Casa del Vino Holiday Champagne tasting at Casa Vieja

Epicurean Exploits - Food and Recipes
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Yesterday afternoon we participated in a tasting of fifteen Champagnes for the Holidays presented by Casa del Vino accompanied by a course for each flight prepared by Casa Vieja. There were 23 people so two bottles of each Champagne were presented. It made for an enjoyable afternoon.

The first flight was three Blanc de Blancs - NV Henriot Blanc Souverain, 2002 A. Margaine ‘Special Club’, & 2000 Pierre Gimonnet ‘Special Club’ with a tasty Kumamoto Oyster with a light Mignonette. My preference was the Gimonnet, with its additional richness. The second bottle of the Henriot (not the one we poured from) was a bit duller than the one we had,

The second flight started the Bruts (with Pinot Noir) - an NV Brut Souverain (60% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay, an NV Chartogne-Taillet ‘Sainte-Anne’ (50% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay, 10% Pinot Meunier), & an NV Aubry 1er Cru (40% Pinot Meunier, 30% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay). My preference was the Aubry, the large amount of PM gave it a slightly different profile. This flight was served with a lovely cold-smoked sea scallop with a saffron arancini in a delicate curry sauce. The smoky scallop, nice arancini, and light curry sauce were good with the Bruts. This time the Chartogne-Taillet that we had was a bit duller than the other.

The third flight was served with a buttermilk pan-fried chicken breast on marinated oyster mushrooms with a mushroom jus. This flight was all 60% Pinot Noir / 40% chardonnay - 2002 Chartogne-Taillet ‘Fiacre Taillet’, 2002 Chartogne-Taillet ‘Millésime’, & 2000 Gaston Chiquet ‘Millésime’. The two Chartogne-Taillets were similar and quite good. All were good with the chicken & mushrooms.

The fourth flight was served with a poblano chile, stuffed with pork, sweetbreads, cheddar cheese, and herbs, on a very good sweet carrot purée with cumin and coriander. There was more Pinot Noir in this flight (75%, 80%, 100%, with the rest Chardonnay) - a 2002 Henri Goutorbe ‘Special Club’, 2002 Henri Billiot ‘Millésime’, & an NV André Clouet 'Grand Cru Blanc de Noirs. There were all different, and very good. My favorite was probably the Clouet.

Then to pair with the rosé flight we got a duck confit-ricotta tortellini with a sweet potato purée on a star-anise duck jus. This was good with the end of the fourth flight as well as with the rosés - NV de Venoge ‘Princesse Rosé’, NV Chartogne-Taillet ‘Le Rosé’, & NV Montaudon “M”. The rosés were also nice with an added sixth course of a raisin tamale with an orange-pink masa with no distinctive flavor.

With the exception of the two off bottles, all the Champagnes were quite good and the food matching was nicely done.

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How did de Venoge get into a tasting of nice Grower Champagnes? Sounds fun…

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Wow! That, for me, is one heck of a perfect way to spend an afternoon!

Cheers! [welldone.gif]

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