Friends, I think I’ve made it pretty clear how much I love bubbly.
It’s fun, it’s refreshing, and sparkling wines always make an occasion feel festive. But don’t just save them for special occasions! Pop those corks and get the bubbles flowing. I know I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: Bubblies are among the most food friendly wines around. They’re among my go-to’s for tricky food pairings. If you’re not sure what’s going to work with a meal, chances are a bubbly will do the trick.
I also love a good value, so I don’t think you have to drop a ton of cash to get a good bottle. That doesn’t mean go for the cheapest bottle in the store either. Ok, if I’m making mimosas or a cocktail, I might go for something really inexpensive. The flavor of the wine is going to get masked by the other components anyways. If I’m having a wine on its own though, I actually want to taste it; so then I think it’s worth spending a little bit more. There is a sweet spot, and today’s wine fits right into it
Today’s wine is a Conegliano ValdobbiadeneProsecco Superiore DOCG (or Prosecco Superiore DOCG for short . . . or shorter anyways). I’ve covered the basics on Prosecco and the different quality levels available before. If you’re like “What? I thought Prosecco was Prosecco was Prosecco.” Nope. Definitely not. I’d recommend going back and taking a look atthis post to get the lay of the land. Bonus, there a short clip of me sabering a bottle for the very first time.
Quick aside - full
disclosure, I have very recently started working with the Consorzio di
Prosecco Superior DOCG in a PR capacity. However, I received no
compensation for this post, and all opinions are my own. The bottle
shared today was also not a sample. It’s a bottle we often carry at Bay
Grape that I enjoy and keep in fairly regular rotation.
To put it briefly, wines bearing the name Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG come from the original growing region in the Veneto, between the Dolomites and the Adriatic Sea. It’s a hilly region, flanked on either side by the towns included in the name.Grapes in this area tend to be harder to harvest and are usually harvested by hand, where mechanical harvesting is more common in the wider DOC zone. I’ll also drop in a handy infographic courtesy of the Prosecco Superiore DOCG website to serve as a quick recap.
THE WINE & PAIRING
Today I’m sharing the Sorelle Bronca Extra-Dry Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Superiore DOCG. The sorelle, or “sisters,” in question are Antonella and Ersiliana. In an area that tends to be run by larger producers, these ladies and their families manage their own estate, growing their own fruit on steep vineyards in the hills of Valdobbiadene.
That’s no easy feat. Valdobbiadene is on the western side of the Prosecco Superiore DOCG zone and it is the steeper area. This quote from Desiderio Bisol, enologist and technical director at Bisol, from an article by Kerin O'Keefe for Wine Enthusiast entitled “The Superiority of Prosecco Superiore” gives a sense of what it means to work in this region:
It takes between 100–250 man hours of maintenance per hectare in the Prosecco DOC, but you need 300–500 hours in Conegliano. This figure goes up to 600–1,000 hours of maintenance for every hectare in Valdobbiadene, where the hills are steeper. And on the vertiginous slopes of Cartizze, where the difficult conditions make grape growing complex, you’ll need 1,000 hours of maintenance per hectare.
The sisters got their love of wine from their father Livio, but it took a lot of grit for them to build their company, particularly in a time and place where they were essentially expected to become housewives. On their website, Antonella describes her and her sister as “genuine hillside women.” Today their main goal is quality with a focus on protecting the land, which has led them to explore and incorporate organic practice.
I admit that I like to think about the tough ladies behind the bottle whenever I purchase this wine, but my main reason for going back to it so often is that I just find the wine itself to charming. It always makes me think of fresh pears and white flowers.
Greg and I opened a bottle recently and in addition to the pears and flowers, also got notes of citrus, particularly white grapefruit, and a touch of white peach on the very finish. It’s round with a lightly creamy mouthfeel and fresh acidity. Greg pronounced the wine “Really Tasty!”
This wine is Extra Dry, which counter-intuitively means that there is some residual sugar left in. Don’t let that scare you off though. Extra Dry is actually quite classic for the region and usually it doesn’t actually taste sweet. That’s certainly true here, and I think that hint of RS actually helps to enhance the fruity factor in a very balanced way. It also makes the Extra Dry versions extremely versatile for food pairing, since that tiny hint of sweetness allows the wine to pair with foods that really Brut wines might struggle with.
