90/100
This is an impressive wine at price and production level; a great go-to for many occasions. This pinot noir delivers aromas of earthy notes, wild strawberry, with hints of red plum and rose petals, around a light, bright core; while remaining soft and smooth in texture and intensity; finishing with flavors of cherry, cola, and tea.
Vintages Release Date: October 1, 2016
La Crema Winery
Sonoma County, California
Variety: Pinot Noir
Style: Earthy & Spicy
13.9%
The Champagne region has announced the start dates for the 2016 harvest. Commencing today (September 12) through to September 26h there will be over 120,000 pickers, porters, loaders and press operators descend on the vineyards of Champagne for the harvest – the moment every winegrower has been waiting for.
Each harvest is different in terms of grape ripeness, potential alcohol levels and natural acidity – so picking the right moment to harvest is essential.
A ripening observation network for the accurate timing of harvests.
Twice a week, just as the grapes start to change colour (véraison), samples are taken from some 450 control plots spread throughout the Champagne area. The selected clusters are then checked for rate of colour change; average weight; estimated sugar and total acidity content; also for any incidence of grey rot.
The results are transmitted the same day via internet, so allowing the Comité Champagne to establish reference values for each parcel of vines, together with mean average values (potential alcohol levels and natural acidity) for each department and grape variety.
A data summary is then notified to the technical officers concerned, starting with the regional heads of the AVC (Association Viticole Champenoise). This enables them to attend the pre-harvest meeting with a very clear idea of when picking should start in their respective communes.
It is the pulp that contains the organoleptic compounds and elements required for effervescence (sugar, acidity, etc); and only pulp alone can deliver the desired clear, pale juice, bearing in mind that 3/4 of Champagne wines are made from black grapes. Pulp extraction is specifically designed to avoid colouring or staining the musts when pressing black-skinned grapes.
Hence the need for manual picking, selecting whole, undamaged clusters that must remain that way right up to the point of pressing itself. The clusters are transported to the press house in purpose-made bins with drainage holes that allow any juice to escape, so preventing the berries from macerating in their own juice.
Manual picking remains the tradition in Champagne – the requirement for whole, undamaged grapes is the same today as it was in the 18th Century.
Pickers have roughly a three-week window in which to work – beyond that point the grapes will be past their best. Just to complicate matters, all Champagne grapes reach their peak of ripeness at about the same time.
Some 120,000 pickers work in teams (‘hordons’ in French) of four per hectare, of which nearly 100,000 are given bed and board by the Winegrowers and Champagne Houses.
Harvesting employs:
Maximum yield per hectare
Yield regulation
The full list of dates can be viewed here www.champagne.fr
Global Traveler, the only AAM-audited magazine for business and luxury travelers, has released their results of its 12th annual Wines on the Wing Airline Wine Competition.
The competition, held May 10, took place at INNSIDE New York Nomad. I was one of the judges who participated in the blind tasting of airlines’ white, red and sparkling wines. Before the tasting, I cleared my mind of bad experiences of on-board wines tasted at 30,000 – 40,000. The other judges hailed from the industry, including sommeliers, wine shop owners and winemakers.
The Process:
Airlines are required to submit five different wines — two red wines, two white wines and one sparkling wine/Champagne — to be eligible for the Best Overall International Business Class Wines on the Wing award or the Best Overall International First Class Wines on the Wing. This year, the overall winner in both categories was Singapore Airlines.
The Results:
In the white wine category, Best International Business Class White Wine was Paulo Laureano Reserva 2014, Alentejo, Portugal, submitted by TAP Portugal. For first class, the winner was Emirates with François Villard Condrieu de Poncins 2014.
The best business-class Champagne was Singapore Airlines’ Charles Heidsieck Brut Réserve NV. The best first-class Champagne was a tie between British Airways’ Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle Grande Cuvée, NV; and Singapore Airlines’ Dom Pérignon 2006.
When it came to red wine, American Airlines reigned supreme in the business-class and first-class category with Monte Zovo Amarone della Valpolicella 2012, Italy, and Domaine de la Présidente, Cairanna 2013, Côtes du Rhône, France, respectively.
For the eighth consecutive year, Global Traveler awarded the Best North American Wines on the Wing. North American airlines submitted first-class and business-class wine samples, depending on their domestic flight offerings.
American Airlines swept the North American category, taking Best North American Wines on the Wing, and the awards for white, red and sparkling wines.
For the sixth year, Global Traveler awarded the Best Alliance Wines on the Wing. The participating airlines were divided by their airline alliance. The overall points for each airline were tallied and averaged to determine the alliance with the highest total. Congratulations to Star Alliance.
