Prestige Tasting Winegrowers’ Champagnes

Prestige Tasting Pierry

Prestige Tasting
Winegrowers’ Champagnes

CHÂTEAU DE PIERRY
24 November, 2014

The castle of Pierry, a 18th-century country seat, has been the beautiful setting of SommelierS International’s new tasting, dedicated this time to Winegrowers’ Champagnes. About 200 cuvées crafted by Champagne winegrowers were tasted that morning in the Kings Gallery.

See the video of the tasting / Videos of others tasting available on As from the morning the college of tasters, led by Eric Arnaud, president of the Association of Sommeliers from Champagne-Ardenne, went in the Kings Gallery, so called as 70 portraits of Kings of France are exhibited there. Some fifty sommeliers from the associations of Champagne-Ardenne, of Nord-Pas de Calais-Picardie and of Paris had come to taste and comment about 200 cuvées. Blanc de Blancs, Blanc de Noirs, Brut, vintages, rosés, the selection was considered excellent by the professionals. “I even have discovered winegrowers that I didn’t know”, Serge Dubs, vice-president A.S.I. for Europe and Best Sommelier of the World, declared. He had come to help, together with Philippe Faure-Brac, Best Sommelier of the World, and Michèle Chantôme, A.S.I. general secretary and president of the sommeliers of Morocco. Distinguished guests who actively participated in this working session.


E. Allouche, Y. Chapier, F. Bouché, E. Arnaud,
S. Dubs, P. Faure-Brac and M. Chantôme.

Indeniable tool for a perfect tasting experience, the glass has a preeminent place in a sensory analysis. Therefore Verrerie de la Marne have provided the sommeliers with the flutes Jamesse Premium of their range Lehmann Glass. They have been imagined by Philippe Jamesse, Head Sommelier of Les Crayères, and designed by Gérard Lehmann. Narrower than a glass but larger than a flute, Jamesse Premium enables a better development of the aromas that then concentrate in the upper part of the glass that slowly closes.
After the morning behind closed doors, the sommeliers had the pleasure to welcome the authors of the wines tasted to share a meal typical of Champagne. The lunch brilliantly concocted by Marc Morel, caterer in Epernay and famous in the region, was a beautiful opportunity to enjoy pairings of the dishes with the winegrowers’ cuvées, but also for a first privileged contact between sommeliers and producers. “We have had a contact and dialogue even more interesting than if we had visited them on their estate. A real link is born between the winegrowers and us“, Frédéric Bouché, Head Sommelier of L’Assiette Champenoise***, confided.Conviviality, sharing and pleasure were the key words of this get-together.
Cork stopper manufacturer Mytik Diam, sponsor of the tasting, was also present to explain its technology to the sommeliers. Hervé Lelarge, Regional Manager of the Champagne area, set out the peculiarity of Mytik cork and announced that the brand now represented 2 corks out of 6 in Champagne. Mytik Diam is the only cork closure which offers both a perfect homogeneity between one bottle and another and

an optimized sealing quality. The DIAMANT® method also provides incomparable sensorial neutrality.

To end the day, the guests gathered over the cuvées displayed in the Kings Gallery for a new exchange of comments and sound advices. Also an opportunity for each winegrower to taste his peers’ work. “It is an excellent occasion to feel the trend in taste but also in the terroir”, Philippe Faure-Brac stated.
Thus a beautiful day punctuated with the pop of the corks, the ringing of the glasses and the effervescence of the bubbles!

Sylvia van der Velden
Photos: Michel Jolyot
Video: Xavier Paris, Lay Up Productions

COLLÈGE DE DÉGUSTATEURS

Serge DUBS,
Meilleur Sommelier du Monde

Philippe FAURE-BRAC,
Meilleur Sommelier du Monde

Michèle ASTRÖM-CHANTÔME,
Secrétaire Générale A.S.I.,
Présidente Association des sommeliers du Maroc

Association of Sommeliers
de Champagne-Ardenne (ASCA)

Christine ARNAUD
Éric ARNAUD, president
Franck ARNAUD
Georges BLANCK
Frédéric BOUCHE
Yves CHAPIER
Mathieu CRE
Éric DUCHEMIN
Bernard ETIEN
Jean-Luc FEUTRY
Jean-Paul GANDON
Nathalie GERARD

Thierry GERARD

Jean-Luc GONOT

Georges HARDY
Valère HEBERT
Jean-Pierre HUBAILLE
Walter JUNQUET
Nicolas MARTINET
Maurice MERESSE
Geoffrey ORBAN
Sylvio ROUSETTE
Edwige SIBILLE
Jean-Luc VITOUX

Association of sommeliers
du Nord-Pas de Calais-Picardie

Jean-Pierre AUGUSTE
Benjamin CARPENTIER
Laurent DEVOS
Alexandre DUHAMEL Virginie FORTEVILLE
Stephan JOLY
Yann SATIN
Michel WIDEHEM

Association of sommeliers de Paris

Claire BEHLOULI
Éric BERTAUX
Vincent BRICOUT
Thomas DURIEUX
Michel GABOURY
Nesrine HAFSIA LIBER Frédéric LEBEL
Éric ROSENBERG
Katsunori SATO
Marlène VENDRAMELLI
Pierre ZAVAN

Autres

François BARBOSSA, Sommelier
Marie-Caroline BOURRELLIS, Journaliste
Madeleine BROCHET, Sommelière
Nicolas JERZMANOWSKI, Sommelier
Hervé LELARGE, Mytik Diam
Pierre-Louis PAPAVERO, Sommelier
Gilles SCRIVANTE, Oenologue

Photos of the event