Virtual Tasting of Premium Champagne this Summer
Due to COVID-19, there are many country’s wine events and winery tastings got cancelled. People cannot meet in person to taste wine and interact together. But wine people are smart and change the tasting into virtual tasting, so that we can still connect with the winemakers or winery owners to taste wine together. We all have to stay home and stay safe. It’s a hot and boring summer. It’s a great idea to open a chilled quality champagne to relax a bit.
The renowned premium champagne Krug has launched its Krug Grand Cuvee 168eme Edition recently. Due to the pandemic situation, Olivier Krug, the sixth generation of Krug family & Director of the House, has hosted its first Krug Grande Cuvee 168eme Edition ZOOM Champagne Tasting with media in Hong Kong. First of all, I received a Zoom meeting invitation. Then, two days before the tasting, I also received the delivery of the champagne with glasses for us to chill it before the meeting. Everyone will stay home or in his/her own office and go online together to join the Zoom meeting, meet with Olivier and taste the newly launched champagne together. 168eme Edition is a blend of 198 wines from 11 different years, from 1996 to 2012. The climate in 2012 is unstable with less grapes but very concentrated ones, which turned out to be a great year. It’s aromatic with floral, pear, ripe peach, honey, brioche, mineral, orange zest and toasty nuts notes. It’s lively and complex. When I asked Olivier if he thinks Krug matches well with dim sum, he said as Krug Grande Cuvée is elegant & versatile, with over 120 reserved wines blended together, it matches with many different cuisines and dim sum is definitely a great match!
Another renowned premium champagne Dom Perignon has also launched its new 2010 vintage champagne. I’m also very delighted to be invited to join its virtual tasting. This experience is a bit different from zoom meeting. We were invited to join the virtual tasting in a suite of a hotel, a small group tasting with everyone sitting apart to be safe and met with the winemaker Nick Lane to taste the new vintage live together. Apart from 2010 vintage, we also tried 2008 vintage to compare. 2010 is full of sunshine, it can be compared to its 1996 great vintage. You can taste the sunshine from the richness of the champagne, including white peach, citrus, white flowers, honey, mineral, toasty & brioche notes. Comparatively, 2008 has a longer finish and 2010 has more richness on the palate. Both vintages are wonderful and different. Since we all need to stay home and stay safe, why don’t we open a nice champagne to cheer up ourselves at home? Cheers!
由於疫情，其實很多不同國家的葡萄酒活動及不同品牌的葡萄酒試酒會亦已相繼取消。沒有實體試酒會活動，酒商亦靈活變通，改為網上試酒會活動，跟釀酒師或莊主一同試最新推出的佳釀。由於疫情又常常宅在家，這麼悶和熱的夏天，開一瓶冰凍又優雅的香檳喝喝，輕鬆一下也不錯。
法國著名香檳莊Krug 香檳近日推出新型號Krug Grand Cuvee 168eme Edition香檳。由於疫情，Krug 香檳的第六代 Krug Olivier遠在法國，跟香港傳媒進行Krug首個 Zoom 香檳試酒會。首先是收到Zoom約會邀請，而在試酒會前兩天，便收到Krug香檳和酒杯，讓你可預先把香檳雪定。大家都在家或各自的工作室一起上線，到網上試酒會開始時，跟莊主一起率先試他最新推出的佳釀。Krug Grand Cuvee 168eme Edition，由11個不同年份（1996年-2012年）198款酒款組成，香氣四溢，帶白花、香梨、熟桃、蜜糖、牛油麵包、礦物、橙皮及烤果仁等味道，活潑而層次複雜。2012年由於氣候返覆，收成少咗，但果香豐富，十分精采。問到Krug Olivier覺得Krug配點心㚒嗎？他説由於Krug優雅而具層次，以多於120款基酒組合而成，跟很多種類的食物也很夾，當然不少得點心吧！
另一法國著名香檳Dom Pérignon近日亦推出了新年份2010年年份香檳。我亦被邀參加了它的搖距網上試酒會（virtual tasting）。這個體驗跟Zoom試酒會有點不同，我們被邀請去酒店的套房，大家保持距離的分開坐，然後一起跟在電視螢光幕中的釀酒師Nick Lane作視像交流。席間我們除了試2010年份外，亦同時試了2008年作比較。2010年陽光充沛，比喻可同1996年好年份相比，你可以從這個年份香檳飮得出充滿陽光的濃郁果香，包括白桃、柑橘、白花、蜜糖、烤烘、礦物、牛油麵包等味道，而2008年相對餘韻比較長，但味道相比2010年份沒有那麼豐富，各有各美態。既然要留家抗疫，不如開一瓶高質香檳讓自己高興一下。Cheers!
