Michiel Demarey
June 1, 2020
While I was practicing a Schubert sonata for my upcoming piano concert the bell rang: a mysterious package had been delivered to my door. I stood perplexed to discover that it was the brand new Bollinger La Grande Année 2012! What a privilege...
May 18, 2020
I visited my girlfriend in London to attend a majestic 4 hour Beethoven concert. I also had meals in prestigious restaurants like The Northall “Corinthia”, Céleste (not quite recommended though), Atelier Robuchon and shared romantic moments together. Such a pleasant surprise to find my favorite champagne producers on their menu’s! That was just before the corona lockdown and now I am basically stuck in London...
July 13, 2018
The family Brun has been making wines for generations. Léonr Brun, the great grandfather learned the craft of making champagne while working with Moët & Chandon in the early 1900s during the phylloxera crisis. Since then, the talent of winemaking has been spreading through the region. By the turn of the 20th century, the Brun family counted up to 120 members. So far, it has generated 3 different brands: Edouard Brun, René Brun and Roger Brun.
July 4, 2018
Let me let you in on a little secret: Clos des Goisses was the first single vineyard champagne that I have ever tasted. This happened about 12 years ago, at the private reception of a Sibelius concert in Bruges where they served a Clos des Goisses 1998. Not even a flute, but in a wineglass. This champagne was sensational with luxurious aromas of butterscotch, earth, toffee, freshly roasted Java coffee and cigar smoke. It tasted powerful, complex and vinous,yet also exquisitely refined and it lingered immensely long on the palate. Tasting this champagne gave me a similar sensation to enjoying one of the great red Burgundies and I felt like a king drinking it...
April 7, 2018
I first tasted Perseval-Farge champagnes at Terroir et Talents, a fair for journalists, bloggers, wine merchants and wine professionals which is now called Les Mains de Terroirs. The wines really stood out with their bold, mature and toasty character. I couldn't wait to discover more...
April 4, 2018
People often ask me what champagne they should buy as a present, when it really has to be something special and of course definitely worth the money. Well, my personal choice would be Rare (click for pronunciation) and this is the reason why...
In 1885 Piper-Heidsieck created a very exclusive cuvée to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the house, and it was presented to Queen Marie Antoinette of France. The bottle was designed by the great Fabergé - jeweler of Tsar Nicholas II and famous for his intricate jeweled eggs. It was a majestic bottle dressed in white gold, diamonds and lapis lazuli...
November 20, 2017
The Selosse of the Aube
Charles Dufour is an exceptionally talented and hardworking winemaker – I like to refer to him as “the Selosse of the Aube”. He owns 6 hectares of vineyards in Landreville, Essoyes and Celles-sur-Ource. Charles works in the vineyard, does vinification and takes care of the marketing as well. Quite a character! His wines are contemporary and a perfect fit to the gastronomic scene of today. No wonder that restaurant Noma...
October 20, 2017
Charles Heidsieck’s “Blanc des Millénaires” is one of the most complex, seductive, age-worthy prestige cuvées I've ever encountered. It is a Blanc de Blancs made exclusively from Chardonnay grapes harvested in 4 Grand Cru and 1 Premier Cru village. Oger brings that beautiful Burgundian patine, concentration and structure to the wine. Le Mesnil-sur-Oger stands for balance; Avize for mineral complexity. There’s Cramant with the finesse and flinty character and, last but not least, Vertus and its tropical floral spectrum. All wines at Charles Heidsieck are entirely vinified in stainless steel with full malolactic fermentation. The previous vintage...
October 19, 2017
Picture a lovely hot day in Champagne, perfect for a trip to the region. Our team consisted of Koen, a critically minded, evidence-based thinker with a background in science and engineering; Gomaar, an open-minded wine expert, romanticist and existentialist who is into meditation; An, a great seeker and champagnelover who explores spiritual paths to help grasp life’s meanings; and then there is myself, a hyper-sensitive epicurian in search for answers. We were about to get submerged into a world of esotericism and mysticism...
October 7, 2017
Bollinger certainly doesn’t need an introduction, but If you have never tasted or - believe me it occurs - never heard of Bollinger then you’re certainly missing out on culture. What Church’s is for shoes and Rolls Royce for cars, Bollinger is for champagne. It’s not only James Bond’s preferred champagne but among connoisseurs Bollinger is absolute top-notch...
September 14, 2017
I’d never been to a wine fair in The Netherlands before, and this one was completely dedicated to Champagne. The event was held in the prestigious Amstel hotel in Amsterdam. At the lobby, wine writer Gert Crum was there to sell and sign his fabulous new champagne book "Le réveil des terroirs". There were two tastings on the same day: One for the professionals in the afternoon, and another later in the evening for the non-professional visitors. Most of the distributors and resellers really knew what they were talking about even if I asked some tricky questions. I was charmed by...
April 26, 2017
Pinot Meunier is a chimeric mutation of the Pinot Noir grape, easily recognized by its pale white powdered vine leaves - the leaves look like they're sprinkled with flour, hence the name, “Miller's Grape” - and blue skinned grapes. About one-third of the vineyards in Champagne are planted to Meunier. While Meunier used to have the reputation of being inferior in quality to...
March 14, 2017
In 2010 I started a project named Champagnifique. I tasted many, many champagnes, with a small team on regular basis, and I published reviews on the website. We hoped to provide an alternative to the sites that charge expensive annual fees for access, so there was no charge to visit our site, and it was truly a labor of love. I always wanted to do more than just review and score wines, though. What about...
January 27, 2017
Terroir has become, of course, quite the “buzzword” In the fine wine world. Exact definitions can be elusive. It's all about the location of the vines, the type of soil, the life in the soil, fossils, micro-climate, a sea breeze, but most important the work in the vineyard and respect for nature. My appreciation for growers producing organic and/or biodynamic champagne just started in 2015. The biodynamic champagnes I tasted before often had that strange band-aid, Mercurochrome or glue aroma that really puts me off. Times have changed...