Since this is a wine I’ve had quite a few times, I already had ideas brewing in my mind about what I’d like to cook for it. Since it always evokes pears for me, I knew pears were going in the dish. That hint of fruity sweetness also works really well with salty foods, so I added Gorgonzola to play with wine in that way. We ultimately settled on chicken breasts, lightly seared on one side, then poached in white wine and topped with the pears and Gorgonzola.
On the side, I also made roasted potatoes (425°F for about 25 minutes) lightly season with salt and pepper, and tossed with olive oil, then finished with parsley and more green onions.
The whole thing made for a delicious, summery combo. The poached chicken was silky and juicy on the inside –– honestly, I should have sliced it up for the pictures. Greg thought the pear and Gorgonzola topper shined particularly well in the pairing. Delightful!
OTHER POSSIBILITIES
As I mentioned, I’ve had this wine quite a bit, so I can attest to it’s versatility. A week or so before putting together this dinner, we had a bottle with Szechuan take-out, which happens to be Greg’s favorite. Szechuan can be really tricky to pair because of all that spice; both the refreshing bubbles and the hint of residual sweetness help the wine pair really well these soicy dishes.
We’ve also had quite a bit of Extra-Dry Prosecco Superiore DOCG recently with cheese plates and charcuterie. That same fruity quality helped the wines match with everything from the salty meats, funky cheeses, roasted veggies, and sweeter fruits and condiments.
Most Prosecco of all levels is made using the tank method (see my previous post hereto get into that). I think it’s worth noting that these ladies are doing things a little bit differently. The method is described on the Oliver McCrum site:
The vinification is unusual for Prosecco; instead of two seperate fermentations, (grape juice to still wine, then still wine to sparkling wine), the Bronca Sister’s Prosecco grapes are pressed and the juice is held at very low temperatures until it is ready to be made into sparkling wine (done periodically throughout the year to maintain the freshest possible stock) upon which time the must is put into a special fermenter and fermented directly to sparkling wine. This more costly single fermentation process retains more of the classic pear aroma that makes Prosecco distinctive. No sugar is added, all of the sweetness comes from the must. A number of batches are produced during the year to ensure freshness, and we import the wine frequently for the same reason. Prosecco is best drunk as fresh as possible.
A pretty in-depth tech sheet is listed on the Sorelle Bronca website. Here are some highlights:
Grape variety : 100% Glera Vineyards : Guizza, Le Rive, Scandolera, Rolle Exposure : SOUTH. Altitude : from 250 to 320 meters above sea level. Cultivation : Biological - In conversion Harvest : Second decade of September Fermentation tanks : Steel Fermentation temperature : 15 ° C Alcohol content : 11% vol. Total acidity : 5.80 gr / lt Sugar residue : 13.0 gr / l Serving temperature : 4 ° C (or about 39 ° F)
MONEY TALK
I bought this bottle for $20 at Bay Grape. I think that’s a really Solid Value for a really pretty bubbly. It’s also a happy price point that means this bottle can be a go-to for dinners in, as well as for dinner parties and evenings with friends.
Yield: 4
Author: Nicole Ruiz Hudson
Chicken Poached in White Wine with Pears and Gorgonzola
prep time: 20 Mcook time: 20 Mtotal time: 40 M
ingredients:
3 to 4 chicken breasts, cut in half or portioned as desired
3 to 4 garlic cloves
White wine, about half a bottle (amount may vary depending on the size of cooking pan)
1 Tbsp butter
1 pear, cut into small cubes
Olive oil
Approximately 4 to 5 green onions, cut into small rounds
⅓ to ½ cup of gorgonzola, crumbled (or to taste)
Salt
Pepper
instructions:
How to cook Chicken Poached in White Wine with Pears and Gorgonzola
Season chicken liberally with salt and pepper. Place in a bowl or other large container, along with the garlic cloves. Pour enough white wine on top to cover. Set aside to marinate for about 20 minutes.
Melt butter in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add the pears and cook until lightly browned, about 8 minutes. Transfer the pears to another plate.
Add olive oil to the pan. Pat chicken dry, then add to the pan once the oil is hot and starting to shimmer. Sear chicken on one side until lightly browned. Flip the chicken over, then add the marinade to the pan so that white wine comes up about 3/4 the way up the side of the chicken breasts. Add more wine as needed. Bring the liquid to boil, then immediately reduce heat to low and cover. The chicken will be done when an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the chicken reads 165°F – about 10 to 12 minutes total. When the chicken is nearly ready, add the green onions during the last minute or so of cooking. Remove chicken from the pan.
