Bruno Paillard, a champagne with a heart in Venice
In March 2020, Italy and France knew the lockdown after 15 days. Closed schools, places of worship, offices moved into homes and many companies closed. The crowded streets became more and more deserted overnight. In this time in Reims, in the heart of the Champagne region, the Paillard family provided the so-called “dégorgement”, The disgorgement. From wine aged in the bottle after the harvest between summer and autumn 2012 the deposit that has accumulated over time is expelled. The cellar fills the bottle with the so-called “liqueur d’expedition”, which represents the signature of each winery, and then it is left to rest again. Champagne needs patience and rest to be able to forgive itself better, it is a wine that aims at longevity and aging. After the disgorgement of March 2020, the maison (winery) Bruno Paillard waited 15 months to propose it in an “avant-première”, the preview of the tasting. Only he didn’t do it in France, in Reims, in the Champagne region, but in Italy, in Veneto, in Jesolo.
The relationship with the Veneto
The relationship between the Paillard family and Italy, Veneto in particular, is solid and has lasted for some time. Bruno Paillard champagne has arrived in our country thanks to Cuzziol Spa, for years a player in the distribution market for top-of-the-range beer, wines and food products. From the business relationship between Paillard and Luca Cuzziol from Treviso, a friendship and a common vision on the world of wine was born, so much so that in 2015 Paillard was born in the new company Cuzziol Grandi Vini together with Luciano Benetton. In Veneto, Bruno Paillard champagne can be found in many starred restaurants but it is the first time that the standard-bearer of French wines is premiered in Italy. It was chosen on a summer evening in Jesolo, in the chef’s Terrazzamare Marcandole restaurant Roberto Bardella. And presenting his champagne was not Bruno but his daughter Alice Paillard, who has Venice in her heart after a master’s degree at Ca ‘Foscari. The 2012 or, more technically, the 2012 blending (year characterized by the winter frost and a very hot August), was produced with the first pressing of eight terroirs of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, to the extent of 60 and 40 percent. 20 percent of the terroirs were vinified in small old oak barrels.
The old vintages
It is a Extra Brut, which, as we have said, is aged for eight years and rests for another abundant year after disgorgement. “We smell scents of jasmine and then of fruit, such as apricots and black cherries”, suggests Alice Paillard during the tasting of a wine whose theme is “Sillon”, groove, with a label signed by the artist Claude Viallat. Normally the preview takes place in the cellar and is not combined with food, on this occasion instead from the kitchen of Terrazzamare Marcandole a Red shrimp with grilled beef heart stew, soft cheese and basil. And other dishes released to accompany other vintages, in a backward journey that led to the tasting, with a selection of Cansiglio cheeses, of the vintage 1989. For this vintage, the disgorgement was done in October 2008. The grapes were harvested two months before the fall of Berlin, when the disgorgement was done, East Germany was long ago wiped out and a ‘ Europe united with 25 countries.
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October 10, 2021 (change October 10, 2021 | 15:19)
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