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Champenois active in the UK market

It’s all been very busy since early September with various Champenois visiting London, the 2013 harvest kicking off on 24 September, plus a three day trip to Champagne from 7 October just as some of the cooler Montagne de Reims grands crus  Pinot Noir vineyards started picking, notably Verzenay. The rest of  October looks very busy too with several supermarkets showing the fizz they have lined up for Christmas at their tastings, plus more London events  involving Cattier, Laurent-Perrier , Piper-Heidsieck and Lanson, to name but four.

Having re-organised things here, I am trying to report on these as they happen while filling in some detail about the almost complete harvest and catching up on some of the excellent champagne events of the past few weeks, like Bruno Paillard’s tasting of different cuvées of his ‘multi-vintage’ Brut Première Cuvée, disgorged seven, 45, 97 and 140 months ago. Future blogging should be more regular and up to date.

Sunshine and deals boost fizz consumption

Good summer weather continues to lift champagne consumption and retailers like Tesco are doing their best to boost consumers’ spending by introducing the widely favoured blanket 25% discount of all its wine and champagnes if you buy six bottles or more. And because it is doing this while other discounts are running some real bargains have emerged. You can pick up bottles of Veuve Clicquot’s top quality 2004 vintage for below £28 under the deal, while Lanson Black Label drops to just £16.49.

We seem to be seeing a switch in the recent deals back to big brand names, as was the case at Sainsbury’s last month. However one of the bargains while the 25% discount lasts (until 10 September) is Own Label in the shape of Tesco Finest Premier Cru a wine I’d be very happy to consume at just £12.74 a bottle.  For details of these and other price reductions see the Latest Offers page.

Ayala 2002 close to delicious peak

Yesterday my eldest son finished his IB exams and I had a look for something suitable to open in celebration. After a good deal of indecision, I eventually plumped for a bottle of Ayala 2002, partly on the basis that was the year when he started at the school at the age of seven. The Ayala wines under Hervé Augustin’s reign there as MD all have disgorgement dates on the back label, something he instigated that I thoroughly approve of.  Unfortunately on this particular bottle the space for this date is empty (see photograph). However I reckon it’s been in my cellar at least 12 months.

Probably the best vintage of the past decade (though ’04 is shaping up very well) , a lot of 2002s are I believe still a long way off their best, so I was hoping we wouldn’t regret opening this as it’s the only bottle I have. We didn’t, it was absolutely gorgeous. A glorious deep golden colour it was at or near a delicious peak with developed aromas of honey and toast plus a sumptuous creamy texture. It’s a wine of impressive intensity without being at all heavy. With the blend made from 80% Pinot Noir sourced in Aÿ and Mareuil-sur-Aÿ set against top class Grand Cru Chardonnay from Mesnil-sur-Oger, Cramant and Chouilly it certainly has impeccable breeding.

I have tried many fine 2002s and it’s a vintage I look forward to returning to over the next ten years or more (I’m still reluctant to drink ‘88s), but this was probably the single bottle of ’02 that I have enjoyed most. I am glad to report it is still available too at Champagne Direct online (£42.95) and vintagewinegifts (£54.97 in wooden box with accessories).

On a separate but connected note, at the last Waitrose tasting when their pre-Christmas champagne selection was looking very lacklustre, the Ayala Brut Majeur NV was the only fizz offering any excitement in the line-up. It will be interesting to see if their tasting tomorrow has any champagne highlights.

Bollinger War vintages

When I came into the office for the first time last week there was a message on my ansafone from a ChampagneGuru visitor, asking if I could help evaluate or provide any information about a very old bottle of vintage Bollinger from the war years.  Intriguing I thought, knowing there were several fine vintages between 1939 and 1945, some picked while the front line was very close to Reims.

Bollinger actually made three: 1941, Madame Lily Bollinger’s first vintage that produced wines that were ‘powerful and balanced’; 1943 – ‘a difficult year for an exceptional result’ with very concentrated wines; and finally 1945: ‘Solid wines that later proved to be a great vintage, powerful and able to be kept for a long time’.