Serve the chicken with a little bit of the cooking liquid poured on top with some of the green onions. Garnish each plate with some of the pear and crumbles of gorgonzola on top.
Right now is an extra celebratory moment to be drinking Prosecco Superiore DOCG as this year is the 50th anniversary of the region, and the 10th anniversary of their elevation to DOCG status.
Even better, they're actually having an Instgram contest and the Grand Prize is a trip to Italy. Check out the details here:
When you think of South Africa and wine, you probably think of really warm areas with grapes getting PLENTY of sunshine. At the very tip of the continent though, there are areas where the climate is cool enough for those grapes that prefer sweater weather, like Pinot Noir.
Located where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet, the Cape South Coast region with the larger Western Capearea, is South Africa’s coolest region. Greg and I recently sat down to a dinner exploring two wines from this area – one from Hamilton Russell Vineyards and one from Tesselaarsdal. Both wineries are in the small region of Hemel-en-Aarde, which means “heaven and earth in the Afrikaans language. These two wines don’t just share a region, though; they’re each part of a continuing story.
(Note: Both of these wines were sent as samples. No other compensation was received, and as always, all opinions are my own.)
Tim Hamilton Russell purchased his estate in 1975, after searching extensively for the ideal spot to grow cool climate grape varieties. His son, Anthony, took over in 1991 (and purchased the property in 1994) and decided to focus only on estate grown Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Today, he and his wife Olive, their winemaker Emul Ross, and viticulturist John Montgomery continue to make elegant wines from the tiny yields of their estate vines.
Berene Sauls grew up in a small village called Tesselaarsdal not far from Hamilton Russell. When she was 19 she went to work for the family as an au pair at in 2001. Not long after, she went to work in the wine business in an administrative position, and worked her way up from there. She eventually got curious about the winemaking process. Fifteen years into her journey, Anthony Hamilton Russell offered to help get her started in establishing her own wine business. Along with that came the expertise and assistance the Hamilton Russell team. Her first wine was a 2015 Pinot Noir made with Emul Ross as the winemaker.
Berne named her winery for the village she grew up, which has a very interesting history. It’s named for Johannes Tesselaar. He’d been a East India Company settler, and he left his land to his freed slaves to farm upon his death in 1810. Berne is a descendent of these freed slaves. She named the winery Tesselaardal to honor this history and her family’s legacy in the region. She’s breaking down barriers with wines that have been gaining great acclaim in a very short time.
We really enjoyed both of these wines. We’ll get into specifics in a moment, but both had elegance while showing plenty of fruit flavor. Speaking in broad generalities of major Pinot styles around the world, for me these two had more concentration of fruit than Willamette, but was less fruity and extracted than a Russian River Pinot.
I adapted a recipe from Evan Goldstein’s Perfect Pairings for Pork Loin Glazed with Pomegranate and Orange, which is recommended for “ripe, fruit-forward Pinot Noirs (New World style).” I’m a big fan of using what you have around the house rather than getting hung up when you’re missing an ingredient or two. I didn’t have pomegranate syrup or molasses or syrup as called for, so I worked in raspberry preserves instead. I also LOVE what a sous vide circulator can do for pork loin, so I adapted the recipe that follows for sous vide cooking. I also roasted some sweet potatoes to have alongside. (Potatoes were roastes for 35 minutes at 425°F. I tossed them with a little sauce from the pork recipe below for the last 5 minutes of cooking, then put them under the broiler with the pork for about a minute to caramelize them a bit more.)
Now let’s finally get to the wines and how they worked.
Hamilton Russell Vineyards Pinot Noir Hemel-en-Aarde Valley South Africa 2017
Hamilton Russell Vineyards works only with grapes from their terroir. They initiated extensive soil research in 1994 identified 130 acres of stony, clay-rich, shale-derived soil, which they find to be optimal for their style. They’ve limited all of their plantings to the areas that have this soil type.
Geeky Details:
(Taken from the tech sheet. Check it out for more info on the vintage and additional details, as they provide a lot of information.)
Alcohol: 13.31% Acid: 5.47 g/l PH: 3.55 Residual Sugar: 1.6 g/l Barrel Maturation: 100% Barrel Ageing : 10 Months. 100% 228 liter French Oak Barrels of various ages and toasts. (37% new, 35% 2nd use, 28% 3rd use) Malolactic: 100% Yield: 3.46 tons/ha, 23.90 hl/ha Production: 3909 cases of 12 bottles equivalent Average Price: $41
Tasting Notes & Pairing
Nose: Cherry and red berries surrounded by light curls of smoke give way to clove and black pepper, and black tea. Palate: Savory, rustic herbs join the party, along with the red fruits and spices. Medium bodied with medium+ acidity, and fine-grained tannins.
