Local Food And Wine

Centre Vinicole Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte

by Paige Donner

A few interesting facts set the champagne brand of Nicolas Feuillatte apart from the others.

For one, it’s a champagne house that is cooperatively owned. Just outside of the champagne capital of Épernay in France, in the little village of Chouilly, the modern and sleek facilities whose cellars are both above and beneath the ground, ferment, disgorge and age 300,000 hectoliters of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Petit Meunier destined to become top-selling champagne every year. That translates into 21.9 million bottles of champagne in 2011.

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The house doesn’t actually own any vineyards, however. Those are all owned by the growers. They get privileges for being part of the vast co-operative, the growers do. Privileges such as use of state-of-the-art bottling and riddling machines for example, when they have enough leftover from their growing season and harvests to offer a limited supply under their own champagne label - if they so choose.

It’s one of the most, if not the most, successful “cave co-operatives” in the wine industry in France. The numbers are impressive:

5,000 growers (that comprise the Producers Union)
82 smaller cooperatives (who form the larger NF brand)
350 wine presses
21.9 million bottles produced in 2011

And what’s more, Nicolas Feuillatte is a real person. Still alive and kicking today.

It was in the early 70’s when he inherited 10ha of champagne vineyards. After a few years’ harvests and a successful brand launching, notably in the U.S. among the jet-set and the glitterati, he accepted the offer of the union of growers to lend his brand to their champagnes. It was, quite evidently, a match made in heaven.

Recommend: If you get the chance, try the 1996 vintage Brut. Elegant, generous, laced with a refined minerality.

All photos c. 2012 Paige Donner

YOU WILL LOVE MY WINEPICKS! - ♥CHÉRIE DU VIN

*LOCAL FOOD AND WINE *

Wine Evenings at Restaurant 114 Faubourg St. Honore

By Paige Donner

Read More Here

At the epicenter of chic, where rue Fbg. St. Honoré meets Avenue Matignon in the shade of Paris’s Élysée gardens, is where you will find the restaurant 114 Faubourg.
As part of Le Bristol Hotel, but with a separate entrance and in an adjoining building, the lunch and dinner restaurant headed up by chef Eric Desbordes along with his chief Sommelier, Marco Pelletier, is altogether a destination unto itself.

Tomes can and likely will be written about the talented young chef’s French cuisine, but focus here is on the restaurant’s once-monthly Wine Tasting Evenings, held the first Monday of the month, to be precise.

In a city that gathers the best wines of one of the best wine-producing countries in the world, there is an unexpected and surprising dearth of good wine-tasting evenings organized for the amateur/enthusiast and/or the visiting tourist. A once-monthly excellent wine and tailored food-pairing evening open to 25 guests is hardly going to make a dent in what should be a huge demand for this type of food and wine evening event, but, at least it’s a start…

Marco Pelletier, an adoptive Parisian whose authentic Canadianisms pepper his oenological descriptions and explanations, shines as the evening’s champion organizer. He not only invites the winemakers to Paris so they can talk about their “treasures,” but also curates his wines with that delicate care that only a professional with great passion and reverence for his metier can muster.

Evenings start at around 7:30 with a tasting flight of four wines during which the winemaker shares tales about the vintages he’s pouring. The 114 Faubourg team takes care of hosting duties, which allows these extraordinary cultivators of French wines to simply elaborate the stories of their wines in the company of the people who have come to sip and savor their particular expressions of terroir.

According to Pelletier, there is no commercial element to the evening. The winemakers are not honored guests invited to “sell” their wines. “They just come to share the story behind the wines and vintages being poured for the evening. The winemakers are often small producers that I’ve usually already chosen to feature and work with or who have already worked with Le Bristol for a long time,” explains Pelletier. “These are the ‘Haute Couture’ of winegrowers.”

FishPhone

This is brilliant! It works from U.S. phones. Just text and insto-Presto you get your answer back as to whether your sushi is sustainable…or not.

Read on… (from their website) FishPhone instantly puts Blue Ocean’s sustainable seafood information right at your fingertips, giving you access to all of our seafood information from your mobile phone.

Text 30644 with the message FISH and the name of the fish in question. We’ll text you back with our assessment and better alternatives to fish with significant environmental concerns.

Msg&Data Rates May Apply. Reply STOP to opt-out. Reply HELP or contact info@blueocean.org for help.

The FishPhone texting service is made possible through the generous support of the Waitt Foundation and the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation.

Want seafood info for your iPhone or Android? Check out Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch app.

Send comments or questions about FishPhone to info@blueocean.org.