Sadly I haven’t tasted any of these three and I don’t even know if they have bottles left in the cellars in Aÿ, though I suspect they do. I have tasted other wines from the 40s including Veuve Clicquot’s, but the oldest Bollinger I have a record of trying is 1979 RD a few years back. When I called back I discovered the wine in question was in fact the ’43 and we are now trying to find out its rarity, condition and thus its ‘value’. A quick look on Wine Searcher gives an average price for this wine of £798 ex tax per bottle and reveals four places, all in Germany, still offering the wine, although three of them only have half bottles.

In fact all four of them only have half bottles as I discovered when I emailed them (they do have 1941 and 1949 Bollinger in 75cl bottles though). So it is over to Bollinger to see if they still have any bottles of 1943 left.

Interview: Veuve Clicquot President & CEO Jean Marc Lacave

Jean-Marc Lacave

Harpers: 3 May 2013 (TBC): Veuve Clicquot President & CEO Jean Marc Lacave

Veuve Clicquot’s President and CEO Jean Marc Lacave says: “We need a relevant new message and the link between wine and gastronomy is an obvious one.” He was speaking at a special lunch in Reims to mark the launch of a new collaboration between the brand and renowned French chef Joël Robuchon. “We like the idea of matching the creativity of a great chef like Joël with that of our chef de cave, Dominique Demarville.”

This interview with Jean Marc Lacave appeared in Harpers 3 May issue, click here to read it: Veuve Clicquot CEO Interview Harpers 3 May 2013

Europe not ‘tomorrow’s market’ for Champagne

New president of the Union des Maisons de Champagne (UMC) Jean-Marie Barillère says that export markets like the UK are “not where growth will be found tomorrow and the houses must anticipate this change by investing in distant markets, especially in America and Asia. It is a long-term job, requiring considerable human and financial resources,” he says.

Speaking as he takes over from Ghislain de Montgolfier, with whom he has worked as UMC vice-president since 2007, Barillère says : « In terms of markets, Champagne must undergo a profound transformation. France, England, Germany and Europe in general, which accounted for 80% of champagne shipments in the past, are not tomorrow’s growth markets.”

“In 2013 and the following years the challenges are well known.  We must adapt to changing circumstances revising the Champagne model to create more value.  Champagne has had several decades of growth but mainly in volume terms, while there has been little increase in value. This growth model cannot be pursued any longer because of the appellation rules, production and yield restrictions [the currently defined vineyard area is more than 95% planted]. We cannot double the production of grapes in the next twenty years.”

“Champagne must adopt another growth model, one based on creating value. Easy to say but hard to achieve as such a policy requires lots of different skills. Fortunately in Champagne we have the people with exactly the right skill set in our ‘grandes maisons’.

Barillère has given up his position in charge of Moët Hennessy Champagne Services, the administrative arm of Champagne’s largest player that buys grapes for all the groups’ brands, to « separate the two functions in the interests of transparency », but his views that priority markets are outside Europe reflect those of Moët Hennessy’s managers.

The detailed year-end figures from the Comité Interprofessionnel du vin de Champagne (CIVC) show that in 2012 countries outside Europe accounted for 19.74% (60.95m bottles) of total champagne shipments, the highest level since 2007 when they took 17.5% of shipments (59.44m bottles). The most important market outside Europe remains the USA. Although shipments there fell 8.7% in 2012 to 17.69m bottles, value of just over €371m gives an average bottle price of €20.98, the highest among the top ten. The only top ten export markets in growth are Japan, up 13.8% to 9.06m bottles and Australia which rose by a hardly less impressive 11.2% to 5.4m bottles.

Shipments to Japan have risen over two and a half times over the past ten years while value has risen in the same period from €80.74m to €173.64m less than €15m behind Germany, although 3.5m more bottles were shipped there in 2012. After the USA, Japan and Italy remain the two top ten markets with the highest average bottle price at €19.16 and €19.11 respectively, but volume in Italy fell back 18.4% to 6.25m bottles in 2012.