The wine became more savory with the food, but it also became a little bitter in bites that had a lot of the sauce, which had a little sweetness. It wasn’t bad with the food, but we thought it would work better with a preparation that spoke more to the wine’s savory character. A pork tenderloin flavored with black pepper and herbs would suit this wine more.
Tesselaarsdal Pinot Noir Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge South Africa 2017
Grapes are currently sourced until Tesselaarsdal’s own vineyards are secured and ready for harvest. Pinot Noir is the winery’s sole focus at the moment, as it suits the climate and soil types.
Geeky Details:
(Taken from the tech sheet. Again, see the sheet for more info, as it’s quite detailed.)
Alcohol: 13.8% Acid: 5.61 pH: 3.44 Residual Sugar: 1.85 Barrel Ageing: 9.5 months Maturation: 100% 228L French oak barrels. (30% New, 23% 2nd use, 30% 3rd use, 17% 4th use.) Yield: 6 tons / ha Production: 322.58 cases Fruit origin: Hemel-en-aarde Ridge 100%, Unirrigated La Vierge Vineyards Average Price:$42
Tasting Notes & Pairing
Nose: Savory herbs, cranberry, red plums, white pepper. Palate: Lots of red fruits on the palate with a hint of orange peel and light spices. The wine had mouth-watering acidity and fine tannins. This wine had a little more fruit on the palate and a little more body than the previous wine.
This wine fared better against the food thanks to that extra fruit on the palate, which turned more towards cranberry and pomegranate with a hint of tobacco.
These wines definitely sparked my interest to further explore Pinots from this region!
sous vide, pork, dinner, easy
dinner
Yield: 4 to 6
Author: Nicole Ruiz Hudson
Pork Loin Glazed with Raspberry and Orange
prep time: 10 Mcook time: 65 Mtotal time: 75 M
An glazed pork loin recipe to pair with a fruity Pinot Noir adapted from Perfect Pairings by Evan Goldstein for sous vide cooking.
ingredients:
1 3-lb boneless pork roast or 2 1½-lb pork tenderloins
For the Marinade
¼ cup orange juice
2 T soy sauce
2 T grated fresh ginger
1 T raspberry preserves
1 T maple syrup
2 T spicy mustard
4 garlic cloves
For the Sauce:
⅓ orange juice
2 T syrup
1 T raspberry preserves
1 T mustard
2 T soy sauce
At least 2 T reserved marinade
instructions:
How to cook Pork Loin Glazed with Raspberry and Orange
Preheat sous vide circulator to 133°F (or to desired temperature).
Stir together all the marinade ingredients in a bowl. Make sure reserve at least 2 tablespoons for the sauce. Place the pork in a sous vide appropriate plastic bag. Pour the marinade into the bag with the pork. (If you have more than needed, feel free to add more to the sauce.) Let pork marinate for at least 30 minutes to overnight in the fridge. (Pull the pork from the fridge about 30 minutes before cooking.)
Remove the air from the bag via vacuum seal or by slowly submerging the bag into water to displace the air, then sealing the bag. Cook for 1 hour.
While the pork is cooking, mix the ingredients for the sauce in a saucepan, along with any extra marinade. Simmer and reduce until the sauce coats the bag of a spoon. (When the pork is done cooking, you can also add the cooking liquid and reduce again if you have the time.)
Once the pork has cooked for at least an hour, remove it from the water and the bag. Pat the pork dry and brush on some of the sauce. Finish the pork by placing it on a baking sheet and putting it under the broiler for 1 to 2 minutes, or until nicely caramelized. (Alternatively, you can also sear the pork in a pan.)
Slice the pork and serve with extra sauce on the side.
The day we landed in Rome on our trip to Italy last September, we ran into some annoying travel problems. We landed after our long flight to discover that there were issues with our car reservation. Bottom line, there was no car. Neither of us had slept much on the flight (I can never sleep much on planes), so we were in that zombie state where it’s both hard to make sense or make sense of the world around you. It took a very long time to get ourselves sorted and out of the airport. When we finally got ourselves settled, we muscled up enough energy to take an introductory stroll around the city. Eventually, all we wanted was something tasty to eat (we were in Italy after all) and something cold and refreshing to drink. Nothing complicated; just delicious.