Blue Ocean Institute Privacy Policy.

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GMO Labeling Initiative Heading to California Ballot!

Hi LA friends, I wanted to let you know about this event taking place in LA next week to celebrate the good news that Californians will get to decide in November whether we have the right to know if the food we eat is made with genetically engineered ingredients. This rally and press event will take place at the Board of Elections office in Norwalk, where hundreds of thousands of signatures will be dropped off on May 2. Please help spread the word and all are welcomed to come celebrate!

Thanks,
Stacy Malkan

Environmental Working Group

We have a right to know what’s in our food. More than 90% of Americans agree: genetically engineered food should be labeled. We are going to get this done in California. Join us on the road to victory in November!

GMO Right to Know Victory Rally May 2 in Los Angeles:On Wednesday, May 2 we will be turning in more than enough signatures to bring the California Right to Know initiative to label genetically engineered foods on the November ballot! This massive achievement is thanks to the work of thousands of volunteers across the state, including farmers, concerned, parents, activists, celebrities, sustainable businesses and many others.

Now we need your help to show the world the energy and commitment behind this historic initiative. Join us May 2 to celebrate our success and show the world our intention to win in November. We will deliver petitions in baby carriages to represent how important this issue is to future generations.

Please arrive at 10:00 a.m. May 2 with signs, posters, carriages, bring the kids and your friends!

Los Angeles area event: Meet at Board of Elections office at 12400 Imperial Highway, Norwalk. Speakers: singer, songwriter and GMO Right to Know leader Zuri Allen Star, petition leader and mom Stacey Hall, special guests TBA.

Help spread the word: http://www.carighttoknow.org/content/gmo-right-know-victory-rallies-join-us-may-2-celebrate

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♥Chérie Du Vin

Food Truck Fever Hits Paris

by Paige Donner

Paris, the ultimate city of foodies, is, as I write this, gripped with Food Truck Fever.

WATCH VIDEO INTERVIEW HERE

Yes, believe it! In exemplary fashion of how it takes several months to a few years for trends to cross the Atlantic (and it goes both ways!)… Since December, when Paris got its first Food Truck, aptly named Le Camion Qui Fume (transl. “The Smoking Truck,”) to now, mid-April when Paris can boast its second Food Truck as of April 1st - Cantine California - to feed the fevered frenzy for French Fries, we can now confidently say that food trucks have firmly taken hold of the Parisian Foodie Scene.

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Because, indeed, it is french fries these food trucks purvey. Cantine California offers both sweet potato french fries and regular french fries. All are organic. On their menu are also Burgers made from steak-grade quality cuts of beef bought direct from a small country farm where no hormones or other additives are used to process the meat. Same goes with the pulled pork he slow roasts in Mexican (mild) spices to achieve a very excellent Paris rendition of carne asada tacos. The taco shells are handmade in the truck and are the traditional soft tacos that anyone from California has come to expect.

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And the cupcakes - red velvet with a butter cream white frosting, or a deep dark chocolate with a rich chocolate frosting - all made with organic flour that he - owner-entrepreneur Jordan Fielders (French/American/ Canadian) also buys direct from the mill. And the chocolate is Fair Trade too. The chef, also named Jordan (Powers) and her boyfriend man the cooking and prepping while Jordan Fielders, always a foodie but formerly working in the energy and mining sector, takes care of the “front of house.”

Cantine_californias_jordan_fielders_and_jordan_powers_pictured_in_truck_local_food_and_wine

Figure on about 10€ for a plate of carne asada tacos, served with lime wedges and real black beans, along with authentic hot sauce. Truly one of the few places, very few places, in Paris where you can find an authentic California -even S. of the border - taco. Hamburgers are stupefyingly delicious. I’ll stop by regularly just for more sweet potato fries. And the cupcakes are a terrifying 2.50€ - terrifying because at that price I’ll be able to pick up a half a dozen of those fresh baked butter cream monsters at a time.

WATCH VIDEO INTERVIEW HERE

Kudos to both Kristin of Le Camion Qui Fume - read more about her hamburgers in this month’s Glamour magazine, French version - and Jordan of Cantine California for braving not just a city of foodies (yes, ok, read food snobs) but also a business bureaucracy that doesn’t make things all that easy for young entrepreneurs. Although, I have to come clean, I did see a food truck parked in St. Germain - on St. Germain Blvd near rue du Bac - last year during Designer Days. They were giving away/selling little cups of butternut squash soup and macarons, if memory serves. Will have to dig up that picture I snapped…if only to prove to myself I’m not imagining it!

