Champagne Demiere

The venison and foie gras was a real treat and Champagne Demiére’s Rosé de Saignée was rich enough to take on the venison. The soignée methods involves the grape juice being literally bled through the skins giving it that extra richness and structure. Hence there was no issue taking on a serving of venison. It was hard on the foie gras because that typically pairs with lighter wines or sweet wine, but overall the pairing worked. What would Churchill have made of it I wonder?

Brendan Barratt: “The venison and the foie gras was spectacular; really, really good. The saignée was incredibly bright and young. I am not sure if it was quite acidic enough for the foie gras.”

Michael Edwards: “That to me was the most interesting wine of the evening and it was a very bold thing to do. I have been going to Champagne for years and I know that part of the Marne Valley very well and I thought this wine was very interesting… it was a real wine, not just a Champagne I just learnt that they use lots of ageing processes and principals like solera and reserves, which is just brilliant.”

Carl Edmund: “This was an absolutely fantastic rosé de saignée, that is to say a rosé of maceration, not a blend. 100% pinot noir, a brut. This was paired with the venison foie gras. There has an incredible precision with crisp minerality and freshness that is very typical of the terroir of Demiere, where the grapes are coming from. A beautiful red fruit as well, that was perfectly paired with the venison and foie gras.”

Follow us on social media:

Secret Sommelier on TwitterSecret Sommelier on Instagramfacebook 001linkedin 001youtube 001

Last week a picture was posted on Twitter of vines in Shabo, a large estate that lies to the west of Odesa on southern Ukraine’s Black Sea coastline. The image seemed benign at face value but the reality, of course, is that the city of Odesa has been bracing itself for attack by Russian forces. 

 

As COVID-19 conspires with the grimmest of winds and rain to force a societal retreat behind our own front doors, the word ennui springs to mind. The muddle of displeasure is pierced when Natalia hands me a large bulbous glass of a liquid I do not recognise.

 

 

Britain’s lamentable exit

On the eve of Britain’s official departure from the EU, my partner and I decided to explore a small town on the Italian Riviera where thewintry cold doesn’t feel so much like cold war bite.

I had warned my significant other that I would be having an inverse departure party, a release of the sanity valve if you like!

 

Sitting inside the ancient castle walls inside the town of Soave, a short drive from Verona in northern Italy, the unique slightly almond aroma of the indigenous grape, Garganega, rises gently from my glass. The castle sprawls up the side of an extinct volcano that gives the region its variant soil structures that mark out the better quality of Soave wines.

 

Tanisha Townsend decided to move to Paris 4 years ago after regularly passing through the city en route to the world’s most famous vineyards. In fact, it was about 2 years ago at the Printemps de Champagne Bouzy Rouge tasting in Reims that I saw (who we shall now refer to as) GirlMeetsGlass chirpily speaking to her web followers on Snapchat.

 

The cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, the final resting place of Saint James, rises out of the landscape, infested with antiquity. The rambling steep streets give way to shafts of dramatic light, emblazoned chapels, and tightly packed tapas bars, dusty, as old novels pressed together in antiquarian bookshops.

 

We use cookies to improve our website and your experience when using it. Cookies used for the essential operation of this site have already been set. To find out more about the cookies we use and how to delete them, see our privacy policy.

  I accept cookies from this site.
EU Cookie Directive plugin by www.channeldigital.co.uk