The solution was clear: pizza and Lambrusco. We found our way to one of the pizzerias on our long list of recommended restaurants – Pizzeria Baffetto – and sat down to a big pie loaded with toppings and a cold, fizzy bottle. It was still hot in Rome at this time of year, and a big red just did not seem appealing. Nor were we in any state to really analyze and revel in a complex wine. Lambrusco was just the thing.
That said, don’t assume I’m talking about the sweet, schlocky fizz that Lambrusco became associated with a while back. I had learned there was a lot more to this class of wines a long time ago. One of the very first pieces I wrote on wine years ago was called “Lauding Lambrusco” for the now departed Food Arts Magazine. It covered a seminar and tasting celebrating the wide range of styles Lambrusco comes in, and paired different versions with many different bites prepared by celebrated Chefs like Michael White. My appreciation for these wines started there, and since Lambruscos don’t tend to be very pricey it’s been easy to continue the relationship over the years and will usually have a bottle of two around. Lambrusco is actually the name of a group of related grape varieties originating in Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy, although these grapes are grown in a few other regions as well. These sparkling wines range in styles from sweet (dolce), to off-dry (amiable) to very dry (secco). There are even rosé and white Lambruscos (these make a delicious pairing for sushi!), but by far and away the most common versions are red. We’re not going to get too far into the nitty gritty of each one, but there are a few different varieties and some of them have their own DOC’s in Emilia-Romagna which include: Lambrusco di Sorbara, Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro, and Lambrusco Salamino di Santa Croce. (There are 8 different Lambrusco DOC’s in total.) Across the board, in all of these cases the wine must be made up of at least 85 percent Lambrusco grapes, and in some cases it has to be a specific sub-variety. (The remaining bit can be made of different grapes depending on the DOC.) Today’s wine is a Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro, which comes from a the town of Castelvetro di Modena. Grasparossa is one of the most full-bodied of the Lambrusco varieties, and it is the most tannic. This all makes Grasparossa a really good option if you’re looking for an alternative to a still red wine that you can served chilled. Most of Lambrusco is made through the charmat method(similar to Prosecco) for sparkling wine, but some is still made via the traditional method(similar to Champagne.) You do have to be careful about where you buy them, because there are a lot of a mass-produced versions. However, if you go to a store you trust you can find really solid bottles that aren’t that pricey. I’ve had the pleasure of trying some beautiful, complex versions, but I’m not going to lie to you, I tend to grab these bottles when, like on this occasion, I’m just looking for refreshment and enjoyment. We were beyond exhausted and worn down on that first night in Rome, and the pizza and Lambrusco combo was the perfect restorative, comforting, simple pleasure.
THE WINE & PAIRING
I recently decided to take inspiration from this experience for a homemade pizza night. We popped a bottle of Lambrusco and decided to let the wine inspire the toppings, then sipped away while the pizzas baked in the oven. Our wine for the night was the Azienda Agricola Pezzuoli Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro NV, which comes from 4th generation winemaking family that has been in working since 1932. Their are wines are still 100% estate made. The Pezzuoli Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro gave us notes of tart blackberries and sour cherry, a bit of meatiness, a touch of balsamic and medicinal herbs in the background. It was juicy, but dry with a savory finish and had lots of mouth puckering acidity.
We definitely wanted some charcuterie on this pizza, so opted for some Calabrese salami. Without overthinking it too much, the wine moved us to use roasted red pepper spreadas our sauce over the usual tomato sauce. Given all the acidity, we though the wine could handle some marinated artichokes, and briny black olives seemed a good option to pair with the wine’s savory finish. Topped it all off with buffalo mozzarella for that melty, oozy, cheesy factor. I also sprinkled on a favorite herb mix just before serving, to tie in some of those light herbal notes in the wine and I really think it gave it a nice pop of flavor. Here’s the one I used, but feel free to use your favorite. The combination of ingredients reminded me of an antipasto platter served up on a pizza, hence the name. I’m working on my pizza crust game. A friend recently gifted me some of her sourdough starter and I’ve been starting to make bread at home, as well experimenting with sourdough pizza crusts. This was only my second attempt at a homemade sourdough crust. The skill is definitely still in development, but this second run was already a big improvement from the first, and I’m more than happy to keep at it. I used this recipe fromNYT Cooking, but the flour between the recommended and whole wheat flour. I used the entire quantity for one large pie, baked for 12 to 15 minutes at 550°F. Feel free to use your favorite of buy storebought dough.
