What happens when you cross a brass knuckle with a cork screw? This. Completely opposite, yet totally awesome together. Designed in limited edition of 50 by Jonathan Sabine and for sale at Ministry Of The Interior in Toronto. They’re not shipping them over the border for obvious reasons, sorry. It also comes in a dead-sexy (no pun intended) laser etched walnut box.
Wine blogs seem to be about a dime a dozen, especially with the rise in opportunities for city dwellers to bottle their own reds and whites. Sommelier Courtney Cochran’s book Hip Tastes: The Fresh Guide to Wine from Viking is a nice change of pace. It has helpful tips on pairing wine with food and selecting good bottles and gadgetry for upcoming holiday get togethers. Cochran, who started taking sommelier classes while studying for her MBA, now runs a California wine events company that was born out of tastings she hosted for her fellow students and wine club members. Her book offers that same peer-friendly encouragement, telling readers to trust their instincts. It’s also hard to argue with the pitch of “no paisley tie-wearing wine auction-attending dilettantes here … just real people getting to know real wine, one great party at a time.”
To briefly recap our progress with the Veuve Clicquot recipe this week, we added one part design on Tuesday, one part ambiance on Wednesday, and one part expertise on Thursday. Today, there’s one last ingredient to add, and we’re going to be pouring a little bit more of this one into the mix than usual. The reason the recipe calls for two parts family is that the Veuve Clicquot family is the glue that holds the rest of the dish together.
The strength of the VC family not only serves to keep the internal workings of the brand humming along, but it’s also a strong, effective, and natural customer draw — I think it’s the authenticity people perceive when they feel a strong sense of family associated with a brand. It was certainly what made me feel relaxed, welcomed, and inspired during my days in France — a refreshing, tradition-bound experience amongst the hoards of Johnny-come-lately brands out there these days.
And as a special bonus today, I’ve put together this photo/video montage of my Veuve Clicquot experience. In all honesty, it was inspired by my new, adopted family. I hope you all enjoy watching. (I recommend viewing the montage in high quality on youtube )
And what “family†post would be complete with out a few family photos? You'll find several after the jump…
Moving right along with the Veuve Clicquot Recipe I’ve been slowly but surely completing for you this week… Since we’ve successfully added one part each of design and ambiance, we’re going to go ahead and fold-in one part expertise today. Successful businesses invariably depend on exceptional people, and VC is no exception, its tradition of expertise having been laid into place by Madame Clicquot. At the ripe age of 27, she took over the family business of wine making from her late husband, Francois Clicquot. The Madame began what what must be considered one of the most impressive careers of the era, both pioneering within her industry, and setting an important example for other aspiring female entrepreneurs. Through brilliant ingenuity of her own, she revolutionized how champagne was made and mass produced when she invented the process of riddling in 1816. She went on to leave her legacy to people whom she trusted, and the brand grew so that when she died in 1866, she was the richest woman in Europe.
Luckily, my Veuve Clicquot experience last week included meeting and learning from Madame Clicquot’s contemporaries. While the guys pictured above are by no means the only experts within the Veuve Clicquot organization, they sure stuck out in my mind. After the jump, I’ll introduce you to them in turn, starting from the left and working right…
Now that we’ve mixed 1 part design into the bowl, we’re going to move onto the second ingredient — let’s add one part ambiance. Just the second ingredient in the four-ingredient recipe, it was the most eye-opening component of my Veuve Clicquot experience last week. My choosing of “ambiance” as a vital ingredient in the overall recipe that is the Veuve Clicquot brand was predicated on the idea that a luxury Champagne brand must act the part — it must not conduct business in a vacuum. The incredible flavors that emerge from the bottle don’t appear out of thin air — they are created and caused by the process, by nature, by people. In this rather photo-heavy post, I hope I can at least skim the surface of the ambiance within and surrounding the Veuve Clicquot brand as I experienced it. After the jump are just some of the sights and circumstances that epitomize the yellow label. READ MORE…
Today I’m going to highlight the first ingredient in the four part Veuve Clicquot Recipe that I promised you yesterday: 1 part design. It became clear to me during my time in France that design plays a central role in the Veuve Clicquot brand. Through collaborations with some of the world’s foremost luxury brands and designers, it has been successful in parlaying it’s famous and storied heritage into a modern brand with modern appeal. During that process, it rings true that the history of Veuve Clicquot is never lost in one of their many modern updates — rather, its authenticity has been artfully preserved.
