The ugly truth is that I – quite lazily – did not really want to write about Champagne cooperative Mailly (which takes its moniker, and the fruit from its Grand Cru vineyards, from the town of the same name). In fact, I felt so lazy about it, that I employed the writer’s laziest device (the…
Category: crowd pleaser wines
That *Other* Perrier (Joseph Perrier Champagne Recent Releases)
Jean-Claude Fourmon – president of the fourth-generation family-owned Joseph Perrier in Châlons-en-Champagne – doesn’t seem at all deterred by the fact that, in the U.S., his brand is probably best known as “that other Perrier” that not-as-many people have tasted. He’s quick with amusing witticisms, bordering on platitudes if not for his fantastic delivery; things…
Blanc de Blancs, In The Nude (Jacques Lassaigne Recent Releases)
If you’re in the bubbly business in the Aube (the southern region in France’s Champagne-Ardenne), then you have to make peace with the fact that, compared with the popular Épernay and Ay to the north, you’re basically the red-headed stepchild of Champagne. Unless you’re Emmanuel Lassaigne, who crafts the bubbly at Champagne Jacques Lassaigne. In…
On The Fine Art Of Not Giving A Sh*t (Wiegner Etna Recent Releases)
Viewing the volcanic rock strewn about the foothills of the still-active Mt. Etna volcano, one would be forgiven for imagining that it must take a crazy person to want to farm anything there. After meeting the wily and eccentric Peter Wiegner, the paterfamilias of Etna’s Wiegner Winery, and his huge Tibetan Mastiff patrolling the grounds…