Grower Champagne

To Every Season There Is Champagne

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Welcome Fall!  Cooler temperatures, colorful leaves…let’s toast this beautiful season with champagne!  Pumpkin can be a bit overdone this time of year (just ask any coffee shop barista about pumpkin lattes!) but champagne is perfect for any occasion, any season.

pumpkin

Fleutau champagnechampagne

Fluteau 2006 Cuvée Symbiose Champagne  

Champagne Fluteau, founded in 1935, is a family owned winery located in the southern part of the Champagne growing region of France. The grapes are all hand harvested and sorted to ensure that the grapes arrive at the press in pristine condition.  Artisan crafted grower champagne.  Crisp with apple and lemon notes. Lovely pairing with seafood.   Lots of lovely little bubbles dancing in the flute.   $50 range.

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White pumpkins are my favorite…I love creating tablescapes with white pumpkins.

Voirin-Jumel Blanc de Blanc Grand Cru Champagne

100 % chardonnay.  Small producer located in Cramant, France.  Lovely pairing with oysters. $40 range. Light lemon notes.

Truly a very special treat…one of my favorite champagnes… 1998 Cuveé R. Lalou Champagne Cuveé Prestige.  Lemon, crushed granite, honey,  toast – and nice finish.  Beautiful radiant gold with effervescent bubbles.

René Lalou was the Chairman of the prestigious Champagne house of G.H. Mumm during the 20th century.    In tribute to him, a special cuvée bearing his name was produced  from 1966 to 1985.  Luckily for us,  in 2007, G.H.MUMM decided to revive this legendary cuvée.  The Cellar Master devised a champagne de terroir bred from the best of the House vineyards and named it R. Lalou.  $200 range.

Champagne…if you are seeking the truth, is better than a lie detector.  It encourages a man to be expansive, even reckless, while lie detectors are only a challenge to tell lies successfully.  ~ Graham Greene

cocktail mixercrackers

Sometimes I enjoy mixing a cocktail without all the fuss of sourcing and measuring the ingredients, so I was happy to find Cocktail Crate Craft Mixers at Fresh Market…”Born in Queens, NYC”.  Bubblybee chose “Ginger Bee”, mixed it with vodka, served it in a frozen “Copper Mule Mug” with lots and lots of fresh lime.  Rich honey sweetness, fresh ginger and subtle clove.  Just add one part spirit to one part mixer in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake, shake, shake!

I served Dewey’s Sharp Aged Cheddar Crackers with my cocktail. Delicious crisp little crackers that disappeared quickly! A southern favorite, Dewey’s Crackers are also available in these flavors Low Country Boil,  Chipotle Cheddar Cornbread, and Carolina Style Barbeque.

If you’d like to sign up for the Fresh Market newsletter (to find out about new products and promotions),  here’s the link:  https://www.thefreshmarket.com

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CHEERS!

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Black Garlic And Champagne

cat

Under the watchful eye of Maxine Andrews…THE CAT

These days we are enjoying dining al fresco on our backyard deck…in 80 degree Fahrenheit weather with a slight breeze…

“Champagne makes you feel like it’s Sunday and better days are just around the corner.” ~ Marlene Dietrich

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 Pascal Lallement Champagne À Chamery Premier Cru Brut 

  This artisanal small batch farmer produced cuvee is 40% Pinot Noir, 40% Pinot Meunier, and 20% Chardonnay.  This vineyard sits on the mountain of Rheims where the grapes receive plenty of sunshine as they grow on the vines.
  I love the top of this bottle…Champange! Champagne! Champagne!  Notes of apple, honey and toast.  Fresh and creamy with a long mineral driven finish.   $35-$40 range.

My  brother is always discovering fun ingredients for me to try.  He and his lovely bubbly wife live near Blacksburg, Virginia where they found this black garlic.

http://www.obisone.com/

black garlic

black garlic on plate

ObisOne is a family owned business associated with the Virginia Tech Research Center.  Here’s a link to their story:  http://www.obisone.com/about-us

Some fun facts about black garlic from the ObisOne website and some of my notes:

  1.  Nothing is added when we make artisanal batches of organic black garlic. Heat, humidity and vacuum create an environment that lets the natural sugars and enzymes within the garlic do its own thing. 
  2. Black garlic adds a smokiness with just a tiny bit of sweetness and underlying notes of molasses to recipes, all the while maintaining the rich garlic flavor.
  3. The shelf life of our black garlic bulbs and cloves is a minimum of 6 months at room temperature.
  4. Twice the Antioxidants of Raw Garlic.  All natural, no additives.
  5. No Garlic Breath!

Their website includes some fabulous recipes using black garlic.  Black Garlic Recipes link:  http://www.obisone.com/Recipes

Deviled Eggs Black Garlic

Black Garlic Deviled Eggs

Makes 18 deviled eggs

9 fresh eggs (I enjoy getting my eggs from a friend who has chickens…these eggs taste so rich and delicious compared to run-of-the-mill grocery store eggs), hard-boiled, cooled and peeled.