Competition director Eunice Fried spent months preparing for the blind tasting. Fried, an accomplished wine journalist and respected wine expert, resides in New York City.
Global Traveler is the only U.S.-based publication to conduct such a survey in the United States.
The top airlines in each category are:
BEST INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS CLASS WINES ON THE WING
BEST INTERNATIONAL FIRST CLASS WINES ON THE WING
BEST CHAMPAGNE INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS CLASS
BEST CHAMPAGNE INTERNATIONAL FIRST CLASS
BEST WHITE WINE INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS CLASS
BEST WHITE WINE INTERNATIONAL FIRST CLASS
BEST RED WINE INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS CLASS
BEST RED WINE INTERNATIONAL FIRST CLASS
South Africa’s critically acclaimed-chef Craig Cormack has teamed up with Fleur du Cap winery to create specially designed dishes, which are seasoned with unique salts and perfectly paired with award-winning unfiltered Fleur du Cap wines.
Just as there are regions for wine growing, there are also regions for salt. Craig has sourced out black lava salt from the volcanic rock pools of Hawaii, the sea and desert of South Africa’s arid West Coast, Khoisan and Oryx Desert salt, pink Murray River Salt from Australia, and rare Persian Blue Salt from rock crystals.
Craig explains the process: “One of the challenges when pairing salt and wine is to create food that will enhance the wine without dominating it. The natural process of crafting Fleur du Cap wines by allowing the style inherent in the grapes to guide the winemaking team, works particularly well with unrefined, artisanal salts, reverting back to nature in both the food and the wines.”
Some of Craig’s pairings include: Merlot paired with Beef Carpaccio paired with Kala Namak Salt; Chenin Blanc paired with Pizzadeliere paired with Caviar Salt; Cabernet Sauvignon paired with Salted Beef paired with Oryx Salt; Pinotage paired with Salted Peanut, Chocolate and Banana Mouse paired with Peruvian Salt, amongst others. Each dish has a unique salt profile which, when paired with Fleur du Cap wine, brings out the complex flavours of these varietals.
Situated in the hart of Stellenbosch wine country, Fleur du Cap vineyards reflect the rich biodiversity of the Cape Floral Kingdom. One of only six such plant kingdoms in the world – home to over 9,600 plant species.
“Our wines are crafted with nature in mind based on our winemaking philosophy of Regional Excellence”
My favorite pairing
Cabernet Sauvignon paired with Salted Beef paired with Oryx Salt
Oryx Salt
South Africa; natural white unprocessed and sundried; trace minerals
Fleur du Cap Unfiltered Cabernet Sauvignon 2014
Tasting Notes
Complex flavours of blackcurrant, blueberry with hints of violets and mocha; integrated oaking adds firm tannins, which give a long finish.
Blend
100% Cabernet Sauvignon
Food Suggestions
This complex wine is the ideal accompaniment to fillet of beef and roast lamb but goes equally well with rich, robust dishes and strong cheeses.
The Comité Champagne announced this past week that it won’t be holding its Annual Champagne Tasting in London 2017 after over 20 years staging the event.
Françoise Peretti, who heads up the Champagne Bureau in London, wrote, “The Comité Champagne has been reviewing the annual tastings around the world and it was decided to pause the activity in the UK for the time being.”
“The event, which has been running since 1994, has been very successful, but we feel it is time to review it. Should the Comité Champagne decide to maintain the event, it is unlikely that it would take place before 2018.”
She told Drinks Business that the decision to end the Annual Champagne Tasting was “not a question of slashed budgets; not a question of the UK becoming less important, and not a question of Brexit,” but a result of “a change” in the way the Comité was approaching the marketing of Champagne after more than 20 years hosting the event in London.
Adding “After 20 years, it is time to explore other opportunities.”… “We feel that it is time to look at how we can reinvent the tasting… why do the same thing over and over again?”
While she said that it was “most unlikely” there would be a tasting next year, she said, “be assured, there will be activities”.
Looking ahead, she said that the Champagne Bureau would be spending the second half of this year “canvassing agents, the media, the trade and educators” before deciding how best to promote Champagne in the UK.
Concluding, she said, “I like to see it evolving and everything is possible, we are looking at a big event, or other smaller events, and something digital.”
Nevertheless, she stressed, whatever the approach, “education is number one on the Comité Champagne list”.
The Comité Champagne, formerly known as the CIVC (which stands for Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne), is a trade association representing Champagne’s producers and houses. It is tasked with promoting the region’s wines through R&D, as well as marketing and protecting the Champagne appellation.
The generic body was established in 1941 and has held a tasting in London since 1994, which, for the past two years, was held at One Great George Street.
SOURCES:
Champagne Bureau UK
Drinks Business UK
