than 400 million bottles from the region's 33,500 ha. The expansion of the AOC and these higher yields could result in 40 per cent more champagne being produced by 2020 than at the start of the new millennium, though some producers argue that even with this new expanded area the Champagne AC is smaller than it was in the late nineteenth century. They also argue that the new communes and higher permitted yields have no effect on the production of the top wines, which are (they claim) carefully controlled to ensure consistent quality. But with no production figures readily available for these wines, such claims must be taken with a pinch of salt. The Three Emperors As the figures cited above suggest, in the secondary market and auction room it is invariably the Cristal, Dom Pérignon and Krug triumvirate that attracts the most attention. Although made in comparatively large quantities to most wines, these three do not declare a vintage every year, even if Dom Pérignon and Cristal have been produced in seven out of ten vintages in the '90s. Thus far, Krug has released only four vintage wines from that decade. Krug apparently produces about 500,000 bottles (including Grand Cuvée) each year. Louis Roederer probably produces a comparable quantity of Cristal to vintage Krug, albeit rather more often. Thanks to the insatiable thirst of Gangsta rappers and footballers' wives (and Russians), Cristal remains the leading prestige cuvée brand, according to Liv-ex. It has appreciated by nearly 200 per cent since January 2001, more than twice the return of Krug or Dom Pérignon, which are up by over 90 per cent and 80 per cent respectively. Nonetheless, these wines still look relatively inexpensive compared to top red Bordeaux. Cristal 1990, for example, was offered in the market in April 2008 at about £300/378 per bottle. This is less than half the price of first growth claret of comparable quality and repute. In the summer of 2005, Cristal 1996 was trading at a comparable price to Lafite 1998, at approximately £100/126 per bottle. As of June 2008, Lafite was over £400/504 per bottle; Cristal's average price was about £200/252.

Krug Awakening Even before it had officially been released, Zachys sold two six-bottle wooden cases of Clos d'Ambonnay for $22,000/16,280 each on February 8, 2008 at its Las Vegas auction, equivalent to $3,666/2,713 a bottle and about what the wine was likely to sell for when released in Spring 2008. Zachys' CEO Don Zacharia would not reveal where the wine came from. Because of these high release prices, the cost of older Krug vintages and comparable wines has increased markedly. Since its release in June 2007, the price of Krug 1996 has appreciated from £1,500/1,890 to over £2,450/3,087 per case (as of June 2008), making the wine more expensive than any other vintage Krug currently available, though the 1985 also enjoyed a 20 per cent increase on its December 2007 price to break through the £2,000/2,520 barrier in February. That month saw Krug 1995 as the most heavily traded champagne in the secondary market, reported Liv-ex. Supported by high ratings (including a 98 from the Wine Spectator) and looking good value compared to the 1996 vintage, the 1995 was listed at £995 a case, compared to £2,095 for the 1996. By June, the 1995 was selling at £1,690/2,129 and the 1996 at £2,895/3,648. Rising Bubbles In what was otherwise a flat start to the year, champagne prices at auctions in the first quarter of 2008 remained very buoyant. In the second quarter, they exploded. At Sotheby's New York on 15 March 2008, 12 bottles of Krug Clos du Mesnil 1985 sold for $9,500/7,030 (estimate $5,000­7,000); nine bottles of Clos du Mesnil 1989 went for $7,500/5,550 (estimate $4,500­5,500); 12 bottles of Dom Pérignon 1990 made $2,750/2,035 (estimate $1,800­2,500); six magnums of Cristal 1996 achieved $4,750/3,515 (estimate $2,250­ 3,000); and 12 bottles of Cristal 1990 sold for $7,260/5,372 (estimate $4,000­6,000). Krug Collection 1953 and Private Cuvée 1953 made prices well beyond their estimates at Christie's Paris sale of "Vins Fins et Spiritueux" on 1 April 2008. Magnums of these wines made 2,500 (estimate 1,200­1,600) and 1,600 respectively (estimate 700­900). A Méthuselah of Cristal 1990 made £9,200/11,592 (estimate £7,000­9,000) at Sotheby's in London on 12 September, surely a then-record price for this Cristal format. None appeared at auction during the first quarter of 2008, but from April onwards it began reappearing at even higher prices. On 26 April, Christie's sold a Méthuselah for $18,000/13,320 (estimate $12,000­18,000) in New York. Another was sold at Christie's Geneva on 13 May for CHF26,000/$24,960/18,470 (estimate CHF15,000­20,000). Then Sotheby's offered one at an estimate of £8,000­10,000 that sold for £11,500/14,490. In 2007, these Méthuselah averaged £8,500/10,795, so Sotheby's price represents a 35 per cent increase. John Kapon of New York auctioneers Acker Merrall & Condit has long felt that champagne prices could skyrocket like those of Bordeaux and Burgundy, and recent results prove his point. Although Burgundy accounted for most of the high bids, the heart of Acker Merrall & Condit's auction of "A Selection From the Cellar of Robert A. Rosania" on April 25 was "Big Boy's" champagne collection. Even Kapon described the collection as "so over the top, in order to read through his inventory one has to take a day off!" Rosania apparently owned 22 cases of Salon 1982 and nearly 400 cases of the 1996, as well as four cases of 1969 Cristal, 100 cases each of '85, '88, '89, '90 and '96 Krug, and over 100 magnums of pre-1979 Krug. Dom Pérignon Rosé reached an unimaginable price here. Two bottles of 1959 ­ the first vintage of DP Rosé and never commercially available ­ went for almost ten times the high estimate at $70,000/51,800 as two phone bidders went toe-to-toe for nearly three minutes all the way up from $6,000/4,440 to the final hammer. "It was like nothing I have ever seen," said Kapon afterwards, though if he had attended Zachys' 14­15 September 2007 sale, he would have witnessed Cristal Rosé 1974 (a good year chez Roederer), estimated at $1,800­3,000, going for an unbelievable $20,000/14,800. Other auctioneers were skeptical but the Rosania champagnes were 100 per cent sold, showing just how strong demand is for blue chip examples of top cuvées. The collection also included another interesting rarity in Krug Blanc de Blancs 1966 ­ just "500 or so" bottles made, according to Rémi Krug. It sold for $10,000/7,400 (estimate $10,000­15,000) for one bottle. A Krug Blanc de Blancs was not produced by again until 1979 with the first vintage of Clos du Mesnil, a complete 13-bottle vertical of which (1979­1996) went for $24,000/17,760 (estimate $15,000­20,000). Other highlights from the Rosania cellar included six magnums of Krug Collection 1969, which made $26,000/19,240 (estimate $18,000­24,000); six magnums of Krug 1982 at $9,000/6,660 (estimate $6,000­ 8,000); a magnum of Louis Roederer 1929 at $13,000/9,620 (estimate $8,000­12,000); a magnum of Salon 1964 at $9,000/6,660 (estimate $7,000­10,000); and single bottles of Pol Roger Extra Cuvée de Réserve 1914 and Cristal 1949, which made $16,000/11,840 (estimate $8,000 ­15,000) and $6,500/4,810 (estimate $4,000­6,000) respectively. Acker Merrall's strong form with champagne continued at its inaugural Hong Kong sale on 31 May. A lot of one magnum each of Dom Pérignon Oenothèque 1966, 1973 and 1976 made $75,000/HK$600,000/55,500 (estimate $20,000­30,000/HK$160,000­240,000). It must have been the "signed memento from Richard Geoffroy" included with the bottles that caused the bidding to go so high. Clos d'Ambonnay was also offered here and made $20,000/HK$160,000/14,800 (estimate HK$160,000­240,000/$20,000­ 30,000). Perhaps it was originally bought at Zachys... 101 Fi n e I n v e s t i n g

