Bursting the bubble on traditional food and Champagne pairing, Veuve Clicquot's winemaker Pierre Casenave joins the Mount Nelson's Rudi Liebenberg for an morning in the kitchen.
It’s 9.30 am on a Friday morning and Pierre Casenave, Veuve Clicquot wine-maker and oenologist, has just offered Mount Nelson executive chef Rudi Liebenberg a top-up of Veuve Clicquot’s Yellow Label. “Don’t mind if I do!” says Rudi. “This is one drink I’ll happily swap my morning coffee for!”
We’re in the Mount Nelson’s impressively capacious industrial kitchen and Rudi has just finished rolling wafer-thin apple slices topped with a crab-citrus filling into enviably neat cylinders that are set to be paired with Veuve Clicquot’s Yellow Label. The point of the exercise? To prove that Champagne lends itself to far more than strawberries and oysters, and that South Africa boasts some amazing ingredients fit for the challenge.
Pierre Casenave is impressed with the pairing of the crab salad and the Yellow Label. “Yellow Label is a blend of Chardonnay with Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir, which results in a yeasty, slightly toasty nose with hints of roasted almonds and ripe apple,” he explains. “The mouth-feel is silky and the tannins are gentle, which is perfect with this delicate seafood salad.”
The next coupling is Veuve Clicquot’s Vintage 2002 and Rudi’s proudly South African springbok carpaccio with !nabas and pickled Jerusalem artichoke. “!nabas are commonly known as Kalahari truffles,” explains Rudi. “I get them from a friend in Namibia and poach them in Port and stock. The flavour is very similar to that of porcini mushrooms. ”The smoky springbok carpaccio, the creamy Jerusalem artichoke purée and meaty truffles complement one another perfectly, resulting in a marriage of bold flavours that is ideally balanced with the expressive bouquet of Veuve Clicquot’s Vintage Reserve. “The grapes used for this reserve were very ripe and have resulted in a nose of candied fruit, with a touch of smokiness, and a milky, rich mouth-feel,” says Pierre.
During the next round, Rudi says “Bah, humbug!” to convention and pairs Veuve Clicquot’s La Grande Dame 1998 with roast chicken. But this isn’t just any roast chicken, it’s a tour de force in deconstructed fowl. “I decided to give the humble roast chicken a little bit more glory,” explains Rudi. “I deboned one of the chicken legs and made a roulade from it. Then I stuffed the rest of the chicken’s skin with sage and roasted it. I reinterpreted the traditional stuffing of breadcrumbs with livers as a toasted brioche topped with foie gras. A light jus finishes it all off perfectly.”
Pierre describes the Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame that accompanies the roast chicken as a homage to the great lady, the Widow Clicquot, who grew her late husband’s Champagne business into an empire. “La Grande Dame is outstanding in terms of quality,” says Pierre. “It’s made exclusively from Grand Cru grapes of the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay varietals. The nose is complex and rich with fresh honey and nut notes coming through. The mouth-feel is powerful, yet elegant. It tastes quite young and light.”
No food-and-Champagne pairing worth its salt should be without a sweet course, which is why Rudi rounds off the morning’s tasting with a beautifully tart granadilla panna cotta. Complementing its fruity notes is Veuve Clicquot’s Rosé, which, thanks to its 15 percent Pinot Noir content, has a distinct strawberry nose and red berry flavour. It’s pure bubbly bliss and the perfect tipple to end off a morning filled with sparkling fun.
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