• April 14, 2013

    Jacques Selosse Lieux-Dits Single-Vineyard Champagnes

    The centerpiece of The Rare Wine Company's Selosse dinner in San Francisco was the collection of single-vineyard champagnes that Selosse has been unveiling over the last few years. The first to be released were Aÿ La Côte Faron and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger Les Carelles, followed by Ambonnay Le Bout du Clos and Mareuil-sur-Aÿ Sous le Mont, and finally, Cramant Chemin de Châlons and Avize Les Chantereines. The wines are now sold together in a six-pack, and in fact, that is the only way to obtain the last two, as they are not sold individually. Needless to say, these six-packs are difficult to obtain: The Rare Wine Company, for example, received an allocation of just 24 for the entire U
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    1. April 07, 2013

      The Champagnes of Jacques Selosse, with The Rare Wine Company

      Recently, I hosted a dinner in San Francisco with The Rare Wine Company, showcasing the champagnes of Jacques Selosse. The Rare Wine Company is Selosse's official importer in the United States, and the idea of this dinner was to allow a greater number of people access to these remarkable wines: since the allocations are so small, and the prices high, there are many consumers who rarely have the experience of tasting a Selosse champagne.

      The dinner was held at Spruce, and it featured an impressive array of wines, beginning with three different disgorgements of Initial (although the oldest, disgorged in 2001, came from an era when t
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      1. March 27, 2013

        Anselme Selosse of Champagne Jacques Selosse

        Sometime during the night between March 21 and 22, thieves broke into the cellars of Jacques Selosse and stole nearly 4,000 bottles of champagne. In total, they took eight pallets of wine, most of which were labeled for export to the US and Japan—these contained bottles of Initial, Version Originale, Substance, Rosé, Exquise and Il Etait Une Fois.

        More troubling for the domaine was that the thieves also took 14,000 labels of Initial and 2,000 labels of V.O., along with 2,500 champagne foils: this indicates that they are likely seeking to produce counterfeit editions of these wines.

        In a statement released by the domaine, Selosse notes that the deep, nearly black color of the glass bottle that he uses is virtually unique in Champagne, and that any

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        1. March 18, 2013

          1981 Dom Ruinart Brut Blanc de Blancs Champagne

          I've spent the last week in Portland, Oregon hosting Sherryfest, a massive and unbridled celebration of sherry that I've created with my friend Rosemary Gray. While Sherryfest was originally held last October in NYC, this was our first venture to the West Coast, and it was a resounding success. Like champagne, sherry has spent many years being under-appreciated and misunderstood, and it's exciting to see it being discovered by a new generation of wine drinkers.

          In the midst of tasting other wines, though, nothing refreshes the palate like champagne, and this week offered plenty of opportunity to imbibe our favorite beverage. One of the most striking examples was the 1981 Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blancs, a wine at the peak of its development, showing a fully evolved maturity withou
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          1. March 02, 2013

            Trait-d-union Champagne-Sherry

            Most of you are aware of my deep love of sherry. I have been devoted to sherry for as long as I have been drinking champagne, and together with my friend Jesús Barquín, I've recently written a book on sherry entitled Sherry, Manzanilla & Montilla. This is the first entirely new book on sherry to be published in the United States since 1988, and we're both very pleased to be able to present it to you.

            At first glance, champagne and sherry might not appear to be likely partners, yet they have more in common than most people think. They are both grown in highly calcareous soils, and this is strongly reflected in the character of each wine. Both wines undergo long processes involving yeasts—extended lees aging in the case of champagne, and aging under a veil of flor
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