Cointreau Édouard - A Scent of Champagne: 8,000 Champagnes Tasted and Rated

TO MY WONDERFUL CHILDREN
AND BELOVED RAGNI

PREFACE

WHY A SCENT OF CHAMPAGNE?

THE WINE WORLD IS FULL of informative and beautiful books. However, in the jungle of wine books, it is extremely rare to find one focusing on both philosophy and enjoyment. A Scent of Champagne , which might be my last book with a focus on champagne, is an attempt to create a fragrant pleasure in the essence of my own bubbly champagne life philosophy. This book is much more personal, and given my previous writing, has been by far the most inspiring of all to write.

If you have read my previous books, you will certainly recognize a lot when it comes to vinification and technique. The history of Champagne and geography was also difficult to redraw. However, this time I wanted to take you on my inner journey and hope to inspire you to curiously explore the worlds most fascinating beverage in a way that is similar to mine. The moments and the scents I experience are what I want to convey in words. Champagne is one of lifes primary tools of enjoyment, and I am the messenger.

I want to stress that I in no way feel superior to have been blessed with a photographic fragrance memory, but rather I am humbly happy to have been awarded such a gift, which I can use to give myself and others knowledge and enjoyment. I simply want to share with you the intellectual joy I experienced via the magic of the wine growers and the chalky hills of Champagne.

The final part of the book is an evaluation of one of the greatest national treasures of France. I have largely gone through the history of the all-important champagnes in the same spirit as my great idol Carl Linnaeus did with the plant kingdom more than two hundred fifty years ago. The champagnes have all passed by my nose and palate before impressions were processed and analyzed to eventually end up as some paltry figures in this book. Most are worth a separate chapter, but as you can understand, a compilation of eight thousand champagnes needs to be shortened even in a large book like this. During the final phase of writing, I passed half a century as an organism on the planet Tellus, and many of my thoughts and philosophies are certainly helped and inspired by this developing midlife crisis. Halfway to a hundred, hopefully I have achieved some form of wisdom. Even though I am still as curious as a child at heart, I paused to reflect and was taken aback at how fast life goes and how important it is to take advantage of every moment. Wines should be enjoyed in the same way. Reverently, focused, as if every sip were the next to last. The longer you live, the fewer truths there seem to be, but one thing I know for sure after having tasted all these champagneslife is too short to drink Spanish cava!

Richard

A GENTLEMAN IN CHAMPAGNE

RICHARD JUHLIN is incredibly gifted, born with the worlds best ability to smell and to taste any kind of beverage. Champagne is his passion, and thanks to his hard work, he has become the number one champagne expert in the world. On several occasions, both in my home and at various events, I have shared a table with him and drank Bordeaux or mineral water, and its obvious that he could have become the worlds leading expert on any kind of drink he chose.

His incredible ability to identify champagnes at blind tastings is both unique and legendary. In Paris, in 2003, he managed to identify forty-three of fifty champagnes whereas his nearest rival could name four. From my own cellar, founded in 1921, he has identified champagnes from 1922 to 1969. The bottles do not have labels, but we can identify them through handwritten notes lying on the wooden shelves. We have recordings on video from my house of when he tasted a Bollinger from 1934 and a Piper-Heidsieck from 1945. He can explain how and why he can identify the champagnes, and he can compare them with those in his memory bank from previous tastings of the same brand and/or year.

With this immense talent also comes a great sensitivity for the feelings of others, which is often the case with hypertalented people. Richard has a rare ability to feel and understand other peoples personalities and inner thoughts. Unfortunately, this can also cause him to be deeply hurt. But the joy and ability to indulge his passionchampagnegive him much-needed protection. Likewise, his impeccable behavior as a true gentleman further shields him against the modern worlds aggressiveness. Because he is the chief, he is always humble, honest, genuine, elegant, and generous. It is mainly his behaviornot his incredible endowmentthat has made him fully accepted and profusely decorated in France and in the usually closed champagne circles. His passion for the sparkling wine involves strong emotions, understanding, and respect for the people in Champagne. For him, the wine begins with the people. It is an approach that is not common to other wine experts, who sometimes focus solely on the wine and neglect to understand the importance of the human factor.

None of this would have been possible without persistent work, searching, and constant trips to the Champagne region. He freely shares his knowledge. This priceless book, the result of decades of work, is a gift everyone can enjoy.

As Prince Alain de Polignac says, It is not just his well-chosen words, his wealth of knowledge, and the almost physical symbiosis between wine and human being in equal parts that arouse our envy and joy, it is also the youthfulness, authenticity of his voice Long live Bacchus! Long live Richard.

To Richard, feelings are a part of wine tastingto balance flavors, bubbles, textures, and years. He conveys it well to the readers of this book, or when he appears on television or in real life. He enhances everyones minds, and as a true gentleman, he gives so much without showing it.

Thank you, Richard!

douard Cointreau

Beijing, June 2012

PROLOGUE

HOW BEAUTIFUL. So incredibly beautiful and rich in scent. It is the flowing sweet perfume of lily plants, cyclamen, bougainvillea, and yellow roses. Pointed, uplifting, fresh tones with citrus flavor, with lemon and acacia, mixed with fig leaf, thyme, myrrh, and coconut. A volatile cooling breeze that brings heated aromas of tanned pine bark, cork oaks, eucalyptus, and red-hot iron-saturated soil passing by. The Mediterranean breeze caresses my skin and swirls up scents of the Piz Buin sunscreen I smeared myself with this morning, although both salt water and chlorinated pool water washed away all visible traces of the cream.

Reluctantly, I get carried away by its scent. I like it, although it is so obviously artificial. To me, it has become associated with moments of happiness from my youth and the trips marked by both hopeful ease and the discovery of spirit that I felt in Europe at the time. I close my eyes and end up for some intense seconds in San Remo in 1981 before I think back on the glorious day we have had together here today on Corsica.

I think about my oldest son: Henriks brave jump straight from the Poseidon cliff into Les Calanques turquoise-colored bay. I think of my daughter Stellas happy smile when she discovers her stomach is getting the right color. I think of how it feels to run my fingers through Ragnis hair when the blow-dryer warm wind swirls among the golden curls. I see my youngest son Melker in front of me laughing, delighted at the front of the open Riva boat when skipper Luca increases the speed and the boat bounces on the waves. I try to store impressions and enjoy each moment and to notice that the moment just passed by and is replaced by another, which soon is turned into another memory. I know how important these two holiday weeks are for the whole family and want to get the maximum enjoyment out of every moment. Soon it will be winter again, and we will sit surrounded by our northern darkness, bringing back memories of the summers joyful and uncomplicated world relived through the razor-sharp details of a cameras lens.