We really liked this combo and the Lambrusco was full on chuggable alongside it. So yummy! I highly recommend this as a low-stress pairing experiment. Have a selection of pizza toppings available. Pop open and taste your bottle of wine, then just go with whatever you feel like having with it. Don’t stress, just go with your gut. It’s pizza and wine — the results are bound to be good!
OTHER POSSIBILITIES
Lambrusco is remarkably food friendly. Charcuterie, panini, pasta — of course! 100% I can tell you from experience that adry, savor version like this one is AMAZING with a mushroom burger. it’s a pretty ideal candidate for a summer cookout when you’ve got meat going on the grill on a hot sunny day. I’d guess this would be particularly good would vinegar based BBQ sauces. Don’t eat meat? I’m certain it would also be excellent with a portobello burger with a little balsamic vinegar or soy sauce glazed on top.
THE GEEKY DETAILS
I couldn’t find a tech sheet, but the estate vines are all grown through sustainable methods, with some organic practices in use. I believe it’s made through the charmat method.
MONEY TALK
I think I bought this wine for about $17ish (I can’t find the receipt) at Bay Grape. I that’s a really Solid Buy for a good representation of this style.
*****
The rest of the Italian Food Wine Travel Group is exploring Lambrusco this month as well. If you see this early enough, you can join us for our Twitter Chat tomorrow morning at 8 am PT/ 11 am ET by following #ItalianFWT. Check out the group's offerings here:
I started to write this post a few months ago during a Women’s History Month celebration of the women of Champagne. As so often happens though, lack of time got in the way of my intentions and this post got sidetracked. Today, we come back to it in this quick post and we raise a glass to the long line of women at the helm of Laurent-Perrier.
We begin with Mathilde Emilie Perrier. Like so many other of the famous women of Champagne, Mathilde came to take over the house when she became a widow. Her husband Eugène Laurent died in the cellars in 1867 when Mathilde was 35. (Eugène had been the cellar master and actually inherited the company from his former employer, Alphonse Pierlo when he died without heirs.) When she took over, she renamed the house by adding her own last name to her husband’s: Veuve Laurent-Perrier.
In this previous post I mentioned that Madame Pommery was the first to crack the code on making the Brut style work. Mathilde took things a step further and in 1889 she launched the house’s Grand Vin sans Sucre, with no sugar added – making it a precursor to the modern Brut Nature styles that have recently become popular.
Sadly, the tumult of the World War I and Great Depression took their toll on the house and Mathilde’s daughter Eugénie was forced to sell the company in 1939. However, it passed into the hands of another woman: Marie-Louise Lanson de Nonancourt of the Lanson family. She wanted a company she could pass onto her sons Maurice and Bernard. She ran it through WWII though, managing to maintain her stock by walling up bottles of Champagne hidden in a cellar. Bernard did eventually take over and created the style the house is still known for.
He ran and grew the company for 60 years, but now his two daughters, Alexandra Perèyre de Nonancourt and Stéphanie Méneux de Nonancourt oversee the house.
The lady power continues from there, as Michelle DeFeo is the President of Laurent-Perrier U.S. She’s been in this role since 2014 and is responsible for growing U.S. business and raising awareness of the brand. She’s been very successful, as growth has been on a continuous upswing every year.
Greg and I enjoyed a mag of the Laurent-Perrier Cuvée Rosé NV for our anniversary a few months ago, which we spent with friends at the Culinary Cabinin Tahoe. Our friend Drew greeted us with the bottle and jar of caviar from the Caviar Company in SF (see pic at the top). How kind is that?! He and his wife Lucy take the cake on gracious hosting. We were just back up at the Culinary Cabin this past weekend for Memorial Day weekend, so it seems appropriate to share this memory now, even if it’s a bit delayed from when it was originally intended. (New posts are sure to arise inspired by this trip soon, and you can see the recent culinary adventures on the @NibblingGypsy Instagram feed.)
The wine was a pretty classic representation of rosé Champers, on the sleek side with plenty of minerality, but with notes of crushed berries, a hint of citrus zest and toasted almond to round out the palate. (For more info on the wine, see here.) We enjoyed it with friends while eating potato chips fresh out of the fryer topped with that caviar. Talk about decadent! YUM!!!
Incidentally, honoring the spirit and history of the women who have led this house, Laurent-Perrier launched a scholarship program earlier this year to further the career development of women in the wine industry.