"An agreeable problem" Jussi Pylkkänen, the English born but Finnishdescended President of Christie's Europe, has claimed that there are now three times as many buyers at the top end of the art market as there were during the previous boom in the 1980s. "Buyers from Russia, the Middle East and China are appearing in significant numbers. These are people from three very sophisticated cultures with long histories of collecting art. As a result of social, political and economic changes, the door has been swung open for the Russians to buy again, for the Chinese to start buying international art and for Middle Eastern buyers, too. Because those changes are unlikely to be reversed, these new buyers are here to stay." He might have been talking about champagne rather than art. In February 2008, LVMH announced its intention to increase its prices again for the year ahead as global demand for its champagnes, notably Dom Pérignon and Veuve Clicquot, surged. 102 LVMH raised prices by five per cent on average in 2007 to offset increasing grape costs and declines by Asian currencies and the dollar against the euro. Its luxury cuvée prestige wines became 6 per cent more expensive last year, while prices of rosé wines jumped as much as 21 percent. However, by October 2008, it was being reported that LVMH's wine and spirits division was lagging behind its other major operating groups ­ Fashion and Leather goods; Perfumes and Cosmetics; Watches and Jewelry, and Selective Retailing. The CIVC reported a 2.6 per cent drop in sales for the first eight months of 2008, though the Champenois were apparently unconcerned, with 2007 having been such an exceptional year for sales. Bernard Arnault, CEO of LVMH and France's richest man, said in an interview on February 6, "Take Wall Street: When markets are doing well, the traders celebrate with champagne, and when they are doing badly, the traders drown their chagrin with our bubbly! It's a rather agreeable problem to have..." It was hard not to notice that many of the formerly well-paid Lehman Brothers employees carried their personal possessions in empty wine boxes ­ most often champagne ­ as they were escorted off the premises. As these sacked City workers drowned their sorrows in the bars of Canary Wharf in London during September and October 2008, there was a brief but noticeable boom in champagne sales as they drowned their sorrows in style ­ a fitting end to a bubbly period in London. Bubbles always burst, though ­ even in Champagne ­ and utopia can turn into dystopia. Perhaps Monsieur Arnault and the other Champenois should remember what the French poet and diplomat Paul Claudel ­ eerily anticipating 2008's credit crunch ­ is alleged to have said: "Gentlemen, in the little moment that remains to us between the crisis and the catastrophe, we may as well drink a glass of champagne." Which proves Monsieur Arnault's point...

champagne challenge Text & Photos: Bernadette O'Shea 104 As clouds began churning in the late afternoon sky above Sydney, wind gusts picked up at street level, skittering leaves and urban flotsam. Something big was building in the heavens. Word soon flashed around the city centre that a monumental storm, at present lashing the coast up north, was heading for the city and people were to take precautions. Not tonight, surely not, the night of the Vin de Champagne Awards dinner, with 140 invited guests set to arrive at the Opera House in just a few hours. Au alia's uni q tr s e u have contributed to a notable spike in champagne statistics for a country of only 20 million people. Consistently, Australia is ranked among the top ten markets for champagne imports. "For the first time, imports for 2007 hit the 3 million bottle mark, jumping nearly 12% on 2006," said Elisabeth Drysdale, Director of the Champagne Information Centre, which administers the Awards. The contest is in two parts. First up is a written component earlier in the year which makes challenging demands requiring extensive champagne comprehension, method of production, history, palate judgment and opinion based on broad knowledge. When the twelve As it happened, nature's fury spent itself out at sea before lashing the metropolis, and the guests who stepped from their limousines by the grand staircase were decidedly grateful for the dry, balmy evening. Inside the Guillaume at Bennelong, the stellar restaurant occupying the smallest "sail" of the Opera House on the quay side, the carefree crowd gathering on the upper terrace was sipping Ayala Zéro Dosage. Among them were twelve men and women who had more to be thankful for than just the passing of a storm. They were celebrating the completion of the final act in their bid to win the coveted award, the demanding examination about champagne before four judges. After long months of practice and study, it was over as of today. All that remained now was to find out who had won. And the only people who knew that were also on the upper terrace, sipping Ayala: the judges. This year, Daniel Lorson, Information Director of Comité Interprofessionel du Vin de Champagne (CIVC), had flown out especially for the day. He was joined on the panel by chief judge, author and wine writer Huon Hooke, wine lecturer Peter Bourne, and me, I'm honoured to say, all of us past winners of the award. Unique and significant The Vin de Champagne Awards have been going for 35 years. They are unique to Australia and

winners of part one are announced, their training regimen gathers pace in the months before the final test. Martin McAdam, an engineer from Brisbane, was the Amateur winner in 2006. He says most people think the Vin de Champagne Awards are only about drinking a lot of champagne ­ and he admits that a fridge filled with half-empty foil-wrapped champagne bottles may give that impression! "But the palate's only part of the challenge," he says. "It is also important to have an intimate knowledge of champagne making, history, the process, the terroir, the producers, house styles and the characters of vintages and to be able to talk and write about it in a way that enthuses others. "You need to be able to express your knowledge and experience so that others can understand and appreciate what champagne is all about." Winners become lifelong champagne ambassadors, actively promoting champagne across all walks of life. Daniel Lorson agrees. For the CIVC, the award has proved to be "a fantastic educational and promotional tool for champagne". "It has enabled us to build a network of champagne devotees and afficionados across the whole of Australia. Some of the past winners are now real experts and contribute by their lectures, workshops and tastings to a better understanding of the region and its wines. The contest is exclusive to Australia and makes this market very special for the Champenois," he said. John Leydon, Elisabeth Drysdale, Martin Williams MW and Wiremu Andrews. the evening was Hiramasa Kingfish Sashimi with crème fraîche and Sterling caviar, accompanied by Bollinger Rosé NV. This new release has 5 per cent added red Pinot Noir from the family's Grand Cru vineyards, the Côte aux Enfants in Aÿ and their vineyard in Verzenay. On the palate are wild strawberries and figs ­ powerful and flavoursome in true Bollinger style ­ yet with a firm acid backbone that sang happily with the sashimi. The Blueswimmer Crab Meat served on celeriac purée with beurre noisette was a perfect match for Louis Roederer Cristal 2002. The enticingly delicate bouquet in this wine followed with finesse and elegance on the palate, displaying yellow peach, raspberry and pink grapefruit, all surrounded by a prickly dryness. This worked ideally with the richness of the crab meat and texture of the celeriac. And how stylishly the Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill 1998 partnered the Southern Bluefin Tuna cooked à la plancha with confit of eggplant and capsicum! With its delicious mousse of tiny bubbles, it showed both youth and concentration, with leafy scents of moss and field mushrooms and purple iris. The palate reflected deep berries, and fresh notes of citrus fruits and mint, and the structure was compact with an elegant length on the finish. In all, guests were served 16 champagnes from different houses throughout the evening and what a treat that was: a fitting feast for our spectacular harbour setting. And the winners are... The finalists were dispersed among the different tables, so all the guests had their resident expert and would-be champion to wish hard for when the moment arrived. Winners are announced in three sections: professional ­ those who earn income from the food and wine industry, amateur ­ those with a passion for champagne, and student ­ those aged up to 27 who are enrolled in a wine or hospitality course. These finalists had come from all over Australia, and many were far from home. Others were mid journey such as Trish and Tim, the Brisbane doctor duo who met up for the night in Sydney, she flying back from New York that day to be with finalist Tim for the announcement, and he flying out to New York the next morning to present at a conference of eye surgeons. Champagne ambassadors can pop up anywhere. Though it wasn't Tim's night, he says he'll return next time to fight on. The Amateur award went to South Australian teacher, John Leydon, the Student award to Wiremu Andrews from Victoria, and the Professional winner was Martin Williams MW, a winemaker and wine consultant from Victoria ­ and, as it happens, a regular contributor to FINE Champagne Magazine. The palate challenge, though essential, is the smallest part of the competition and it is the ensuing interview that is critical. Each finalist is given three champagnes in a blind tasting and twenty minutes in which to assess them and write 105 Rare treats As guests moved to their tables for the sevencourse dinner, champagne talk was bubbling about everywhere and anticipation was in the air. Not only among the finalists, with their special interest in the announcements to come, but among all of us eager to try chef Guillaume Brahimi's menu, carefully devised to match the two or three champagnes to be served with each course. The chemistry at play between champagne and food was enthralling, and the first great pairing of Fi n e C h a l l e n g e