Growth in the Chinese market where shipments rose 19.4% in 2011 accelerated jumping 51.8% to cross the 2m bottle mark, although the average price at €13.85 is lower than the price in the UK which is €14.5 a bottle. India rose 20% to 348,358 bottles, while Russia grew by 10.3% to 1.48m bottles, but Brazilian shipments dropped slightly by 6.7% to 980,378 bottles.

Robuchon lunch produces magical combinations

My guess we would be looking at matching Robuchon’s food with something from Veuve Clicquot’s Cave Privée range like the 1989 Rosé wasn’t far off the mark. In fact when I spoke to the celebrated chef later on in the afternoon he mentioned how well that lovely mature, Burgundian-like rosé went with pigeon. At this extraordinary lunch we actually had its white partner the 1990 vintage partnered with quail, caramelised foie gras and Robuchon’s famed pomme purée truffée (see the full menu below).

For me the day started with an interview with Clicquot’s relatively new (one year in the job) President and CEO Jean Marc Lacave (Veuve Clicquot CEO Interview Harpers 3 May 2013) before joining the small group of international journalists over a glass of La Grande Dame 2004. Lacave explained that under the new tie up, Yellow Label and Rosé in magnum will be the House pour at all Joël Robuchon’s restaurants round the world with Vintage 2004, Vintage Rosé 2004, La Grande Dame 2004 – white and rosé — all listed.

Lacave is keen to bring attention back on Clicquot’s flagship Yellow Label Brut, a wine that has also been a focus for chef de cave Dominique Demarville, pointing out it had rarely been served to guests of the house at Hotel du Marc over recent years.

As if to underline the point the first two lunch dishes were paired with Yellow Label and non-vintage rosé both served in magnum, Demarville setting us the not too onerous task of deciding the style that matched the caviar best and which we preferred with the langoustine. Contrary to expectations, his and ours, it was pretty well unanimous to marry the rosé with the caviar, as the combination seemed to enhance both wine and food. While the Yellow Label, showing good freshness, depth and structure, helped by serving it in the big glasses (see picture) also favoured by Dom Pérignon winemaker Richard Geoffroy, rose to the challenge of the perfectly cylindrical turban of spaghetti, standing up well to the rich langoustine sauce (see photograph).

The Clicquot 2004 was in 75cl bottles not magnums, Demarville quick to point out that the magnums of this wine are still too fresh for the dish. Already showing developed secondary aromas on first release last year this wine has opened up even more and is a lovely example of this fine vintage, a big, powerful, full flavoured wine, quite a contrast to the La Grande Dame 2004 that preceded it, a theme I shall return to. The strong trufflely flavours and textural creaminess of the Zephyr au Fromage needed such a rich, aromatic, Pinot Noir dominant fizz.

The climax of the meal, vinous and gastronomic, was the quail and the 1990 Cave Privée with the wine close to its peak of complexity and the chef matching its many nuances of flavour and texture on the plate. The 1990 was also at least a good match with the cheese –Comté and mature vintage champagne is a brilliant combination – as the charming classical Château Lynch Bages 1988. But as Demarville explained the red was there “to have a change before we go to the sugar”.

Two puddings was really a step too far, but given I knew Robuchon himself was in the kitchen, an experience not likely to be repeated, like everyone else round the table I ate both. To accompany them we moved to a demi-sec with a 45g/l dosage which Demarville gently pours into a baccarat decanter before serving. “Why? For three reasons,” he explains, “firstly, because it looks beautiful. Secondly because with the demi-sec it will actually make the flavour of the wine even more intense, showing pineapple, mango and exotic fruit flavours and the bubbles will be gentler as a result. The third reason is  historical, before Madame Clicquot invented riddling in 1816 the wine was shipped with the sediment still in the bottle and it had to be decanted when served.”