5 cloves black garlic, minced

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons Duke’s (brand) mayonnaise

1 tablespoon chunky sweet pickle relish + 1 tablespoon pickle relish juice

1 tablespoon stone ground mustard

Garnish: crumbled crispy bacon and chopped fresh chives

Here’s a link with a recipe for perfectly cooked hard-boiled eggs….it works every time and the eggs are easy to peel!  http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/how_to_make_perfect_hard_boiled_eggs/

  1. Cut eggs in half lengthwise; place egg yolks in a bowl. Mash yolks with a fork; stir in  mayonnaise, mustard, black garlic,  pickle relish and juice.  Season with salt and pepper.  Place in a food processor or blender and blend until black garlic is incorporated into the mixture.  Add more pickle relish juice if needed to blend, being careful not to add too much juice.
  2. Arrange egg white halves on a serving platter; spoon yolk mixture into egg whites. Cover and refrigerate. When ready to serve, garnish with crumbled crispy bacon and chopped chives.

 Italian Rose

Lady Lola Rosé. I admit, I bought this Italian rosé for it’s pretty bottle.   $12 range.   The Lady Lola Rose NV is a wine that’s begging to be brought to a garden party.  Inexpensive, perfectly drinkable (not remarkable) wine.  Peach, raspberry and strawberry notes. Crisp and fresh.  It’s peachy pink color told me it would be light and the grape blend of 70% Merlot and 30% Indigenous Veneto varietals promised a not too sweet wine.

cava with cheese wafers

Whisps!  Cheddar Cheese Crisps (like the parmesan crisps, but these are made with cheddar cheese). Delicious and yummy with champagne! Available at Walmart in the deli section or on-line.

You are invited to visit my Facebook Page: Bubblybee

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LeLarge Pugeot Champagne ~ The Bloom Experience

lelarge-champagne

While traveling down the Champagne Trail in the Champagne Region of France, we were told that the accepted protocol is if the champagne house gates are open then the owners are prepared to greet guests with a champagne tasting.  We were very happy we took this advice because that was how we discovered the Champagne LeLarge-Pugeot Winery, in the village of Vrigny, not far from Reims.  Dominique LeLarge and his wife Dominique Pugeot are the seventh generation owners of this winery.   In 1987 when they took over, the former LeLarge winery became Champagne LeLarge-Pugeot. In 2012, the 8th generation joined the team, and their daughter Clemence began as the Global Brand Ambassador. The LeLarge-Pugeot family is passionate about their sustainable and organic wine production:

 http://champagnelelarge-pugeot.fr/tale.html

https://www.facebook.com/LelargePugeot/

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Dominique LeLarge and his wife Dominique Pugeot

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Some bubbly friends of ours recently surprised us with a bottle of Lelarge Pugeot Quintessence Premier Cru Brut!  This champagne is made of  70% Chardonnay, 20% Pinot Noir, and 10% Pinot Meunier grapes.

Made from 50-year-old vines, this is a fine wine with a steely minerality. Partial fermentation in oak gives it complexity without detracting from its elegant fruitiness. A hint of buttered toast compliments the floral and white fruit notes. Delightful!

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 Dominque and Dominque are always thinking of sustaining the “wine growing” process for the next generation.  As they explain, “We do not make wine, we grow wine and we pay attention to every single step of viticulture and winemaking in order to elaborate natural Champagnes that reflect the taste of the terroir and our know-how.”  In 2010, Champagne-Lelarge Pugeot began its shift to organic farming. Among the new organic alternatives, Dominique uses only trace elements, sulfur and copper against vines related diseases. They use horses to plough in some plots in order to fight the compaction of the soil. It was amazing to see the size of these stately horses (this horse was named “Ursula”) as they ploughed the earth between the rows of grape vines.

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One of my favorite things on our visit to the winery ~ meeting “Dixie” the family’s Australian Shepard. Wherever we went in the vineyard Dixie was always a few steps ahead of us, proudly showing us her vineyard!

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LeLarge-Pugeot Winery was the first place I observed roses blooming at the end of each row of grape vines. Roses and grape vines are susceptible to the same diseases.  Roses are planted at the end of the rows of grapes vines so that the winemaker can be alerted to any disease or stress on the roses which will signal them to take precautions to protect the grape vines from disease.

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As we walked through the vineyard Dominique called to me to stop and take a deep breath. As I did, the most wonderful whiff of blooming Pinot Noir greeted me. We were fortunate to be in the vineyard during the short week called “Bloom”. That is the time when the baby grape clusters actually flower, get fertilized and begin their adventure to become full-grown grapes. A subtle, very light fruity aroma. I shall never forget that lovely moment standing in the sunshine breathing in that delightful scent.

Visiting LeLarge Pugeot Champagne House was pure serendipity.

You are invited to visit my Facebook page: Bubblybee

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