notes for the judges. This year the champagnes were Delamotte NV, Ayala 1999, and R de Ruinart NV. The two NVs were high-component Chardonnay wines, whereas the Ayala was Pinot Noir driven and expressing all the characters of the 1999 vintage. During the twenty-five minute interview, each candidate responds to general champagne questions, covering all aspects of champagne production. Then follows a discussion relating to the tasted wines and each finalist talks us through how they reached their conclusions, in the process discussing the styles and qualities. This makes just guessing the House or vintage impossible, and it's a great way of discovering dedicated and talented palates. Professional category winner, Martin Williams commented about how difficult it is to perform well. It's true that nerves can play an unwanted part on the day, and although we try to make the interview as relaxed as possible, it's never exactly a stress-free experience. Even for us judges, because we're keen for every finalist to do his or her best. There is a beautiful ceremony of recognition which includes the presentation of the CIVC medal to each winner, usually in the presence of ambassadors and CIVC dignitaries. This is of course the coveted moment, and the hand-crafted bronze medal is something very special for the trophy mantle back home. 106 Martin feels that for him it was the amount of preparation he'd done that carried him through. The secret of his success, he says, was the steady, structured training he embarked on in the leadup, and then remaining calm when it counted. "For many it's the start of an exciting and passionate relationship with champagne," says Elisabeth Drysdale. And Daniel Lorson pays tribute to "the great friendship which has developed over the years between the producers of Champagne and the award winners". Their arrival in Champagne in early October is just at the end of the harvest. They have the chance to taste the freshly-pressed juice, as well as discovering at first hand the various terroir and village characters, all of which mean so much to the enthusiast. Martin Williams, writing from Champagne, says the hospitality this year is living up to its legendary reputation. "We are loving every minute." He mentions the many personal visits to various Houses where they are so warmly received, the tasting of great and rare wines, and magnificent meals at great restaurants. "We are making sure we squeeze in a good morning run every day so we can keep up with the pace!" Huon Hooke sums it up when he says, "It's an experience they will treasure, and relive, and dine out on for the rest of their lives." And so say all of us. Bernadette O'Shea is a wine consultant and champagne educator. She was one of the judges of this year's Vin de Champagne Awards. Prize money can't buy The appeal of the awards to such high achievers is the prize, something money can't buy. You practically need to arrive at the dinner with your bags packed because if you win you'll be leaving for Champagne in about 10 days. Finalists arrive at the dinner with their plans in place, just in case! Nobody to date has been known not to jump on the plane. "It's always a very hard task to choose a winner from a strong field," says Huon. "It would be nice to send more than one finalist to Champagne as there seem to always be several who are well qualified, and we judges feel like overly harsh parents saying to their children: "You can go, but you must stay at home!" The prize of two weeks in Champagne as the guest of the Champenois is a remarkable experience.

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109 Text: Es s i Ave llan M W Photos: Pek k a Nuik k i Since the very first days of prestige cuvées, two wines ­ Cristal and Dom Pérignon ­ have been left unchallenged in both prestige and pricing. But behind them a number of prestige cuvées are each fighting for a place in the limelight. Despite the fact that the prestige cuvée of Taittinger, Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs, has a long standing in history and a perfect track record of quality, neither the wine's reputation nor price has ever quite risen to the level they could. The new management of Taittinger is now determined to claim the crown as the finest Blanc de Blancs prestige cuvée. Fi n e C u v é e

110 Château de la Marquetterie T he Taittinger House changed hands in 2005, when the American investing company Starwood Capital acquired the family-run company. Starwood purchased the entire Société du Louvre holding company of which Champagne Taittinger was a part. As Starwood's main target was the hotel business they decided to put Taittinger for sale soon afterwards. There were numerous bidders for the company, from Indian investors to rival Champagne Houses, who all had their eyes on Taittinger's vineyard holdings. The deal was eventually done with a member of the Taittinger family, Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger, grandson of the original founder. He was able to make the purchase with the help of Crédit Agricole bank at the purchase price of 660 million euros. The family reacquisition in 2006 was a great accomplishment and a brave act from PierreEmmanuel Taittinger and his descendants. Taittinger has gone back to being a core family company with both of Pierre-Emmanuel's children, Clovis and Vitalie, working for the House. In these times of consolidation it is a refreshing change. The purchase has brought about winds of change. A facelift of the prestige cuvée Comtes de Champagne was put on the list of things to-do. Perfect atmosphere Great champagnes are traditionally named after people. Taittinger makes no exception, having chosen to honour the history of the house and the region by naming their prestige cuvée Comtes de Champagne (Counts of Champagne). To get to the bottom of the story of this great wine, I descend into the atmospheric

monumental historical surroundings. Today, the underground cellar network at St-Niçaise is used entirely for maturing Comtes de Champagne. The rest of the production takes place at the modern winery facilities at Rue de la Justice. The abbey ruins and the interlinked Gallo-Roman cellar network make perfect surroundings for this sublime champagne to develop. After all, the house and the Counts of Champagne go far back in Champagne history. Great purchases Taittinger is the third oldest Champagne House. The Taittinger name, however, does not have an equally long standing in the area. The Champagne House, founded in 1732, was originally called Fourneaux. It was Pierre Taittinger who bought the estate in 1932 renaming it Taittinger. Simultaneously Pierre Taittinger, having worked as a champagne merchant earlier, acquired large plots of land in the best Grand Cru and Premier Cru villages. One of his purchases was also the historical property of Château de la Marquetterie. The destructions of the First World War and the following depression enabled the purchases. He continued to take advantage of the financially challenging times after the Second World War and enlarged his empire even further. It is thanks to his wise purchases at the time that Taittinger owns today over half of the vineyards for its grape needs. The vineyard ownership has become an asset of the privileged as the prices for both the land and grapes have rocketed. Pierre Taittinger's venture was a success from its early days. Soon, the company was moved from Mailly to the centre of Reims to an 11th century building that once belonged to the Counts of Champagne. underground cellars of St-Niçaise where Comtes de Champagne is born. Entering the oldest part, the StNiçaise Abbey crypt, the ambiance of its 1,000 year history forces a complete silence on me. I gaze at the innumerable texts and pictures from different periods of time engraved on the soft, white chalk walls. Surrounding me there rests millions of bottles of Comtes de Champagne, fermenting and maturing in perfect silence, temperature and humidity. Taittinger Cellar Master Loïc Dupont breaks the silence: "We only touch these bottles a dozen times during the years they spend in the cellar. But we talk to them every day..." The St-Niçaise abbey was destroyed in the French Revolution and the required funds for its reconstruction were never found. The Taittingers bought the ruins and built the cellars into these Comtes de Champagne The origins of the Counts of Champagne lie in the 7th century feudal society. Prior to the 11th century, the Counts of Troyes had ruled but during the time of Thibault II the power shifted to the Champagne County, whose Count had his residence in Reims. Thibault II was a mighty man ranking only second to the king. However, it was during the times of Thibault IV that Champagne really flourished. He arranged the famous 49-day festivities in the area that brought prosperity to the region. The reputation and export of the region's products rose to new heights. The story of the Champagne Counts came to an end finally when the crown and the Champagne County were united as Louis X rose to power. Taittinger, owning the historical Comtes de Champagne residence named their prestige cuvée to honour this history. 111 The family reacquisition in 2006 was a great accomplishment and a brave act. Fi n e C u v é e

