Virtuoso Life - November/December 2007 - (Page 62) TASTING NOTES Moët & Chandon One of the most celebrated and important of all champagne houses, Moët & Chandon was founded in 1743. Thomas Jefferson, who was born that same year, became a lifelong fan of Moët champagnes, and the brand has had an important presence in the American market for most of its life. The one-hour tour begins at the company’s imposing yellow-brick headquarters in the center of Epernay, where you’ll descend into Moët’s 17 miles of subterranean chalk caves below the city streets for an upclose glimpse at some of the several million bottles of champagne produced each year under the supervision of chef de cave Benoît Gouez. The 2000 Moët & Chandon Grand Vintage ($90) is the company’s current vintage release, with beautifully delineated flavors and typically impressive style. Tours are offered weekdays January through March, and daily April through mid-November. 20 avenue de Champagne, Epernay; 33-326/51-20-20; www.moet.com Laurent-Perrier “Never drink water” is the motto engraved on the stone fountain at the LaurentPerrier compound in Tours-sur-Marne, a picturesque grand cru village just east of Epernay. The admonition Ne buvez jamais d’eau is visually reinforced by a diminutive cherub who relieves himself into the basin, demonstrating definitively that champagne is the better beverage. This gently risqué joke is completely in the spirit of Laurent-Perrier, whose wines are among the most vivacious and lighthearted of all champagnes. Standing in marked contrast to more somber-toned bubblies such as those from Krug and Bollinger, LaurentPerrier is a champagne to be delighted in rather than pondered. Founded in the early nineteenth century and therefore a relative latecomer in the region, the house prides itself on its freethinking, independent spirit and today remains the largest family-owned champagne producer. Beautifully kept vineyards surround the headquarters, a charming and thoroughly workaday example of commercial French provincial architecture. The 1997 Grand Siècle Alexandra Rosé ($100), the current edition of Laurent-Perrier’s 62 V I RT U O S O L I F E PHOTO CREDIT (THIS PAGE) ABIGAIL ICE BUCKET, $160 AT FORTY FIVE TEN, (TAITTINGER CELLAR) SYLVAIN GRANDADAM/ GETTY IMAGES http://www.moet.com
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