Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Floral tasting.

Flowers have always been the second passion of Marie-Noëlle, after the champagne of course. But it is the endless waiting for the spring that gave her the desire to organize this floral tasting.



This amazing experience is to find flowers that make up the aromatic palette of four of our vintages. The idea was to select a range of a dozen of flowers and present each of them in glasses for tasting so that they can be isolated and independently smelt. Tasters have simply to smell each and others, and compare with the aromas of the flute of champagne to decide if, yes or not, the bouquet expresses by each flower can be found in the cuvée.



To avoid any "a priori" each bottle was label by a simple number, tasters couldn't so refer their knowledge to imagine the flowers. The resultat was that more objective.



Once the flowers have been selected, Severine Schopphoven, creative in floral art for the 2 "Eauxygene" Stores located in the heart of Champagne made a composition of each cuvée, a sort of floral reflection for our blends.



Our friends, around the table, where all agreed on the difficulty to carry out such an exercise, as rare and unusual. Some flowers, such as Lily, Lily of the Valey, Freesia express perfumes so powerful and heady  that we where obliged to open the windows to "change" the air.



The bouquets are :

Selection de Parcelles :
  50% Chardonnay from Villers-Marmery (1er Cru)
  50% Pinot Noir from Verzy et Verzenay (Grand Cru)
  70% harvest 2008 and 30% réserve wine from 1968 to 2007
Rose : 6 dégustateurs
Freesia : 5 d
Lilac : 4 d
Wallflower : 4 d
Violette : 3 d

Blanc de Noirs :
  100% Pinot Noir Verzy from Verzenay (Grand Cru)
  70% harvest 2008 and 30% réserve wine from 1968 to 2007
Lime tree: 8 dégustateurs
Rose : 6 d
Freesia : 4 d
Lily : 4 d
Peony : 4 d
Orchid : 4 d

Blanc de Blancs :
  100% Chardonnay from Villers-Marmery (1er Cru)
  70% harvest 2008 and 30% réserve wine from 1968 to 2007
Lilac : 5 dégustateurs
Rose : 5 d
Lily of the valley: 4 d
Verbena: 4 d
Lime tree: 4 d

Carte Or Millésime 2006 :
  40% Chardonnay from Villers-Marmery (1er Cru)
  60% Pinot Noir from Verzy et Verzenay (Grand Cru)
Peony: 5 dégustateurs
Violette : 4 d
Star Anise: 3 d
Lime tree: 3 d
Hawthorn : 3 d