Birth of the Cuvée It was Pierre Taittinger who saw the great potential in Chardonnay as being the predominant grape variety in the blend. Following his instinct, he created the light and elegant Chardonnay-dominant floral and perfumed style as Taittinger's trademark. Consistent with this vision, the Taittinger prestige cuvée was to be a 100 per cent Chardonnay wine from the best Côte de Blancs villages. Comtes de Champagne's inaugural vintage was 1952 and it is reputed to be the first prestige cuvée Blanc de Blancs. With its charm and success it was able to boost the popularity of the entire Blanc de Blancs style. Cellar Master Loïc Dupont comments on the construction of the wine: "The wine comes almost 100 per cent from the Grand Cru villages of Côte des Blancs. The emphasis is on Avize and Mesnil fruit. It is a peculiar prestige cuvée in the sense that only half of the raw material for the 200,000 bottles we produce originates in our own vineyards. The rest are sourced via long term contracts." policy to keep the Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs on the lees for close to 10 years, which makes it deliciously wide and rich when it is brought onto the market. The wine is dosed with 10 g/l residual sugar at disgorgement and left to settle for six months before its launch. To-do list Professionals and champagne lovers have always appreciated Comtes de Champagne for what it is and the wine's quality has been high throughout its existence. Why is it not more famous or expensive then? There are numerous reasons for this. Firstly, there is the quantity. Far less of Comtes is produced than its larger rivals. The status of Cristal or Dom Pérignon, therefore, is best left unchallenged, as there is simply not enough Comtes de Champagne around to cater for everybody. Instead, Taittinger should take a strong move to conquer the premium position of Blanc de Blancs category, now shared fairly evenly between Comtes, Salon and Dom Ruinart. A new page was turned in the Taittinger book after the family bought back the House in 2006. The fresh management, marketing and sales teams are dusting off old habits and listening to the markets in order to lift Taittinger's image up to the level of its wine quality. The first product the new team wanted to give a facelift to was the Comtes. Having always been appreciated as a wine, Comtes has so far not been marketed or perceived as a luxury good. Now, the packaging and advertising are being reworked with the help of Marketing Manager Dominique Garréta, who brought with her branding expertise from the cosmetics industry. As a part of the brand construction work, the company decided to make significant price increases at the beginning of 2008. This took the market by surprise but the timing was in accordance with most Houses' price increases. The increases were done to tame the accelerating demand for Comtes and to position its image at the right level compared to the competition. In contrast to its competition, Taittinger has not launched a line of older vintages or late-disgorged champagnes. Due to the old management's views on champagne's limited ageing capacity, there are no great reserves of older vintages. The new management has also turned this habit around by keeping back larger stock of current vintages. All in all, it has been fascinating to see the change of course at this traditional Champagne House. I first visited it in 2005 and a lot has changed since then. The early signs are more than encouraging as the family seems to be nurturing the brand wholeheartedly. Their task is made easier by the existing top quality of the wines. It is a wonderful asset when a superb product is intact and one needs only to polish the image. 112 The wine is produced in a modern reductionist style by fermenting the must at a controlled temperature of 16 degrees celsius. Since the 1989 vintage, a fraction of the wine has been aged in fairly new oak barrels for four months. Loïc Dupont explains: "We do not wish to add any oak flavour to the wine but oak maturation is beneficial for the wine's structure. Also the toasty aroma of the Chardonnay we accomplish at youth is most welcome. 20 per cent of the oak barrels are new, 20 per cent one year old, 20 per cent two years old and so on. Amongst other French oaks, we use also local Champagne oak. We are constantly developing the winemaking with trials of different oaks and toasts as well as yeast lees stirring (battonage)." After bottling, the wines are transported to the Gallo-Roman chalk cellars of Saint-Niçaise to ferment and mature. The House has a

With its charm and success it was able to boost the popularity of the entire Blanc de Blancs style. 113 Fi n e C u v é e

Prerelease 1999 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne 1 points. Perfumey, sharp fruity nose with an attractive gun flint minerality and the beginnings of a toasty richness. Wide rich mouth-feel with a heavier high glycerol feel to it than in most vintages due to its 2008/2017 lower acidity and high fruit maturity. Sweet grapes, peaches and almonds. This will be a solid Comtes for mid-term drinking. This was a pre-release of the cuvée intended for launch towards the end of 2008. Having been recently disgorged the bottle did not deliver the full charm of the final wine, and therefore was not given 94p 1 1998 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne bouquet, the palate is more reserved and tight. Time will help with that. Balanced, intense and long. Just wonderful to drink now but will keep on improving, 2008/2020 softening and revealing more nuances. Intense lemony-green colour. Rich toasty nose with perfume notes, white fruits, vanilla and gun flint. Charming. Despite the strong and open toasty 114 96p 1 1996 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne flowers, coffee beans, grilled nuts, and ripe green apples. The palate is firmly acidic yet alluringly rich and smooth. Outstandingly well integrated mousse 2008/2020 and long lasting harmonious palate. Lovely perfumey and autolytic long finish. Lovely today, but benefits greatly from ageing. Developing rich yellow colour. The nose is expressive and charming: creamy powerful fruit is combined with toasty notes and lemony tartness. White 95p 1 1995 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne freshened by the accentuated acidity. Tightly-knit texture with lovely non-aggressive mousse. Reasonably developed already, starting to peak, but 2008/2015 will be perfect for mid-term drinking from now until 2015. Intense yellow colour. Sweet toasty nose of lemon, brioche, caramel and pineapple. Pronounced yet nuanced aromatics. The smooth, weighty palate is 95p 1 1990 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne charm. Rich and round palate with firm acidic backbone. Long lasting finish. The second bottle, however, showed some signs of oxidation and premature ageing, earning it "only" 91 points. It may be 2008/2013 that the 1990 is going through a bad phase or then the second bottle just had a disappointing cork. I have had two quite different encounters lately with the 1990. The first one was a perfect bottle showing a toasty wide open nose of pineapple, toffee and dried fruits. Excellent fruit ripeness and perfumey 98p 1 1988 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne palate of substantial length. This vintage is at a perfect drinking age today but will last for at least another five years. Impeccable width, length and 2008/2015 complexity. A wonderful wine that proves Comtes de Champagne's ageing capabilities. Deep golden-hued colour. Intense coffee shop, cardamom nose with dough and yeast aromas. Soft, concentrated fresh palate with a delicious creamy

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f consumer o k best-known e rg iar Arguably, th Beluga cav pagne and m vintage cha than agent none other tory is 117 an in recent his e aracter has he Bond ch s Bond. T re that 007 ­ Jame doubt aware ste and is no ck nse of ta te on goes ba educated se r combinati via aviar gne and ca nd Beluga c th the champa hampagne a intage c A good vint ga caviar is a long time. er. But Belu t jo togeth look ial to enjoy llowing our ething spec s rg are som ur eons. Fo rld of st s n matching in this world elier's view o only variety t so somm not the h l then have a aviars we wil rent c th into the diffe i e. in h h them with w ib i to the fro Siberia ussia ­ from y tably R om but most no is aviar fr y countries re gnise c in isseurs reco d i man tere ntere Conno r e la ge grain . h are encou and China . g rk ith lar dark with a Sturgeonfis as Romania ll hich are a s wel l Se a ­ roduces, w the Caspian th eggs it p lit a River and uality of the Volg . the q best due to and Sevruga rgeon as the ga , Ossetra Sea Stu y : Belu three types the Caspian gorised into re cate Text: Juha Jormanainen turg Stur eons a aspian Sea C Fi n e G a s t r o n o m y

BELUGA (Huso huso) The Beluga Sturgeon is the rarest of the three varieties from the Caspian Sea. It can live for more than one hundred years, grow up to six metres in length and weigh more than a thousand kilograms. Unconfirmed reports suggest that a Beluga may have reached a length of 8.6 metres and weighed as much as 2,700 kilograms ­ what a monster! The Beluga is a large predatory species that feeds on other fish. The Beluga travels up-river to spawn, as do many sturgeons. The female requires twenty years to grow and begin producing roe. Beluga produces the largest grain of the sturgeon caviars, as much as fifty eggs in one gram. The colour of the caviar varies from almost black to very dark gray (class 0) and light gray (class 000). The Beluga may also be found lurking in the waters of the Black, Azov, and Adriatic Seas, as well as the Dnieper and Danube rivers. The Beluga Sturgeon is currently listed as an endangered species, causing the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to ban the importation of Beluga caviar that originates in the Black Sea basin. This ban was partly lifted in January 2007, allowing the sale of ninety-six tons of caviar, still fifteen percent below the official 2005 level.

