First Class

Champagne:

Grand Siecle
Grand Siecle shows Laurent-Perrier at the summit of its caraft. This magnificent champagne is the result of blending the very best “Grands Crus,” selected from three different vintages.

Grand Siecle uses Chardonnay as the predominant grape, along with Pinot Noir. The blended wine is aged for at least six years in Laurent-Perrier’s cellars in Tours-sur-Marne, in the heart of the Champagne region in France.

It offers balance and complexity with subtle aromas of honey, hazelnuts, grilled almonds and brioche. A classic aperitif, but champagne of this quality can also be enjoyed with food, such as chicken, fish or mature cheese.

Pouilly Fume Les Genievres 2004, Guy Saget
The village of Pouilly in the Loire valley is the home of what most connoisseurs still regard as the world’s best Sauvignon Blanc, despite growing competition from countries like New Zealand. The name of the wine is derived from the hallmark smokey, flinty bouquet; “fume” being French for “smoked”. Indeed the Sauvignon grape is known locally as “Blanc Fume”

The Saget family own extensive vineyards in Pouilly, some 40 hectares of vines situated on the banks of the River Loire, opposite Sancerre. This example is from the very fine 2004 vintage, which produced well balanced wines with good acidity. Pouilly Fume is a versatile food wine, well matched to most fish dishes and especially good with hard cheeses.

Chablis 1er Cru Vaillons 2004, Bouchard Aine
Chablis is a name familiar to most wine lovers around the world although it’s main purpose until the last few decades was to provide everyday wines to the nearby city of Paris. Nowadays it is home to some of the most subtle and elegant expressions of the Chardonnay grape, very different to the richer fatter style of New World Chardonnay.

This example comes from a single vineyard, “Vaillons”, which is designated as a Premier Cru, with wines from these superior vineyards showing more weight and complexity. 2004 has turned out to be an excellent vintage, with a fairly cold summer saved by perfect weather conditions at harvest, at the end of September. Although shellfish is often regarded as the classic accompaniment to Chablis, it goes well with most fish, white meat and cheese.

Rutherford Ranch Chardonnay 2004
A classic Californian Chardonnay from the prestigious vineyards of the Napa Valley, this wine has won 5 Gold Medals in national and international wine competitions. The 2003 vintage in the Napa Valley was well suited to producing fine Chardonnay, with a cool Autumn following a warm Summer, allowing the grapes to fully ripen, before being hand harvested. The wine was matured for 11 months in a mixture of French and American oak.

A vibrant, buttery wine with apple and apricot flavours, it has the power to stand up to richer pasta dishes, in addition to seafood and chicken.

Chassagne Montrachet Rouge 2003, Bouchard Aine
Chassagne Montrachet lies in the Cote de Beaune region of Burgundy and has long been famous for its white wine, including Le Montrachet, perhaps the finest and most expensive white wine in the world.

This has tended to overshadow the fact that the village actually produces more red wine than white and the quality of these reds is also excellent. This example is from the well regarded Bouchard Aine et Fils, who have been making fine Burgundy since 1750. Benefiting from 15 months maturation, this wine offers the cherry and kirsch aromas of classic Pinot Noir, and can be enjoyed with red meat, chicken and most types of cheese.

Chateau Haut Lagrange, AC Pessac Leognan 2000
Chateau Haut Lagrange is situated among the best vineyards of the Graves region, just south of Bordeaux, in the commune of Pessac Leognan. The soil here is gravel based which not only explains the origin of the Graves name, but also provides ideal conditions to grow Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, the main grapes used in this chateaux’s blend.

From the “millennium vintage” of 2000, which has turned out to be possibly the finest Bordeaux vintage in living memory,the perfect weather conditions yielded wines of great concentration and complexity. With blackberry and blackcurrant aromas, this smooth and elegant wine is perfect with beef and lamb.
 

De Bortoli Noble One 2000
The world’s great dessert wines rely on the appearance of what many would view as an unpleasant natural phenomenon – rot. Admittedly a very special type, Botrytis Cinerea, or “noble rot”, a fungus that draws moisture from the grapes leavng intensely concentrated berries, almost like raisins.

Darren de Bortoli produced his first vintage in Australia in 1982, using the Semillon grape which is especially susceptible to botrytis infection. The growers were delighted to be rid of their“rotten” grapes! The rest is history as Noble One has gone on to win an astonishing 78 Trophies and over 300 Gold Medals. With captivating aromas of dried apricots, nectarines and honey, along with almond and vanilla oak flavours, this is one of the world’s great sweet wines. Treat yourself to a glass with dessert.