WE cannot celebrate Spring without bubbles 迎春不能沒汽泡

February 04, 2018 • Action Greedy Cat • Champagne • Chinese New Year Special offer • Gratiot

迎春不能沒汽泡

誰都知我念舊，我就是喜歡有人情味的東西。這只可意會不可言傳。

格拉茲奧是一個很有鄉土情的小農香檳。老祖宗馬里笛斯雷出生於1868，為了養家守著馬恩河谷1.5傾葡萄園，日子難但沒有為了糊口而犧牲品質。他種出來的葡萄和釀出來的白葡萄基酒名聞遐邇，1899年還奪得巴黎農藝大獎。

接下來的四代嚴守家訓，製作一代比一代精良，從出售香檳基酒到自己灌瓶。如今第五代當家瑞米，更以每週堅持親自巡視18傾地、7個村莊的42塊不同土質的葡萄園為傲。他以粉品諾作為他們家鄉的大使，向全球飲家介紹他們家的風土。

名莊往往對白中白香檳推崇備至，當然好些採青的莎當尼葡萄釀的很精彩。我想莎當尼對酒商來講是風險最低的品種，因為莎當尼可以在未成熟而還是很青澀的情況下收成，依然可以釀出12.5度的酒精。大家都知道香檳區有三個法定的葡萄品種：莎當尼、黑品諾和粉品諾。粉品諾是黑葡萄，所以叫粉品諾是因為它的葉子上呈一點點灰，就像撒了一層麵粉似的，因而得名。粉品諾是最剛勁最硬朗，果子味也很爆炸，在我們熟悉的蘭斯山脈區，多用來加強香檳酒的骨架當配角。在馬恩河谷，它們長得很標緻；是個大帥哥呢！

格拉茲奧的葡萄園，座落馬恩河谷的灑麗村。這村出來的粉品諾，除了繽紛的紅、黑漿果味以外，還有一股鮮明的梅子香，配梅子排骨、蘋果醬豬排、梅菜扣肉份外宜人。

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WE cannot celebrate Spring without bubbles

Everyone knows that I am sensational and I like things with a humane touch. This can only be felt but not expressed.

Gratiot is a grower Champagne house with a passion to their homeland. The founder Marie – Desire was born in 1868. To feed his family he took care of 1.5 hectare of vineyard in Vallee Sur Marne. Days were tough but he never traded off the quality. The base wine he made won acclaims from all peers around. And he won the Diploma of Prestigious during an agronomy contest in Paris in 1899.

Following the straight family motto of quality, the 4 following generations made great Champagne one after one, from selling base wine to bottling their own brand. Now the fifth generation Remy is proud of his persistence of patrolling his 18 hectare of 7 different villages of 42 different terroir vineyard on a weekly basis. He uses Pinot Meunier as the ambassador of his home town and elaborates terroir to the world .

Big names Champagne houses always promote Blanc de Blancs. Indeed many pure Chardonnay Champagnes are made spectacularly under green harvest. I guess, to the wine merchants, Chardonnay is of the lowest risk, because Chardonnay can be made at 12% achohol under green harvest. Everyone knows that there are 3 major type of grapes in Champagne: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. Pinot Meunier is a dark grape. It is so named because there are white spots on the leaves like flour. It is robust and masculine with explosive berries like character. In Montagne de Reims where most drinkers are familiar with, it is most often used as blending and gives backbone to the Champagne. At Vallee Sur Marne, it is well grown into a big handsome boy.

The vineyard of Gratiot is located in the Charly Sur Marne. The Pinot Muenier from this village is with not only vigorous red and black berries character , but also a distinctive aroma of plum. It goes perfectly fine with Pork with Plum, Pork Chop with apple Sauce and Slow Steamed Pork Belly with Pickles.