(Acipenser gueldenstaedtii) The smaller Ossetra Sturgeon produces eggs of smaller grain (85 eggs in one gram) and size than the Beluga, while the caviar itself ranges from light brown to golden in colour. Some consider the taste of Ossetra to be more distinct, almost nutty and many connoisseurs prefer the stronger character of the Ossetra to the subtlety of the Beluga. 119 SEVRUGA (Acipenser stellatus) The Sevruga Sturgeon produces the smallestgrained caviar (115 eggs in one gram) of the Caspian Sea sturgeons. Sevruga caviar, the third variety, has the smallest eggs, the strongest flavour and is perhaps the most readily available. It is also the least expensive of the imported caviar varieties. Forty per cent of the caviar sold in the world market comes from Sevruga Sturgeons. Fi n e G a s t r o n o m y OSSETRA

The history of caviar 120 In medieval England, sturgeon was considered a royal fish after Edward II passed a decree that all sturgeon caught would automatically become the property of the Crown. Sturgeon were on the same level as red deer in royal hunting hierarchy; some poachers faced the death sentence. It is known that the first people who feasted on sturgeon roe were Persians, who named the delicacy `Chav-Jar'. The term roughly translates as `Cake of Power' and the Persians firmly believed that roe positively influenced their health. Many ate sturgeon roe on a regular basis, as it was thought to improve a man's potency. In his work, Aristotle wrote that "many a Greek dinner party peaked when vases full of caviar and garnished with flowers were brought to the table amid trumpet fanfare." Whereas today caviar is normally an hors d'oeuvre, ancient Greek epicureans often gave it the leading role in the dinner show. In Larousse's famous `Gastronomique cites la Dictionnaire du Commerce' from 1741, caviar is entitled `Kavia'. It was under the auspices of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, minister of finance under the rule of Louis XIV that caviar production started in France in the mid-eighteenth century and bloomed most notably in the Gironde region.

In Tsarist Russia, caviar was consumed at an unforeseen rate. Tsar Nicolas II set a tax to be collected from all sturgeon fishers, who were obliged by law to supply eleven tons of their best caviar to the court of the tsar annually. Content with nothing but the best quality, tsars gorged exclusively on sterlet sturgeon (Acipenser ruthenus) caviar, which has tiny grains and a golden colour. More recently, the sterlet has suffered from serious overfishing and faces extinction; as a result, sterlet caviar is practically impossible to find on the market anymore. Tsars consumed enormous amounts of champagne with their caviar, the most famous being Roederer's special sweet champagne tailored to the tsar, bottled in hand-made crystal bottles. Contrary to popular belief, caviar has not always been a luxury product for the wealthy. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, salty caviar was served in the US in The price of one kilogram of caviar in France was an insignificant twenty centimes in 1899. many local watering holes to keep customers thirsty, much like nuts are today. Until 1900, annual production volume totalled nearly 70,000 kilos, most coming from Delaware river, New Jersey. The river Hudson is said to have been home for such a large sturgeon population that the fish was frequently sold as `Albany beef'. In eating establishments around New York, caviar did not cost much, and in topend restaurants like Waldorf Astoria it was only after a dose of caviar as an amuse-bouche that main courses were commonly served. The price of one kilogram of caviar in France was an insignificant twenty centimes in 1899. Despite doubling during the period before World War I, the price was still not much more than what one paid for bread. What a golden time! 121 Fi n e G a s t r o n o m y

Caviar production Opening a box of caviar is always a charming and exciting moment, but you do not often think how much work has gone into producing one. It all starts with catching the right fish. When the sturgeon is on the hook, it needs to be killed, but scientists are striving to find new ways of extracting the roe without taking the poor creature's life. This would be a great breakthrough for the diminishing species. Once the ovaries have been removed, eggs of many different sizes are screened, collected into large metal containers and carefully washed clean of all impurities. Next, the roe is salted. Eggs are graded for size and colour ­ colour designations range from 000 for the lightest caviar to 00 for medium-dark caviar to 0 for the darkest and richest-looking caviar. Salt is then added. The finest roe receives only very minimal salting, about five per cent of the weight of the eggs. Low-salt caviar, or malossol, has a refined aroma and taste but does not keep for long, making it incredibly costly and hard to obtain. Salt is crucial for the preservability and consistency of caviar. Fresh, unsalted caviar is very soft to the tongue but after adding salt, it becomes more robust and better for eating. Borax is added to caviar destined for Europe at the same time as the salt. Borax is a naturally-occurring compound (Na2B407. 1OH20) that gives the caviar a softer and sweeter finish. After proper salting, excessive liquids are extracted and the caviar is stored in small glass containers. Sometimes caviar can be pasteurised but the process has a negative effect on the taste. As with the best French cheeses, nonpasteurised milk should be used ­ connoisseurs do not care about product shelf life, they appreciate real taste. Caviar is a prime example of this and non-pasteurised caviar is simply in a class of its own. 122 Secrets to eating caviar When tasting caviar, bear one basic rule in mind: never use a silver spoon or one made of stainless steel. The metal of the spoon has a negative effect on the taste, rendering it, well, metallic. A plastic or wooden spoon is a good choice for handling caviar, while golden or pearl cutlery is appropriate when at the table. There is no one correct way to savour caviar. Some purists, James Bond included, prefer it on toast with an ounce of butter on top. This is also my personal favourite but as with so many things, this is a matter of opinion. You can mix caviar on toast with crème fraiche, sour cream, a drop of lemon juice or even finely-chopped spring onion, but never a boiled egg ­ a crime against good taste! What to drink? This is easy: either ice-cold vodka or mature vintage champagne. Of course, you can experiment with your caviar in almost any manner you like. Talented up-and-coming chefs searching for Michelin stars find caviar a tempting ingredient to work with. Some purists, James Bond included, prefer it on toast with an ounce of butter on top Some add it to decorate their Jerusalem artichoke soup, others coat oysters in it; a roasted salmon fillet benefits from Beluga fixings and the accompanying creamy white wine sauce combines superbly with caviar. It has been said that discovering a new celestial body is a great thrill but nothing compared to when someone creates a fabulous new dish. Where caviar is concerned, it is often better to think conservatively. The best caviar needs only simple tastes like those of butter, toast and great vintage champagne in order to reach perfection. The fantastic taste of the caviar itself is the most important element. The wheel of fortune in our life often spins in mysterious ways, but one can still exert some control on its movements. If you feel a little blue, call your girlfriend and invite her for a late-evening snack. Buy a nice tin of caviar, dress up with your best black tie, put a bottle of great vintage champagne on ice and get ready to enjoy the rest of the evening ­ just like James Bond.

