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French Culture

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Taming the Bubble: The Technical Evolution of Champagne

How Champagne makers learned to control fermentation, bottle pressure and sediment. Bruno Paillard Dosage Zero illustrates the distinction between sugar for bubbles and sugar at finishing.

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L’Entêté and the Fight to Reclaim a Name: The Two Legal Changes That Transformed Absinthe in France

How separate changes to French production rules and naming law allowed historic absinthe recipes and the word absinthe to return.

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Fifty Years After the Judgment of Paris｜The Japanese Napa Owner Who Uprooted Vines Just Beginning to Bear Fruit

The Conviction to Begin Anew Fifty Years After Paris: The Conviction to Begin Anew On May 24, 1976, a blind wine tasting took place in Paris. Organized by British wine merchant Steven Spurrier and Patricia Gallagher, the event delivered a stunning result: little-known California wines outscored some of France’s most celebrated labels. In the white […]

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The wines of the Loire Valley

I ｜ Domaine Patrick BAUDOIN The reputation ｜ and popularity ｜ of Loire wines is increasing day by day. Until recently, 80% of Loire production was drunk by the French, who are very attached to the region, to the Loire, its emblematic river, component of their intimate identity, and to its delicate wines. Times are […]

Clos des Litanies Pomerol

The Day a Litany Became the Name of a Place

In a Corner of Pomerol, 1514 On April 19, 1514, in Pomerol in southwestern France, Jean de Vallon, prior of the Knights of Malta, appointed a young monk to serve the parish priest of Saint-Jean de Pomeyrol. His name was Mathieu Boschuet. Records describe him as “a man recommended for his religious fervor and for the sincerity of his life and morals.” Brother Boschuet withdrew from the bustle of the parish and settled in a small enclosed plot surrounded by vineyards. There, it is said, he would open his breviary each day and quietly, repeatedly recite a litany to Saint Vincent, the patron saint of winemakers.

Domaine Dominique GRUHIER

Memories of a Monastery, A Love Letter to a Daughter

800 Years of Domaine Gruhier’s “Cuvée Juliette” In the village of Épineuil in the Yonne, northern Burgundy, the landscape unveils a serene, contemplative elegance｜strikingly distinct from the glamorous hills of the Côte d’Or. There, a monastery that has witnessed the passage of eight centuries still stands in graceful silence. In 1212, Cistercian monks established the […]

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Mozart, Christianity and the Pinot Noir of Burgundy

The Heritage of Pinot Noir in Burgundy François Mauriac, the renowned French writer from Bordeaux, once reflected on the nature of artistic genius through an anecdote about Rossini. When asked who the greatest musician was, Rossini named Beethoven. But when pressed about Mozart, he replied: “Mozart? He is the only one.” This perspective offers an intriguing […]

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Champagne! 3. Fundamental Knowledge about Champagne: Origins and Production

Learn the essentials of Champagne: its protected origin, permitted grapes, production method and the factors that shape the finished wine.

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Champagne! 2. Vincent Charlot: A Biodynamic Approach in Champagne

A Mosaic of Terroirs Located in Mardeuil, near Epernay, in the Champagne area, the estate of Vincent Charlot is a mosaic of 39 different small plots, with diverse soils and exposures. To highlight the specific characteristics of each plot, he vinifies them separately. This approach leads to the production of various distinct cuvées, with quantities […]

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Champagne! 1.

Champagne in History and Art: From Dom Pérignon to the 19th Century The First Cork in Art History In the painting “Le Déjeuner d’huîtres” (The Oyster Lunch) by Jean-François de Troy (1735), preserved at the Château de Chantilly, we can observe a significant historical detail. Painted twenty years after Dom Pérignon’s death, this work depicts […]

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Bruno Dangin, The Historical Terroir of Molesme: Where Champagne meets Burgundy

Domaine Bruno Dangin. The Father and the Son In the village of Molesme, amongst the rolling foothills near the border of the Aube and the Cote d’Or, lie the vineyards of Domaine Bruno Dangin. Before founding his domain, Bruno spent over 30 years as an oenologist in the family estate in Champagne, Champagne Paul Dangin. […]

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Le Clos des Arènes de Lutèce, the smallest vineyard in Paris, will bottle its wine for the first time.

♦ In previous posts, we have presented you small vineyards that have survived, or are resurrected, in the “intra-muros” Paris (inner-city), such as the Clos de Montmartre. We have the pleasure to present you a new creation, a small Clos of 200 vines plants planted at the site of one of the oldest vestiges of the […]

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