The Robuchon menu at Veuve Clicquot’s Hotel du Marc

Pour commencer: Le parmesan crémeux en cappuccino au vieux porto La Grande Dame 2004

Le Caviar Impérial: en fine gelée au parfum de corail servi en surprise Carte Jaune and Rosé en magnum

La Langoustine: en turban de spaghetti avec une emulsion coralline Carte Jaune and Rosé en magnum

Le Zephyr au Fromage: compris sensual entre soufflé et crème renversée
au coulis de truffes Vintage 2004 (75cl bottle)

Le Caille caramélisée au foie gras avec une pomme purée trufée Cave Privée
1990 en magnum

Les fromages: fermier, frais et affinés Château Lynch Bages 1988

Le Rubis: crême de cheese cake au citron vert, coeur coulant de fruits noirs Demi-Sec carafé

La Fleur Caramel: aux saveurs exotiques, craquant honey candy Demi-Sec carafé

Le Fin Moka: escorté de “bonbons au chocolat”

Clicquot combines with Robuchon

If you wanted any current Michelin-starred French chef to cook lunch for you In London, Paris or further afield, one name is more likely to come up than any other — Joël Robuchon. He currently holds 26 Michelin stars in his various restaurants around the world. And if you were looking for a vinous style of vintage champagne, Veuve Clicquot’s, particularly something from the Cave Privée range like the 1989 rosé, would be a fine choice to match with his dishes. La Grande Dame, white or pink, might also make for some interesting food and wine combinations.

So tomorrow’s lunch at Clicquot’s recently refurbished Hotel du Marc in Reims, where Robuchon himself is at the stove trying out suitable combinations, is a mouth-watering prospect. Hope to tell you more about it after the event, a special lunch to celebrate a new link-up between the two celebrated brands.

 

Administrator tries to sell off Pressoirs de France assets

It now looks certain that the Pressoirs de France Champagne négociant business based in Faverolles-et-Coëmy to the west of Reims will be broken up and the main asset, the vineyards, sold off to the highest bidder. Having failed to sell the business as a going concern, the l’administrateur judiciaire (administrator) Jean-Luc Mercier, appointed by the French courts on 8 January (see Decanter.com 14 January 2013), has launched a tender calling for bids for the company’s two main sellable assets.

He has listed these as the vineyards it owns, some 10.67 hectares of vines which have an estimated value of somewhere between €11 and €15m, plus the 165 hectares of supply contracts the company has, which include 84 hectares where the contract has a further four years to run.

While vineyard land in Champagne certainly regularly fetches in excess of €1m per hectare, there is some debate about the value of the supply contracts however. With growers paid in four tranches for their grapes, the second payment for the 2012 crop is due today 5th March and Jean-Luc Mercier the administrator has warned suppliers that this payment mounting to €2.5m will not be met by the deadline. In the wake of past scandals like the Bricout affair contracts are now more carefully drafted and may well be nullified if payment is not made on time, making them worthless to any potential buyer.

Despite these developments, owner of the Pressoirs de France group Nicolas Dubois still says he is optimistic about rescuing the business, which may further deter buyers interested in the supply contracts. The vineyards should certainly attract interest from the most profitable groups in Champagne like LVMH which has been actively buying up land under vine. While others like Pernod-Ricard can afford it, boss Michel Letter is on record as saying : “We prefer to build strong relationships with growers and find extra supplies that way there is no need to buy.”

Champagne deals flow over Easter

It was Easter in 2000 when the whole idea of slashing Champagne prices during key trading periods was started by Sainsbury’s, partly to get rid of unsold ‘Millennium’ stock. Fast forward 13 years and it is still happening, though the major international brands whose prices have all gone up recently, have mostly avoided the deep discounting. But Easter looks like bringing some great deals out and Sainsbury’s has cut its price of Bollinger Special Cuvée to just £25 a bottle until 2nd April while Tesco is giving 25% off six bottle purchases. See the Latest Retail Offers page.