no. 545 Dom Pérignon 1973 Text and photos: Pekka Nuikki Y ears ago, I was on a long filming trip in the Austrian Alps. Exhausted by the long weeks, we decided together with my then girlfriend to Still, we decided to try. After an exhausting two-hour round, we returned to that hotel lobby from which we had started; we had not been able to find a single vacancy for the night. Continuing the trip was not possible and did not excite us. We could get gas for the car only with coupons, and finding a gas station that was open or a person selling coupons under the table seemed to be even more difficult than finding an open hotel room. The only option seemed to be to spend New Year's Eve in our car, fit for two. Perhaps exactly because of that less romantic image with cold tremors, we still tried to explain our uncomfortable situation to the hotel attendants, appealing for anything. Perhaps our persistent appearance or festive mood made the attendant relent in the end: he gave us the unoccupied resting room of the hotel's housekeepers for our use for one night. We were sincerely grateful and happy for our room, which certainly resembled a cleaning closet more than a room, but the place was warm and had a bed and that was enough, especially since the clock was nearing midnight. We could hear that there was a big New Year's celebration going on in the restaurant on the top floor. The hotel attendants thought that it was where we should hurry to quickly if we wanted to raise our champagne glasses in honour of the new year. And a glass of champagne was exactly what we just then needed desperately. The other hotel guests had apparently also heard the celebration, because a line had formed in front of the elevators. Two elevators went by. Finally, we were able to get on the third one. Just as the elevator doors were closing, we noticed to our horror that it started to sink downward towards the cellar. All twelve guests who had dressed in their best forgot all good manners and tried to get out of the sinking elevator without caring about anyone else. Only two of the most unscrupulous men who were the closest to the door were able to climb out of the elevator before the opening between its roof and the floor of the hotel lobby was too small for a human to get through. enjoy ourselves by driving to Prague to spend a romantic New Year's Eve, just the two of us. However, like so many other times in the past, fate intervened, and the New Year that we had planned to spend romantically with each other turned out to be the complete opposite. A notable role in all of this was played by Dom Pérignon 1973. After we had driven through mountainous Austria, we arrived on New Year's Eve at a small border crossing station between Austria and Czechoslovakia. Even if I knew from experience that the border guards would be highly frustrated to be working on New Year's Eve, the conduct of the annoyed customs officials equipped with machine guns toward us young Westerners was surprisingly poor. Apparently, my sports car and my 124 beautiful companion only added to their irritability, and indeed they took over four hours to search our car and belongings. As dusk began to fall, we were able to, however, continue our drive towards Prague, cold and hungry. During the journey, our attention was fixed on the darkness and quiet that was all around us. The houses alongside the roads were dark, the streets empty, and there was not even a gleam of light in the small mountain villages. As we approached Prague, our worry that had increased little by little only grew worse when the gas stations and even larger villages seemed empty and abandoned. Behind all the darkness, however, light began to shimmer in the sky: soon the city lights of Prague could be seen far away shimmering against the sky, and they eased our insecure state. After we arrived in the city, we quickly noticed where all of the people from along the way were -- masses of people wandered about in the city ready to greet a new, better year. Following an old technique that we had found to be good, we parked our car in front of the best hotel in the city and expected to easily book a room with money, but we were wrong. No rooms were available, and the hotel attendant kindly, but ominously, suspected the situation to be the same in the other hotels as well.

I myself think the Dom Pérignon vintage of 1973 is the last great Dom Pérignon. 125 no. 545 Fi n e 1 0 0 0

Luckily for us, the elevator stopped at a depth of about two metres. A gap of some twenty centimetres remained between the elevator roof and the floor of the hotel lobby. Through it, the hotel staff came to tell us comfortingly that we had descended to the bottom of the shaft, and that there was no fear of a larger fall. On the other hand, there was no hope of lifting the elevator before the morning. There we were, ten somewhat scared people in a six-person elevator at the bottom of the shaft, and the time was just a few minutes before midnight. We quickly realised that this was going to be a memorable New Year's Eve, and we figured that a few bottles of bubbly would ease the situation. I desperately yelled to the hotel attendants to bring us the best champagne in the house. And we did not have to wait for long before an apologetic-looking attendant lowered a few bottles along with glasses toward hands stretched out in the elevator. I was expecting to receive some Russian sparkling wine, but can you imagine my face when a magnum bottle of Dom Pérignon champagne from the classic year of 1973 was handed down to me. My fear of confined spaces and my worry about having to sleep standing up on New Year's Eve vanished all at once. The monk who had brought the champagne to the whole world's consciousness, whose one of the better champagne vintages available was waiting in my hands to be enjoyed, saved and freed our distressed minds for a moment or two. I opened the bottle carefully and poured the sparkling elixir into the glasses that had already gathered around me. It made us all forget our strange unwanted environment and connected us ten strangers for a small moment in a way that would forever remain in our memory. I cannot remember anything about the taste of the champagne itself anymore, but I do remember the disappointment that occupied my mind 126 after those two bottles when some German sparkling water was lowered to the elevator. The atmosphere disappeared, and the reality that we were in a cramped elevator with eight others without any chance to get out for many more hours shook my mind and body to the core. When we got out of the elevator at 6:30 in the morning, my topmost memory was that of a unique New Year's Eve with my wife-to-be in the distinguished company of the monk Dom Pérignon. Together with Krug, Dom Pérignon is seen as the best champagne of 1973. Even though the 1973 vintage was almost catastrophic in large parts of the French wine regions, the Champagne province succeeded in producing a fairly good vintage. The main reason for this was an exceptionally hot summer and a warm autumn. The hard rains at the end of September weakened the quality of the harvest, however, and few other champagne houses released a champagne vintage that year. According to Dom Pérignon's chief winemaker, Richard Geoffroy, the year was identical in terms of weather conditions to the excellent vintage of 1988. The vintage of 1973 produced rich, multidimensional and long-living champagnes, of which perhaps the best example is specifically Dom Pérignon. I myself think the Dom Pérignon vintage of 1973 is the last great Dom Pérignon. Even though it is not as concentrated or multidimensional as many 1960s Dom Pérignons, it is still in a different class from most other vintages born thereafter. The main reason for this is the multiplying of its output since the mid-1970s. The availability of the 1973 vintage on the market is still good, especially now that Moët & Chandon released an Oenothèque version of it just a few years ago. Prices start at around 300 ending with the 900 price of Oenothèque. 94 p 1973 Dom Pérignon Moët & Chandon (Champagne) 2006/2020 x 8 D 10 min / G 40 min Bright, golden colour with attractive, playful small bubbles. The pronounced nose is broad and very toasty with chocolate and smoky mineral tones. Quite dry, medium level of acidity and very rich mousse. Fresh and elegant toastiness with good fruitiness and hints of yeasty aromas. The finish is delicate and medium-length. Overall the wine is humble in style and reflecting the innocence of its pure character.

VINI-RARI. RAREST-WINES. . it FINE AND RARE WINE SPECIALIST Dom Pérignon 1949 Dom Pérignon 1952 Dom Pérignon 1955 Dom Pérignon 1964 Dom Pérignon 1966 Dom Pérignon 1969 Dom Pérignon 1970 Dom Pérignon 1978 Dom Pérignon 1980 =800 =750 =750 =450 =450 =400 =350 =250 =180 =1500 =1000 = 950 = 950 = 400 = 400 = 400 = 400 = 400 COM Cristal Roederer 1961 Cristal Roederer 1962 Cristal Roederer 1964 Cristal Roederer 1966 Cristal Roederer 1974 Cristal Roederer 1975 Cristal Roederer 1977 Cristal Roederer 1978 Cristal Roederer 1979 Dom é i Dom Pérignon Magnum 1964 = 1500 n u 64 0 D Dom Pérignon Magnum 1966 = 1500 ér 1 500 D Dom Perignon Mag um 1969 = 1300 e n agnu 1 Bollinge e a Bollinge Renaudin Extra Quality Brut 3 l Jerob am 1926 = 5000 l nger x u ty erobo 9 5 0 B l inge R a d n Bollinger Renaudin Extra Quality Bru 1929 = 2500 ger a y rut 1 Mo t Moët & Chandon Brut Imperial 6 l Mathusalem 1911 = 10000 hand u mp i ah m 00 Veuv Clicqu t ru Rose Veuve Clicquot Brut Rose 6 l Mathusale 1969 = 4000 uv cq e u alem 9 VINI-RARI / RAREST-WINES 2c Via Trieste Carmignano Di Brenta 35010 Italy Tel / Fax: +39 049 943 0909 Partita IVA: 04260020286 http://www.vini-rari.com http://www.rarest-wines.com

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Crayères Heaven in Champagne Text: Juha Lihtonen Photos: Pekka Nuikki 129 There is a heaven in the heart of Champagne. In the middle of the busy Reims, right next door to the monumental champagne castle of Pommery, lies Château Les Crayères. The picturesque luxury hotel with its reputed Michelin star restaurant has been an aspired destination for gourmands for decades. But now, Les Crayères is getting famous for creating perfected champagne experiences. Fi n e L i f e s t y l e C Les âteau h

