Category: Champagne

Terroir Champagne: my book project through crowd funding

On October 20th I have launched a crowd funding campaign to try and raise €10,000 to self publish the first book on environmentally friendly Terroir Champagne. The tittle of the book says it all: Terroir Champagne: the Luxury of Sustainable, Organic and Biodynamic Cuvees. The aim is to have the book published and delivered by

One Step Beyond – Franck Pascal’s Bio-energetic Champagne

At the beginning of June I spent my birthday learning all about bio-energetic Champagne at Franck Pascal‘s. Franck and Isabelle had invited me together with the staff of La Truffiere, a Michelin starred Parisian restaurant, to share their 20 year wine making journey with all its ups and downs. I had first tasted Pascal’s’s wines

M is for more meunier and miammiam

Meunier has often been considered the week little brother of the more powerful and structured Pinot Noir, or the ugly wee sister of the elegant Chardonnay. Instead of bringing structure or elegance, it only adds fruitiness to the blend… When the Champagne appellation was defined in 1927 (and formalized in 1936) – the powers who

Grower Champagne tasting week falls short of becoming the region’s Grands Jours

Six years ago, a group of seventeen Champenois vignerons created a new tasting concept focusing on terroir and wine and called it Terres et Vins de Champagne. The aim was to show that Champagne can also be terroir wine rather than just a standarized bubbly beverage. To explain the finer details of the terroir the

St Vincent 2014 in Hautvillers

It was unusually cold on the 22 January, the day St Vincent is celebrated in Hautvillers. ‘La St Vincent’ gathers the whole village together to give thanks to their patron saint for the harvest that was and to pray for another great viticultural year. Hautvillers is one of the few villages in Champagne who celebrate

Terroir in Champagne:fact or fiction?

A few weeks ago I attended the third International Sparkling Wine Symposium in London. Sparkling wine producers, sommeliers and expert journalist gathered at Denbies Wine Estate to discuss the state of the Sparkling Wine Industry. In an ever more competitive alcoholic beverage market, the future for bubbly seems rosy; sparkling wine consumption is on the

French Police: Friend or Foe?

On Friday it was the fourth International Champagne Day, and the group of Terres et Vins de Champagne Vignerons had organized a small event in the Glue Pot in Reims to let people discover their wines for a small fee. It was a magical evening, with lots of laughs and great wines and I cherished