The Ruinart Champagne Harvest

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Ruinart represents elegance through time. Savoir Faire – the knowledge and precision built upon generations of learning: care of and for the vines and land. While I’ve sipped their elegant rosé on many vast occasions, this particular harvest began in Paris. In a quaint Marais bistro I sat, par hazard (by chance), next to a coiffed Parisian gentleman. When I told him I happened to be attending the vendage (harvest), he expressed his intimate experience of what Ruinart meant to him.

I was utterly enchanted.

He said the beauty of Ruinart lays in the elegant curve at the neck of the bottle. The way the slender cork releases herself with just the slighted murmur. That the difference between her and other champagnes is found in both the sense of nostalgia for the past which we carry in our hearts, a tradition we capture each and every time we partake in her pétillantes (sparkling bubbles), and found in her relevance as a modern lady who has no interest in being left on a shelf. Each evening she wishes to be appreciated to the fullest.

That particular evening, in a house of Baccarat, filled to the very brim with the most glimmering crystal, we dined and celebrated the two houses, models of history and their elegance.

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The following day was the harvest. Each vine must be picked at precisely the right moment. 220 hectares of grapes sweep through the rolling countryside of Reims. A vast field of vines: chardonnay, pinot noir, pinot meunier. This was apparently a challenging harvest year.  Early hail and rain, followed by a sultry summer led to a smaller harvest, quick maturation and sweet rich grapes. According to Chef de Caves, Frédéric Panaiotis, the reds in particular possess just the perfect balance of elegance and tension.

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I personally picked grape bunches off the vine. Extraordinary. My fingers were sticky and sweet. I felt of the land. Completely enamored. Such a far reach from the lives we spend at desks, engaged constantly with the cold feel of technology on our finger tips.

There is something profoundly beautiful and timeless in cultivating the land; an enamored symbiotic relationship between the touch of soil, the history of this legendary champagne house, the cycle of seasons. Past and future joined in intimate perfection.

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Guide to Dallas, Texas

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There are two things I love dearly: Champagne & Texas. So it was a joy when Veuve Clicquot asked me to do an Instagram takeover guide to Dallas this past weekend! As if going back home could get any sweeter…

Below are the images in the series they edited down to their 5 favorites but here are a few of my other must see, eat, play places!:

Shopping

Forty Five Ten– A new luxury boutique offering designer clothes and home decor in a historic building surrounded with Texas live oaks with its own cafe.

Neiman Marcus– The historic flagship luxury retailer store opened originally in downtown Dallas in 1907 and still stands to this day with the chic Zodiac restaurant.

Grange Hall– A new and lavish shop that boasts and exquisite collection of home décor, jewelry, handbags, apothecary and other opulent oddities with a floral shop and gorgeous restaurant.

Cocktails

Five Sixty Reunion Tower– See in the above image. This chic and glamorous restaurant and bar by celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck sits high atop Dallas in the Reunion Tower, a famous spherical piece of architecture iconic to the Dallas skyline.

Midnight Rambler– An underground craft cocktail salon located in the hip Joule Hotel in the heart of downtown Dallas.

Bowen House– Set in a historic house in Dallas’s cosmopolitan Uptown neighborhood, this charming and cozy watering hole serves craft cocktails and Texas bites.

Activities 

Nasher Sculpture Center– Located in the heart of the Dallas Arts District, the Nasher is one of my favorite art museums to take in modern and contemporary sculptures, especially in their curated gardens.

Dallas Arboretum Botanical Garden– I grew up visiting this tranquil and beautiful 66-acre botanical garden with historic structures and sweeping views of White Rock Lake.

Dallas Farmer Market- A Texas-sized sprawling daily market with a focus on seasonal produce, local farms, speciality foods, honey and beds of flowers all for purchase.

The Rustic– Kick up your boots and listen to live Texas music on the patio under string lights at The Rustic in the heart of Dallas, featuring a bar stocked full of Texas made beers and liquors and farm to table eats.