130 hen turning into a narrow gateway into the courtyard of this charming château, it feels like stepping into another time. With a blink of an eye, a hectic life is isolated outside of Les Crayères walls, in which inside only serenity and tranquility take place. These walls have encompassed numerous festive events since 1904 when the château was built by Champagne Pommery owners De Polignacs. Since 1983, this former residence of the Pommery family has become known as an iconic hotel with its Michelin stars restaurant in Champagne. Besides being voted as the best hotel in France twice in a row, Les Crayères was nominated as one of the best hotels in the world in 2006. W Man from Monaco Fabrice Mercier has been the Managing Director at Château Les Crayères since 2004. It was after his arrival that the hotel gained many of its international awards. "Well, the place has a respectful history. In addition to caring for its legacy, we have also focused on making our service more perceptive, in which the offering in the rooms is much more detailed. We would like to create a sensation that starts already from your entering through the gates and arriving at this great hotel as if it was your own home. Our 85 staff members are exceedingly committed to making our guests' stay as relaxing as possible. The 20 exclusive rooms have "We would like to create a sensation that starts already from your entering through the gates and arriving to at this great hotel as if it was your own home". · Fabrice Mercier · their own individual atmosphere at the always high quality standards. We are also fortunate to have a seven hectare beautiful park with rare plantings inside the city of Reims." Mercier was appointed the managing director after managing the Relais

131 & Châteaux hotels in Provence and Monaco. With over 17 years of hotel experience in Relais & Châteaux, he had no second thoughts when the position at Château Les Crayères opened up. "I was ready to swap the nice Mediterranean climate for this continental and cold climate for several reasons. First of all, the hotel had a great reputation. But even more important was the commitment and input of its owners, the Gardinier family. I was convinced that I would have their full support in making this hotel even more successful". Mercier does not, however, deny the fact that the highly esteemed restaurant with Michelin stars allured him and supported his decision. Fi n e L i f e s t y l e

- Château Les Crayères has been a destination for many gourmands for decades - 132

Glorious past Indeed for many guests it was the reputation of the restaurant that has made Château Les Crayères such a desirable destination. Before Mercier, the hotel was well-known because of Boyer. Gérard Boyer was highly appreciated for his chef skills, which were awarded three Michelin stars. His traditional French cuisine appealed to many gourmands who traveled from far and wide to experience his classic dishes. He was a central figure at Les Crayères from its beginning in 1984 and, therefore, the establishment was named Les Crayères ­ Gérard Boyer. It became an icon during his time and after his retirement in 2003, there was a lot of discussion about the future of the hotel and its highly esteemed restaurant. Modern future The Gardinier family decided at the end of the Boyer era, to allow Château Les Crayères to move on to its next great chapter. Xavier Gardinier asked a respected interior designer Pierre-Yves Rochon to update the interior that he had once designed for the hotel in the very beginning. Rochon brought new life into the hotel by modernizing with new technologies and services that customers would expect from this class of hotel, while maintaining the original spirit of the place. According to Rochon, it is all about allowing the past and future to live together, in style and harmony. While the interiors were refurbished, the shoes of Gérard Boyer were still difficult to fill. According to a normal Michelin rating procedure, Les Crayères lost one star after the long-term chef left the restaurant. One star was not the only thing Les Crayères was about to give up. After two decades of serving traditional French cuisine, it was the right time to augment the cuisine. Thus, the new chapter of the hotel was also followed by one for its restaurant. 133 Didier Elena He is an artist creating designer food. His dishes have a very distinctive style with an attitude and edge, both visually and taste-wise, with rectangular shapes and high tension f lavours. Fi n e L i f e s t y l e

"Our target is to bring champagne to tables as an equal choice versus any f ine still wine that complements dishes". · Didier Elena · 134 The chef The chef appointed for this task was Didier Elena, who joined the team in January 2005. For such a young age, 29, he had a respectful career as a chef under the wings of a great chef Alain Ducasse. He had worked for Ducasse in several restaurants in Paris, Monaco, and Tokyo where he set up the Restaurant Beige as his final project for Ducasse before moving to Reims. A switch of mind set of cooking in Japan to cooking in Champagne was not an issue for Elena. He seems to have a very clear vision of his mission at Les Crayères. "I consider that wherever I work, I need to adjust my cuisine to that culture. The dishes have to always express the sense of the place. Thus, my cuisine is always dependent on the surroundings ­ the building and region. These principles form a guideline for what my team and I are creating on a plate. There is no room for modern molecular cuisine in a place like Les Crayères. That kind of cuisine is experimental. Now the experiments can only be conducted once, since the second time it is no longer an experiment. There are many people who say that their dinner was a great experience. For me this means that they have discovered something new. When it comes to Les Crayères I am not sure if this is what our customers are looking for. You want to relax, enjoy luxurious surroundings, and discover the wonders of champagne, while the food will follow", Didier Elena emphasizes and continues: "At Les Crayères we must aim for the harmony that is seen between the champagnes and dishes. I never see myself as creating dishes but rather creating flavors that match the food. Here we try to create flavors that match exactly with the respective champagne, which is a very fascinating world. In the last 20 years, champagne has been considered as a party drink in night clubs and an aperitif in finest restaurants. Our target is to bring champagne to tables as an equal choice versus any fine still wine that complements dishes". Although Didier Elena speaks about his work very humbly and in a modest way in the kitchen, he is an artist creating designer food. His dishes have a very distinctive style with an attitude and edge, both visually and taste-wise, with rectangular shapes and high tension flavours.

The wines on spot Elena's decorative dishes are designed and tuned for the champagnes of different champagne houses. Every second week there is a new seven course menu where the dishes are designed for a set of various cuvées of champagne houses, one at the time. "This concept is an essential part of our restaurant service, since Les Crayères is the heart and soul of the Champagne region. We present the various producers of our region and seek to put them into the limelight in a proper setting. This is why we have no house champagne, for instance. The champagnes have a special place on our wine list. They have been listed in three categories: maisons, cooperatives, and growers", explains the head sommelier Philippe Jamesse. The wine list is impressive. There are 19 prestige cuvée rosés listed, not to mention a broad selection of mature champagnes such as four vintages of Dom Pérignon Oenotheques from 1976 to 1993 and eleven vintages of Clos des Goisses from 1982 to 1996 including some magnums. It is the most rewarding to notice the rather attractive restaurant prices, which are in many cases lower than the average market prices. To list a few of these examples are 1997 Laurent-Perrier Alexandra Rosé 235 , the rare 1999 Clos des Goisses Juste Rosé 315 , and 1986 Clos de Goisses Magnum 420 . The wine list is not only full of champagne. There is a broad selection of Burgundies, Rhônes, and Bordeaux wines, including verticals of the Gardinier family's Château Phélan-Ségur from St-Estephe. Philippe Jamesse and his five sommeliers take care of the two wine cellars with 60,000 bottles of wine. The most expensive wine available is the 1990 DRC La Tâche at 4,000 . These two night stays in park view rooms include a VIP welcome, visits to the champagne houses, their cellars and vineyards, and an exclusive tasting menu created for Dom Pérignon or La Grande Dame. In case you make just a short day visit to Champagne you can choose a package of lunch at Crayères and visit of Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin (465 for two)". The icon's future Within the last 25 years, Château Les Crayères has become not only the icon of the Champagne region but also a pride of the people in Champagne, and a joy of its visitors. At the same time it has become the respectful surrounding for champagne producers to showcase their champagnes. With the new leadership in the hotel and its restaurant, Fabrice Mercier and Didier Elena together with their teams, have been able to take the icon of Champagne to another level. They have created new hospitality standards in their region. With unforeseen services, it is no longer the place where once comes to enjoy just the beautiful surroundings with tasty food and luxurious products; it is also the place where one goes to fully experience the spirit of Champagne. All-inclusive visits While Didier Elena and Philippe Jamesse focus on charming their customers in the restaurant, Fabrice Mercier coordinates the new concepts of activities together with the champagne houses. "We have created unique packages for couples where they can choose between a golf, gourmet, prestige, or honeymoon stay. These one night stays are all-inclusive packages with specially tailored features. The prices vary from 845 to 1,100 for two persons. For champagne lovers, we have two special packages "Discover Dom Pérignon" (2,090 for two) and "Discover Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin" (2,370 for two). 135 Wine bar & lounge. Fi n e L i f e s t y l e

rja t: a tex 138 ta vir elo ki uik n kka pe os: t pho s im Re m d fro ite n pir xes is tio e d mple bina ty th o m us rom ve c he co nd d ed. f t g ca ut t lin , a spiri fal , in , b ways di me rch wly an nd a slo grou he sa r th s g the er ni is t on nd rai , l liar ra ity u d d ar t u an tres mi an s pec w, hu e e o e m n h rop les i y st ne Ju Thirt time n Eu bott s n e er It i ky. ma mod pagn s Ro of cham