While there are many more examples of how VC has tapped the talents of some of the worlds most astute designers to keep the brand constantly updated and relevant (case in point, it’s collaborations with Christophe Pillet), I’ve chosen to feature four of my favorite projects in this post…
Veuve Clicquot Vertical Limit by Porsche Design (photos above). With a limited production of twelve units and a staggering cost of 120,000 Euros, the Vertical Limit is not your ordinary champagne cooler. Its design aesthetic is unmistakably Porsche Design, with those cool, clean metallic lines and warm back-lit interior. Veuve Clicquot’s contribution inside is even more impressive… a collection of twelve vintages; twelve perfect marriages of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. When one of the lucky owners decides to vacate one of the spots in the Vertical Limit, she can fill the empty spot with another one of her favorite vintages. The year of birth of a given vintage is printed on the end of each individual door on a metallic placard. For lack of a better description, this thing’s “baller.”
As a bonus to the Veuve Clicquot “recipe” which I will be assembling for you all this week, I thought I’d also offer up a bit of instant gratification — good form for a Monday, I figure. During my time with VC, the other bloggers and I had plenty of opportunities to try plenty of different kinds of champagne. I found myself battling with the dichotomy of objectively great champagne (the stuff that’s known to be great) and subjectively great champagne (the stuff I liked regardless of its reputation) — a philosophical debacle of monumental proportions, right? At times, it was a bit overwhelmed (coming to mind immediately is the dizzy feeling I had at the luncheon we had at the Verzy Mansion right after our first morning tasting event with master Oenologist Cyril Brun)… but when in Reims, one must make the most of each flute of champagne laid in front of them, right?
After the jump are my three favorites, in no particular order. For each, I’ve included a link to explanations by the experts at Veuve Clicquot, as well my various (humble) musings…
Hope you don’t mind if I share something personal. I just got back from my honeymoon in Napa (no, I will not be posting photos), and of all of the tasting rooms, wine shops, and California cuisine restaurants, my best glass of juice was at Titus Vineyards. It wasn’t just the fact that I’d already blazed three dozen wineries up the Silverado Trail in my rented Mustang, like an oenophile Dr. Gonzo. This transcended my buzz (which, if you’re a CHiP officer, is pure hyperbole). This small label makes gigantic reds that are smooth but full of personality; a nice Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and a Zinfandel that will deftly remove your underwear and refuse to call the next day. I bought everything, including a Petite Verdot and Petite Sirah varietal you don’t see a lot of in the valley. If you don’t just drink, but actually enjoy wine, you won’t be disappointed.
Just two days ago I was enjoying a deliciously refreshing Chardonnay at my organization’s one year anniversary party. I think it’d go great with the dinner I am planning tonight but I’ve already forgotten the name on the bottle, only remembering the region and varietal. As recent as three years ago, I would probably be out of luck. But today, with powerful online databases such as the recently launched Snooth, wine drinkers have a great way to be reunited with a favorite.
Snooth was founded by Philip James in 2006 and finished a successful round of seed funding late last year. Just six months later, a team of in-house and offshore developers put together an splendid site with an equally impressive set of tools, featuring Linux, Apache, PostGreSQL and Perl/PHP. As a techie, the part that I am most interested in is the database population and manipulation techniques. The site adds about 5 new partners (both wineries and stores) per day, which provides it with a large and relevant database. By having partners volunteering information, Snooth avoids potential translation problems and false positives.
I am a huge stickler for ratings and I personally find them to be invaluable when choosing anything from a new bottle of wine to a new restaurant to try out. There are no less than 4 different types of wine ratings and their scales are not the same; some using stars and some using numerical values on different scales. Snooth provides a simple “SnoothRank” value which is calculated using a, wait for it, proprietary algorithm. It takes things like reviews, number of reviews, and how trusted each review is into account and returns a simple value which will help you in your wine purchasing decision.
Snooth prides itself on the size and accuracy of it’s database. It’s constantly being tweaked and filtered. I particularly like the “intelligent” searching algorithm which let you type in things like red good with steak. Next time, before you head to the wine aisle, check Snooth out. Who knows, you might end up with a new favorite.
It always surprises me how long certain industries take to adopt modern technologies that are not only relevant to their business, but can also serve to enhance it. When it comes to the internet and accessibility, the question is never if, but rather when and usually the answer is, the sooner the better. I like to say I am an intermediate wine enthusiast and up until this point have been frustrated at the lack of a single source where I can find a comprehensive list of wines and reviews, rather than just one or the other.
