In the moment between crisis and catastrophe…

… we might as well have a glass of champagne.

So, last month has been full of ups and downs. At POP we had tons of events planned that required lots of attention, and my life outside of POP also went through some changes. I think now is a good time to catch you up on the recent happenings and let you know what to expect in the next few months.

Boy oh boy was October full of champagne. Tons of trade tastings and wine events, then the Los Angeles Food and Wine Festival happened (if you didn’t go this year, you don’t know what you missed! It was a food and wine play ground for adults!), then Regis Camus came to POP, and finally Champagne Day and a 1920s party.

I’ll make my first blog back short and sweet and just tell you what champagnes really stuck out this last month. Hopefully we’ll be getting them in at POP soon!

Michel Loriot

Michel Loriot provided some of the most memorable sips this last month. This producer focuses on the Pinot Meunier grape. No one really messes with this grape all that much, but after speaking with many people in the trade I am starting to think that they just don’t want to let their secret out. If you google Pinot Meunier and read up on it, you’ll find an accepted perception that this grape is less noble than Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. This is simply not true. Michel Loriot is not the only producer who takes this grape seriously, but he is definitely one of the best ones you can find in this country. Flavors of baking spices and dried fruits jump out of the glass, and an almost gritty texture on the palate. My personal favorite of this lineup was his Blanc de Noir which was 100% Pinot Meunier, but I ended up really really enjoying his 2005 brut which is 70% Pinot Meunier and 30% Chardonnay. I have to admit that this particular blend is completely intoxicating in an exotic way. Not only is Pinot Meunier delicious on it’s own, but when you add a layer of precision, finesse, and class (which is what the Chardonnay brings) then it really becomes something more than just delicious. This wine is now available at POP.

Chantal Gonet is our twitter friend! @champchantal. Her wines kick butt too. High levels of finesse and purity.

This champagne is just plain good. I get a good feeling when meeting a winemaker who has a brother who makes his own really good champagne, and a father who owns vineyards and the mother who can cook up a storm. I don’t know why but it inspires confidence in the buyer/taster knowing that the whole family is committed to making good champagne. These wines are from the village of Le Mesnil Sur Oger which is Chardonnay country for sure. I think these wines are special because they are affordable very good interpretations of what kind of wines this Grand Cru village can produce. I don’t drink enough Gonet, I need to change that.

Chantal has a brother who married into another Champagne family. They make a Champagne called Gonet-Medeville, we carry it at POP!

Vilmart Champagnes are MONSTERS.

The Monday after the LA Food and Wine fest there was an industry tasting. Not just ANY industry tasting, this is the most anticipated tasting all year, for me anyways. Terry Theise is a pioneer of grower champagne in the United States. He brought peoples attention to the genre and has made a name for himself and the champagnes that he brings in to the country. The entire portfolio is stellar, it’s like an all star lineup of champagnes. The smallest producer that he carries is Vilmart. This is a unique champagne house because their wines go through a heavy oak barrel regiment and they produce very small quantities. These wines are big wines, they are atypical champagnes really. Where a champagne usually has finesse, clarity, and elegance, these wines are burly, round, rich, but still have the finesse, clarity and elegance! I’ve been lucky enough to have older vintages of their prestige bottling and what an unforgettable experience! The best part of trying these is knowing that you may not ever see them again until the next years tasting. Taste buds and senses kick into “game 7″ mode when you get to this table. Really incredible wines, the vintage wines are spectacular.

Best table at the tasting goes to A. Margaine. The wines were unreal!

A. Margaine champagnes and I have had a long relationship. This was one of the first grower champagnes I tried that really made me go whoa! The concept of a Non Vintage brut isn’t the same for the small houses as it is for the big houses. What do I mean? Big houses have tons and tons of reserve wines in order to blend into the wines to achieve the sameness every year in their NV brut. This is not a bad thing. Bollinger, Krug, and Charles Heidsieck each have a great NV brut and their keeping it the same year is part of the “brand” image they have to uphold. With smaller houses, they rely on a base vintage for the Non Vintage brut. In short, there is more chance of a different flavor and structure profile from year to year. (This is why there has been a call for producers to label their bottles with base vintages, disgorgement dates, and lot numbers.) At this tasting, the A. Margaine wines have never tasted this good. They were incredibly precise, with an intense raciness underneath the beautiful fruit. The rose is the best i’ve ever tried from them and the special club was absolutely superb. It was a real treat to see Arnould Margaine again after over a year since the New Orleans Champagne Conference, his wines were great then but this new batch of his wines, I think, are the best he’s ever made (at least since i’ve been trying them).

Grand Cru bubblies

The bottles on the left are from Pierre Peters. The one with the gold flowers on the side is the Les Chetillon 2004. This is a single vineyard, single varietal, vintage champagne. I have had the pleasure of trying this wine in ever vintage back to 1999. This wine is so good that every time I try it, I start to think of ways to get as much of it as I can. There’s never enough, however. This stuff is gone before you know it and all you have is the memory (and what a memory, this wine lasts for minutes!). Anyway, hopefully we can get a few bottles of this for POP. If not, it’s ok… I still have one bottle of the 2000 in my cellar. =)

They were pretty much giving away all the Krug you can drink at the after party... they even gave me one to finish on the elevator ride down to the lobby.

Oh Krug. I was lucky enough to be a part of the team of sommeliers that worked at the Los Angeles Food and Wine festival a few weeks back. What an experience. I have never been surrounded by so much talent, superstar chefs and superstar sommeliers met over a weekend and threw down, hardcore! During the day I was helping pour wines and as a local som, I also was the driver to a few events. Car full of out of town soms, we drove to Manhattan Beach and Santa Monica for events. Call time was at 8 am most days and we weren’t done until 11 pm. Long days! The silver lining (not like we needed one, there was phenomenal food and wine within arms reach everywhere we went) was the kind gesture of renting a rooftop in downtown Los Angeles for the official after party for the soms, chefs, VIPS, and celebs. The party ran every night from 12am to 5am, and it was sick! Fully stocked bar, dance floor, hookah lounge, fire pit, a chef on hand at all times, and never ending champagne. The first night it was all the Billecart-Salmon you could drink, the second night it was all the Louis Roederer you could drink, and the last night was all the Krug you could drink. Needless to say that with a full army of trained soms, the champagne didn’t stand a chance! But really this portion of the blog was to talk about how darn good that Krug is. The wednesday before LAFW, I was invited to the Krug house in Bel Air where they showered everyone in Krug with the finest of hors d’oeuvres. That couples with the never ending Krug at the after party reminded me why this champagne is what it is and costs what it costs. Simply put, it’s that good. They have crazy old reserve wines that they use to make a rich, layered, decadent, champagne. It’s worth the money. Maybe i’m just saying that because I had too much of it recently, but I’ve purchased Krug before without hesitation and am looking to the next chance I get to have some.

Then to top it all off…

Regis Camus, winemaker of Piper and Charles Heidseick came to POP! We had 20 guests enjoy a tutored tasting of his Piper Heidsieck wines. What a night! Piper will never taste the same again! We had a great turnout and the wines were stunning! The 2004 vintage brut and the 2002 Rare were off the charts! Not to mention the Cuvee Sublime (demi-sec). A memorable experience that we will try to duplicate with other champagne houses. This was a once in a life time experience that I am glad we got to share with some of our guests at POP. A big thank you to the Heidsieck team! The 2002 Rare is a KILLER wine.

Rafael Sanchez
Sommelier
POP Champagne Bar