139 Fi n e P o m m e r y & A r t

Right near central Reims, behind grand iron gates rises the Elizabethan-style château that Madame Louise Pommery built in the second half of the 1800s and under which winds a labyrinth of endless wine cellars. There, twenty million bottles of champagne await maturation under the watchful eye of Cellar Master Thierry Gasco. Nearly 100,000 people per year arrive to wonder at the cellars and acquaint themselves with the intricacies of champagne. Beginning in mid-June, the best and most innovative modern art from various parts of Europe has also been on offer. The father of this great idea, Fabrice Bousteau, the long-time leader of the French Beaux Arts magazine, zooms by without any greeting and in his pork pie hat looks just like Buster Keaton. The L'Art en contemporain Europe exhibition that belongs to the European cultural season programme is to open soon in order to celebrate the EU chair of France. The main curator is busy fixing up the massive exhibition that is, in turn spreading all over the castle's champagne cellars. The spotlight of the modern art exhibition, which is exceptional at least for its venue, is until the end of the year on some fifty young artists, who were all chosen by the managing editors of their countries' leading art magazines. "This is by no means the first modern art exhibition on these premises," points out Nathalie Vranken, who clearly knows much of the matter and who hosts the visit by the managing editors together with her husband Paul-François Vranken. Actually, the event, which goes by the name s ean rt m no dern a ese y is bt mo on th s Thie firs ition " " h t exhib mises pre

Expérience Pommery, is now being organised for the fifth time. Last year, the exhibition that was held in the cave complexes was compiled by Daniel Buren, one of France's most well known modern artists. Now the concept is perhaps even more challenging. Everything shows that the champagne giant Vranken-Pommery has invested heavily in the exhibition and in the works executed on the premises. Because of its demanding technology, the nearly invisible sound installation of Estonian Raul Keller (1973) has probably already had more money sunk into it than the country invests in the Venice Biennale. The final result may be somewhat strange, but rather impressive. Wide stairs take you deep underground, where a flock of zebra finches flies towards you. They belong to the installation From Here to Ear by the French Céleste BoursierMougenot (1961), which consists of a lawn decorated with flowers and waiting to grow, electric guitars, amplifiers, seed cups the shape of a guitar case and reservoirs. Chirping and flying onto guitar strings, the birds generate an unusual acoustic world within the space. Occasionally, the hallways open into huge arched spaces, which are actually relics from limestone quarries from Roman times. In one of them whizzes Some Airing, a giant propeller by the Luxembourgean Su-Mei Tse (1973), who was awarded the Venice Biennale Golden Lion five years ago. The propeller creates a slightly threatening `vuh' sound and somewhat of a meditative state mixed with fear.

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the in edeption rest rc inte f pe ja is ies ory apondar emo Habou m and 145 The managing editors had to choose, for the exhibition, two young artists that were already highlighted by the magazine. Finland is represented by Terike Haapoja (1974) and the Iraqi-born Adel Abidin (1973), whose virtual The Abidin Travel Agency, which was founded by him, advertises trips to the war zones of his former home country. In Reims, Abidin has turned his gaze slightly inwards and humorously examines the themes of man, woman, desire and love in his installation that is composed of mirrored hallways and animations. Haapoja is interested in the boundaries of perception and memory. In her work, she has disentangled the estate of a deceased Frenchman and put the most interesting artefacts up on white sculpture bases, or so it seems... It takes awhile before the viewer notices that the artefacts' shadows that throw themselves on the walls of the dimly lit room are the artist's creations. The bases are empty. The works of Haapoja and Abinin do not seek to create sensations merely through sensual pleasure but also awaken one to think, open a perhaps surprising route to wondering about the world and being a human. For me, that is one of the most important functions of art. It seems that at least many other managing editors have thought the same. The Slovene Maska magazine had invited the Absurd group to come along and the Bulgarian Visual Seminar Newsletter invited Ivan Moudov (1975), who recently participated in the Venice Biennale with his works criticising institutions and who humorously propagates to obtain a currently non-existent museum of modern art in Bulgaria. Moreover, absurdists Jure Legac (1979) and Peter Kostrun (1979) tipped a bunch of shopping carts in the castle's yard to act as a monument to consumer culture. In addition to consumption habits, shared beliefs bind people and cultures to each other. A friend of mine who resigned from the church ages ago said he still makes a cross sign when he sees a car crash or other such event. In his Crossroad video, which was recently displayed at the Tate Modern Illuminations exhibition, Romanian Dan Acostioaei (1974) describes exactly these types of situations but does not show who caused the reactions. The thinning of brands seems to be one symptom of the Romanian identity crisis in his works. The artist highlights the DORO detergent brand as its symbol. The name has remained, but the content itself, the appearance and ownership relations, changed when the state company was sold to Unilever. Only with this background information does Acostioaei's The dawn of a new era, with its bombastic crosses and alien-faced light box saviours hanging high in the vaults, start looking like something else than an easily passed-by pop effect. Fi n e P o m m e r y & A r t

Without any background information, many other works also remain fairly mute, which on the other hand is a problem for nearly all joint exhibitions. The video works of Latvian Katrina Neiburga (1978) and Dutch Renzo Martens (1973) are perhaps the most impressive and communicative works of the exhibition. The work of Martens, especially, who looks like a dandy and defines himself as a Catholic socialist, truly left one wondering. According to the artist himself, the piece of video dealt with the use of power related to representation and especially media image. He had taken the practical example from Africa. "Most of the journalists and photographers in Africa move according to the programme organised by the government, as one hungry pack, adhering to security instructions. Everyone sees more or less the same things," he explained as we sat in the quiet Reims Cathedral. "In these photos, the whites always look like benefactors, not exploiters of natural resources or a malnourished plantation work force, not to mention organisers of riots,

assassinations and kidnapping attempts. Photos of poverty are Africa's largest export," he says in his restrained style and by this, he means not only the flood of photos from the news agencies but also the mechanics through which the aid agencies operate. "In all its provocativeness and obtrusiveness or despite them, this small piece of video (which in fact is the trailer of Episode #3, which is being produced) ended up among my aesthetic-ethical key experiences. The work is currently also displayed in Manifesta, in the Matter of Fact series that is showing at Rovereto's old tobacco factory." During dinner, we sit at the same table with the champagne representatives from our own region. Nathalie Vranken goes on to tell her people about art and tells us about the qualities of the drinks that we have enjoyed. The mix is perhaps somewhat peculiar but absolutely fresh and sophisticatedly sparkling. Even natural. How many companies would participate in an equally massive and challenging project? Would they agree, for example, to presenting a video by Martens or advocate for a museum of contemporary art in Bulgaria? The numbers glowing in the yard of Domaine Pommery, by the way, form the number series +359... By calling that number, you can try pressuring the Bulgarian culture authorities to establish a museum of contemporary art. Complimentary opening champagnes are already awaiting you in the cellar.

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