Andy Hund and John Kleven, two young entrepreneurs must have felt my pain too and in January 2006, they set out to remedy this problem; what resulted was Vinquire, which officially launched in April 2007. The site is, first and foremost, a wine search engine, a feat accomplished using a propietary crawler that traverses over 3,500 wine retailers so readers can be sure they get the best prices for their favorite bottle. In addition to an impressive and fast-expanding database, Vinquire’s presentation is equally appealing. The site uses a combination of Django, Javascript, and XHTML/CSS for that Web 2.0 feel. The muted colors are easy on the eyes and even though the speed can use a little help, it’s quite acceptable. My favorite part about the site is how detailed the filtering is: you can search by vendor (Albertsons, BevMo, Costco, Safeway, and my favorite, Trader Joe’s) and then even narrow it down more by price (under $10, under $20, etc).
If that’s not enough, you can add the human aspect into the equation by taking into account reviews. Using a system which they won’t divulge, Vinquire calculates a WineRank score which includes factors such as the average score by users and helpfulness scores of those reviews. I am told that professional reviews will be integrated in the next 3 months, and that’s something I am really looking forward to. I know I should really just make my own decisions when it comes to wine, but with over 550 wine reviews, user forums, a fun wine recommendation feature, and a light-hearted wine industry blog, it doesn’t hurt to get a little help from Vinquire.
Finding a wine storage solution that combines environmental and pleasing aesthetic values has proven to be somewhat of a challenge for me…so much so that the “storage” situation basically consists of the 8+ bottles of wine we usually have on hand sitting on a shelf next to the coffee maker in our kitchen. This very well may change though, now I’ve come across Modern Cellar: a line of wall-mounted and freestanding wine furnishings crafted from reclaimed and sustainable wood, designed by wine enthusiasts, for wine enthusiasts with both functionality and beauty in mind. From the Mono Server which handsomly displays a single bottle and two glasses to the Sporadic Wall Panel that doubles as both art and storage, the clean and elegant lines are sure to fit right in, no matter your space or design situation is.
Part wine country magic, part soda pop pleasure, Vignette Wine Country Soda is the grown up’s version of grape juice. The varietal grapes make all the difference. Available in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay flavors, this sparkling, no sugar-added, 100% natural beverage is the first of its kind to be made with California Wine Country grapes. It’s non-alcoholic, so you won’t be waking up the next morning with a hangover, but offers a level of taste sophistication that can provide for great pairing options. Wichcraft SF (owned by Tom Colicchio of Top Chef) and several other fine Northern Californian establishments carry Vignette, and you can also buy it online– it runs for about $2.50 per bottle.
Everyone who enjoys wine hopefully knows that wine tastes better when it has been aerated. Aeration basically exposes more of the volume of the wine to the air, allowing the vino to ‘breathe,’ thus counteracting the tannins in the wine. The result is a better bouquet, drawn out flavors, and a smoother finish. Vinturi Essential Wine Aerator is an inexpensive ($35) aeration device that requires only a quick pour through. In fact, an independent, double blind taste test determined that “the same bottle of wine treated with Vinturi was higher in overall flavor, intensity, and mouth-feel … higher in red color intensity and overall aroma intensity … more true to type and of higher quality.” With Christmas quickly approaching, you can utilize Vinturi’s overnight or second day shipping options to safely get this under the trees of all the winos in your life.
Via Gizmodo
Now that we’ve mixed 1 part 
Hope you don’t mind if I share something personal. I just got back from my honeymoon in Napa (no, I will not be posting photos), and of all of the tasting rooms, wine shops, and California cuisine restaurants, my best glass of juice was at 
Just two days ago I was enjoying a deliciously refreshing Chardonnay at my organization’s one year anniversary party. I think it’d go great with the dinner I am planning tonight but I’ve already forgotten the name on the bottle, only remembering the region and varietal. As recent as three years ago, I would probably be out of luck. But today, with powerful online databases such as the recently launched 
It always surprises me how long certain industries take to adopt modern technologies that are not only relevant to their business, but can also serve to enhance it. When it comes to the internet and accessibility, the question is never if, but rather when and usually the answer is, the sooner the better. I like to say I am an intermediate wine enthusiast and up until this point have been frustrated at the lack of a single source where I can find a comprehensive list of wines and reviews, rather than just one or the other.
Part wine country magic, part soda pop pleasure, 
Everyone who enjoys wine hopefully knows that wine tastes better when it has been aerated. 