Also, when you reflect on the whole itinerant food vendor thing and the long history the city has with its fresh markets, all of which also have food vendor stalls established within them (like crepes to go or roasted chicken with potatoes) it doesn’t, in fact, seem like such a stretch for these new kids on the block to rock up to the same curb and set up their tent, er, truck. After all, one thing Parisians do know and that’s food. And every lunch hour, M-F, millions of them swarm the city streets looking for something good to eat.

FYI, Le Camion qui Fume accepts cash only; Cantine California accepts credit cards and cash. Check their sites/ Twitter feeds for today’s location.

Twitter @ LocalFoodWine [photos/video by Paige Donner]

Grands Jours de Bourgogne 2012

[Press Release]

Last Thursday at Château du Clos de Vougeot, the GJB Association - and through it the entire regional wine industry - presented awards to a journalist, a photographer, and a television show for their pedagogical work highlighting the Burgundy wine culture. This was an opportunity to acknowledge the importance of these professions and the difficulties they often encounter.

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Three Press Trophy Winners! Crédit photo : Jean-Louis Bernuy

Another success for the GJB – last week, this 11th edition brought together the trade from around the world (2,200). With 5% increased attendance compared to 2010 - an overwhelming endorsement for the show providing an opportunity for the trade to taste the wines in the heart of the region that brought them into being.

This success seems to confirm the upturn in 2011, in particular marked by strong growth in export sales (+16.5%). At €666.5 million, this is the 2nd best result, in terms of value, in Burgundy’s history. While Europe is stagnating, the U.S. is becoming the number 1 export market (+33% in value and +19% by volume) and the China-Hong Kong duo is approaching the Top 5 (doubling sales to €34 million). In Japan, where the strong yen has boosted exports, Burgundies have exceeded their peak value by more than 10% (+20% to €85 million).

It is in this context that Pierre-Henry Gagey, Chairman of the Burgundy Wine Board (BIVB), honored the Press Trophy winners, hailing those without whom “our wines would not have acquired their international reputation.”

Grands Jours de Bourgogne 2012 – A few figures :

” 2,200 visitors, +5% compared to 2010
” 10,274 of total admissions, an average of +20% of visitors per event
” More than 1,000 new contacts recorded during pre-registration
” 42% of French (45% in 2010) and 58% foreign visitors (55% in 2010)
” 44 different countries were represented with first visit from people coming from New Zealand, Chile, Argentina, Seychelles, Mexico, Finland, Slovakia and Lebanon

Yukino Kano, Japan, received the trophy for the “Press Article” category for her special feature entitled “Les Terres de l’épopée [The land of the epic tale],” published in December 2011 Japanese magazine Nile’s Nile. The jury of professionals and journalists especially enjoyed this feature’s poetic and very educational aspects evoking the lands and history of Côtes de Beaune and de Nuits.

A native Burgundian was awarded the first trophy for the “Photography” category (new for this edition). Armelle Hudelot was recognized for her catalog dedicated to the Burgundy Vineyard Climats, published in 2010. The jury was touched by the aesthetics and attention to detail transcribing the diversity of elements that make the mosaic of Burgundy Climats unique in the world.

Exceptionally this year, the jury wanted to commend France 3 Bourgogne’s TV initiative, by awarding a special prize for the program “Millésime.” Broadcast once a month on Sunday at 11 a.m., it explores the wine-making world through current topics (harvest, vinification, Climats, discovering professions, food and wine, exploring appellations…). As he presented the award to Muriel Bessard, the show’s creator, and Jean-Pierre Stucki, France 3 Bourgogne TV Director, Pierre-Henry Gagey explained this decision: “This choice - in French public television - is an act of courage, given the vigilance of some and the difficulties caused by the Evin law and jurisprudence.”

The GJB came to an end on Saturday in the sun with the Chevaliers du Tastevin’s Spring Tastevinage.

Mark your calendars now for the GJB’s 12th edition in 2014!

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♥Chérie Du Vin

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Bordeaux Primeurs Explained – Interview with Sylvie Cazes by Paige Donner

Bordeaux Primeurs Explained - Interview with Sylvie Cazes by Paige Donner from Local Food And Wine on Vimeo.Sylvie Cazes explains the unique Bordeaux tradition of Primeurs, or ”wine futures”; She also talks a bit about the annual Marathon du Medoc. Interview and video by Paige Donner for Local Food And Wine TV.

Sylvie Cazes, President of the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux . Interview and video by Paige Donner for Local Food And Wine TV.

YOU WILL LOVE MY WINE PICKS! - ♥CHÉRIE DU VIN