Who says you have to choose your food first and then find the wine that compliments it?
The Virtual Champagne Tasting with our Dallas friends on May 2, 2020, turned that notion on its head!
If you attended, you witnessed first-hand as Adrien Nieto, Master Chef from Season 2, showed us an impressive array of flavorful dishes which he designed to match our featured champagne, André TIXIER & Fils Premier Cru Carte Perle. He treated food like sport. I literally declared, “He shoots, he scores!”
His inspired creations include:
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Rainbow Caviar Dip & Chips featuring a zesty crème fraiche topped with luxurious caviar. Shwoosh!
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Ceviche Tuna Crudo which includes stone fruits matching the flavors in the champagne with a pop of turmeric to add balance.
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Arancini with Spiced Green Apples makes great use of leftover risotto.
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Adrien’s Spiced Fried Chicken Sandwich left us in awe with its toasted brioche holding well-seasoned chicken which he shallow-fried, topped with peppery greens, and served with fingerling potatoes. When he added the Rainbow Caviar Dip to the chicken sandwich, we declared a mic drop! And ridiculously, there was more…
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Chia Seed Pudding Dessert appeared as a beauty layered in a stemless wineglass.
Just when we thought we’d seen it all, Adrien offered one more critical bit of sage advice:
Do not mix orange juice with any champagne from Andre TIXIER & Fils to make mimosa. Just don’t do it.
Instead, Adrien showed us his own puree of frozen fruits blended with turmeric, ginger, and ice and then mixed with water to make a fresca. “That way I can properly enjoy the purity of the champagne while getting my mimosa fix AND staying hydrated,” he explained. Wise words, my friend.
That show-stopping food extravaganza came after Adrien coached me through the assembly of his spicy chicken salad according to his recipe. Since we are sheltering-in-place, I was limited to the ingredients I had on hand, and as Adrien suggests in all of his recipes, I made some changes by substituting sweet potatoes for fingerling potatoes, toasted sunflower seeds for almonds, and adding greens from my garden. I ended up with something pretty incredible. I encourage you to try his recipe yourself and let me know how it goes.
Click here for Adrien’s recipes.
Now, about the champagne…
Heather, The Queen of Grapes (@queenofgrapes), a certified, delightful sommelier, told us about her own way of categorizing champagnes by season as she described Andre TIXIER & Fils Premier Cru Carte Perl. “This is really a summer champagne to me. It’s bright. It’s fresh. The Pinot Meunier gives it a backbone. It makes you want to go and sit in the pool in the floaty and enjoy the bottle. Knowing that It has low residual sugar, it’s going to allow you to drink the bottle and not feel bad tomorrow,” she said.
She nailed it! That’s exactly why I like to say we enjoy these champagnes twice, once when you drink it and the next day when you wake up with . . . #NoRegrets!
How does this happen? The grapes are hand-picked and grown using certified sustainable, organic methods. No harsh chemicals sprayed on the vines or used in the fertilizers. No heavy machinery in the fields come harvest time. And no added sulfates to the wine. We captured Andre TIXIER & Fils’ process from grape to glass in a video from the last harvest featuring the charming village of Chigny les Roses.
Julien Tixier, the 4th generation winemaker, took us on a tour of the caves, the first part of which his great-grandfather dug by hand! Not only did we see where the grapes turn into liquid meditation, but we also saw the barrels that are made from the wood from Chigny les Roses. We learned that literally everything that goes into this champagne is from that village.
Once this champagne leaves the vineyard, it’s transported in a temperature-controlled environment, which is the case for only 5% of wines that come from Europe. The rest are thrown on trucks and ships and subjected to extreme temperature fluctuations which can dramatically impact the taste. Our method closes the gap between the vineyard and your glass so that every sip tastes as good as it does from the cellar door. That’s why we say AVID Vines provides Champagne to Experience.
Tasting Notes: André TIXIER & Fils Premier Cru Carte Perl
Heather’s father took advantage of his connection and texted our expert directly to ask: Can you make champagne out of any grape? Only three magical grapes make up any and all champagne: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and, the workhorse, Pinot Meunier, which provide the citrus acids, the structure/body, and ripe fruit flavors, respectively. Together, they provide a range of perceived flavors: hints of apple, rhubarb, strawberry, and a whiff of buttery cobbler pastry.
“This is just an easy champagne to drink,” said Heather, “You are not going to get that really nutty flavor that I consider a fall champagne. I get a very, very clear tree fruit and a soft, sweet lemon.”
Which Glass?
Our apologies to anyone who stocked up on champagne flutes for this event. The truth is champagne is best enjoyed in a wine glass or a coupe both of which increase the contact between the liquid gold and the air which is what reveals the flavors and the aromas.
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- Certification from Champagne
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- Certification from France
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- Certificate of Artisanal Owner Growers
Andre TIXIER & Fils champagne comes with some very hard-won certification, and you can see the labels that serve as status symbols right on the bottle.
The first is a designation for agricultural products in France that demonstrates excellence in promoting biodiversity in the vineyard and climate stewardship across the air, water, and soil.
The region of Champagne designates its own label based on a 160-point audit that signals the highest standards in sustainable farming exclusively in that area.
A third label denotes owner-growers identified in France with the letters RM for récoltant-manipulant. It is reserved for the few who grow grapes on their own land and use it to produce their own wine.
We also discussed the Premier Cru title this champagne carries which shows it comes from an area designated by the French government as the best place to grow these grapes. Producers bear a great responsibility to uphold the honor of owning land, harvesting grapes, and making wine from this region.
AVID Vines is planning more collective champagne tasting experiences. Check our website for upcoming events and be sure to register. All the Premier Cru champagnes from Andre TIXIER & Fils are available if you’d like to re-order or purchase for the first time.
Love to you, your friends, and families.
Stay present, stay well,
David
PS – Remember to check out the schedule of our upcoming Virtual Champagne Tastings here: https://avidvines.com/new-events !