EAT

Bolsa– A cool Bishop Arts District spot in a historic building known as Settles Garage with local seasonal food and amazing flatbreads.

Pecan Lodge– Texas BBQ joint located in Deep Ellum serves up classic comfort with a variety of smoked meats, sides and desserts served on no-frills metal trays, a true southern experience.

El Come Taco– Don’t let the location in a strip mall fool you- this small, loval and hip counter-service taqueria offers the best Mexican fare famous for their street tacos and breakfast tortas.


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Above~ Have champagne, will travel. The perfect backpack for both, by Buscemi

Below~ Attending Veuve Clicquot’s kick-off dinner at the Hotel Zaza starting a nationwide journey for the Champagne house in a silk satin dress by Kaelen & Schutz heels.

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Dom Pérignon

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We first began our journey to “Decode Dom Pérignon” in Barcelona, questioning the idea of champagne and trying to understand it beyond the simple pleasures of drinking. The second part of our discovery took us to the birthplace of champagne, a sacred abbey high atop a hill in Hautvillers where a monk named Dom Pérignon lived in from 1668 until his death in 1715. It was here Dom Pérignon gave birth to champagne as we know it. 

As we walked the grounds of the cloisters it was easier to understand the philosophy of today’s champagne makers of Dom Pérignon. They come here, to this tranquil place that is the spirit and soul of Dom, to reflect on the past and think about the future. It was one of those perfect days. Crisp, damp and cool in the morning opening like a pathway to a glorious sun filled afternoon. I stood on the grounds of the abbey where the first champagne was created and closed my eyes to the smell of old stone, chalk, and earth while the wind whipped the trees around me making a sparkling symphony of the leaves while the golden sunlight danced between the shadows. If a place could sparkle like a glass of champagne, this was the place and in the spirit of inspiration, like with Dom Pérignon, could leave your thoughts amongst the stars. 

Following the benedictine rule set by the Sun King Louis IX which transformed France into a country of luxury and craftsmanship, he cared for the vineyards in great detail and through years of contemplation and study transformed the wine making process in three important ways. First, in place of manually stomping grapes with your feet he used a large machine to separate the juice of the grapes from the skin. Second was the blend. He had the idea to blend a variety of grapes from the Champagne villages. Lastly, which lead to the revaluation of champagne, he started the aging process in bottles as opposed to wooden casks which were used in the 17th century. It was through this process he discovered the creation of bubbles in the 2nd fermentation. 

The production of Dom Pérignon is far beyond technical. Having now spent many lunches and dinners with the Chef de Cave Richard Geoffroy and Vincent Chaperon they speak of the wine making process in such a romantic and idyllic way it is a constant reminder that we are speaking about something which comes from the earth. It is organic, and most of all, it is a gift from nature

One of the most poingoint points by Geoffry shared over our tasting of 11 Dom Pérignon vintages was  in the way champagne lingers which leads to memory. Memory is a constant in my own work. I take photographs like memories, to see the way it felt, to remember the beautiful moments. Each time I am so fortunate to find myself with a glass of Dom Pérignon I take in the smell which brings back memories of celebration, successes, all those magical nights faded with laughter and distant sparkling lights. Of course, as a winemaker, memory to him refers to the harvest, the conditions of the year that make the DNA of the vintage. The memory of characteristics from vintage to vintage. For example, the 2002 being elegant, refined, creamy, perfectly balanced while the 2003 is robust, bright, exciting, crisp. The memory of tradition and the relationship to time to project themselves forward into the future. It’s amazing to me that you can find so much life lived in one sip of champagne. 

Welcome to the home of Dom Pérignon and the birthplace of champagne.   Visiting the Dom Pérignon, the birthplace of Champagne.    Visiting the Dom Pérignon, the birthplace of Champagne. Visiting the Dom Pérignon, the birthplace of Champagne. Visiting the Dom Pérignon, the birthplace of Champagne. Continue reading “Dom Pérignon”