Michel Sarran, Gault&Millau d'Or 2025 for the Occitanie region
The head chef at Michel Sarran's restaurant in Toulouse was named Gault&Millau d'Or 2025 at the Gault&Millau Tour Occitanie.
© Hein van Tonder - Adobe Stock
This great Champagne house has just launched the 25ᵉ vintage of its emblematic cuvée
The Veuve Clicquot house has just released the 2018 vintage of Grande Dame, an iconic cuvée that recalls Madame Clicquot's deep attachment to pinot noir.
It is the secret of a champagne with a powerful, even impregnating profile. It is also the grape that gives body and structure to the elixir of kings. Mainly grown in the Montagne de Reims and Côte des Bars, Pinot Noir is a bastion of Champagne culture.
It is also the bastion of a great house: Veuve Clicquot. And that's no coincidence. This grape variety, which accounts for 38% of the vineyard, was the favorite of the first woman to run a Champagne house. In any case, this visionary icon had developed such an interest in this black-skinned, white-juiced grape that she developed appropriate growing and ageing techniques. As early as the 1820s, Madame Clicquot dared to produce cuvées that were quite unusual at the time, since black grapes were used to make white wine. She considered pinot noir "the only grape capable of producing wines of incomparable finesse and freshness".
A strong link that Veuve Clicquot continues to nurture with its prestigious cuvée La Grande Dame, in reference to Madame Clicquot's nickname as "the Grande Dame of Champagne". It all began in 1972, when the house decided to celebrate its bicentenary with a wine that highlighted Pinot Noir. at the time, the 1962 vintage was a reminder of the businesswoman's attachment to this variety. Then, the line was taken even further with the 2008 vintage. The nectar is now composed of no less than 90% Pinot Noir, with only 10% Chardonnay to add texture and salinity.
Now, with the 2018 vintage, overseen by cellar master Didier Mariotti, we can savor both the straightforwardness of this precious cuvée and its aromatic complexity. A score between freshness and character that draws its depth from a year marked by a long, very wet winter, followed by a long, generously sunny summer. The burning star is also reflected in the iconic yellow color of the Veuve Clicquot signature. It has been used since 1877 to represent the moment when the sun rises. A precious detail that has logically been preserved in the new visual identity of the Grande Dame cuvée, which now bears the signature "l'Art du Pinot noir".
Cuvée la Grande Dame 2018 is available for 190 euros at Printemps Haussman and La Samaritaine in Paris, as well as at the Veuve Clicquot boutique in Reims. The bottle is preciously slipped into a paper case made partly of hemp. The case is sealed with a ribbon that can be personalized.
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