Symbolic city of the South, Marseille was once again chosen by SommelierS International as the setting of its tasting of Southern wines, at Villa Massalia. The sun presided over this beautiful day during which the wine growers and the tasters could exchange with spirit and good mood about cuvées whose robes formed a blazing camaieu of white, pink and red.
In the morning, every wine grower could confront with the (always well-informed) opinions of the wine tasters and benefit from comments that you can find in the following pages. Among the professionals, we had the pleasure to welcome many wine shop and restaurant owners as well as bloggers.
Always ready to participate, the associations of the Union of French Sommellerie were also present: Alpes-Marseille-Provence, Languedoc-Roussillon Vallée du Rhône-Sud, Lyonnais-Rhône-Alpes and Nice-Côte d'Azur-Provence. And as after effort, comfort is always welcome, the professionals, once they finished their written comments, continued exchanging with the wine growers on their stands, for a more thorough approach of the products to be discovered.
On this occasion, Pierre Talbot proposed his luxury foie gras. The participants could discover the whole duck foie gras, recipe of 1908 of Grand Café Castel Villeneuve-sur-Lot with Perigord black truffle or the whole duck foie gras sublimated by 1st Grand Cru Classé of Sauternes served with Perles de Cognac De Luze.
Sturia is the flagship brand of Sturgeon, the first French producer of caviar created 20 years ago near Bordeaux. With a production of about 12 tons sold all over the world, Sturia contributes to promote the French gastronomy internationally. On April 24th, the house presented its vintage caviar.
Created on Madame de Pompadour's initiative in 1750, Cristal de Sèvres has since conquered the enthusiasts of table art à la française: the fashionable aesthetics of the produced pieces and their timeless elegance added to an unprecedented work of the crystal. The various Cristal de Sèvres series of table glasses share a refined aspect, sublimated by the subtle transparency of the crystal.
Leader in the technical cork manufacturing, Diam Bouchage produces and markets corks for still wines (DIAM), sparklings (MYTIK) and spirits (ALTOP). The company invested in a revolutionary process, called DIAMANT®, exploiting the properties of the supercritical CO2 to extract the volatile compounds of the cork and eradicate the risk of “cork taint”.
Icemax is a performing and high-end bottle cooler which perfectly matches the shape of the bottle and keeps it cool. Much more than a cooler, it is also a real original and trendy communication media. Thanks to Nicolas Pregat, each of the wine growers could leave with this attractive case, personalized with the logo of SommelierS International.
After 3 years of research, Michael Paetzold, enologist, winegrower and oenotechnic process specialist, and Olivier Caste, great connoisseur and collector, managed to quantify and measure the contribution of the oxygen necessary to optimize and free the aromas in the bottle, creating the Optiwine aerator. The Optiwine pocket carafe presents itself as a precise tool, created to enable a long and optimal tasting.
Representative of the talent of the Southern French wines, in particular those of Languedoc, the Gérard Bertrand wines made us discover their flagship products during the lunch. The guests could taste the Crémant de Limoux “Code Rouge”, Château Villemajou 2012 as well as Aigle Royal Chardonnay 2015.
