A Mabel Gray Grower Champagne Dinner
Planning our 2024 visit to Champagne, and last minute gift ideas for the food and beverage enthusiast in your life.
Hi all!
May this message find you sane amidst the December hustle and bustle. Mabel is in full holiday mode, decked out like Snoopy’s dog house and smelling of Chef James’ Christmas Ham. It’s our busiest time of year, but we do our best to reflect on the year we’ve had and look forward to the opportunities ahead. I must say that I am incredibly grateful for the support and enthusiasm of all of the Champagne Society members. We hosted three Champagne events this year, featuring over 100 labels on our ‘Cave à Champagne,’ beverage pairings, glass pour list, and beyond. Our thirst for the beverage has only intensified.
I’ve been working to plan our 2024 trip to Champagne (our third in three years!!). We’re bringing some industry friends along this time - revisiting our favorites (Ruinart, Drappier) and looking forward to some education from Grande Marques (Veuve Cliquot, Louis Roederer). We fly into Paris and drive straight to Reims, bringing some of our favorite wine minds together for a private tasting at the beloved Au Bon Manger. We’ll revisit the Côtes des Bar on our way to Lyon for our culinary focus (Champagne is not known for its food scene). I’m working closely with our importers and distributors to pack our schedule with tastings, and as always searching for new and rare champagnes to share with you.
AND! Shortly after returning from France, we’ll be hosting a Grower Champagne Dinner at Mabel Gray! A one-night-only, tasting menu experience featuring an all-Grower-Champagne beverage pairing.
What is ‘Grower Champagne’ you may ask?
It is Champagne that’s produced by the grape growers themselves. Conventional Champagne is made from fruit that is purchased from growers across the region and blended to make a consistent house style. This is advantageous for profits and yields because of the region’s harsh growing conditions and vintage variation.
Terroir-driven Champagne, on the other hand, is successfully produced by only a very small number of the finest growers, who pull out all the stops to maximize both the potential quality and the expression of the vineyard in their grapes and then seek to capture as much of these attributes as possible in the final wine.” - Robert Walters, Bursting Bubbles
It’s worth noting that the term ‘Grower Champagne’ is not synonymous with quality, nor does it guarantee virtue in vineyard or glass. We like to champion Growers and Grande Marques (big houses) with equal fervor. All of our previous events have featured both, so we thought it could be fun to exclusively feature some experimental producers with their hands in the soil.
The event is on Monday, March 25th with two seatings: 5 PM and 7:30 PM. I know I’m biased, but I think a ticket to this event would make an exceptional gift for the wine lover in your life. (Or for yourself because you. are. worth. it.)
Speaking of which - I’ve put together a last-minute gift guide for those of us gifting fatigue (all ship quickly!):
Chef’s favorite cookbook for home cooks, or my most used cookbook.
Mother of pearl spoons for condiments, caviar, or dessert.
A workhorse wine opener. Or this esoteric tool for finicky corks.
The best cast iron pan.
A box of avocados and mandarins from Churchill Orchards.
And finally, a date to Mabel Gray, Grey Ghost, or SheWolf.
Wishing you the sparkliest holiday season and look forward to clinking glasses in 2024!
XO
Paulina
Going to have to find a companion for the Growing Champagne Dinner!
Love this! 25th is my b-day...we are out of town but wish we could make it! Also a second plug for Churchill Orchards! I’ve been lucky enough to get a box of Kishu’s every winter from them...well worth it!