Absolute Indulgence?
Hmmm I think I could get accustomed to this! Today started with a tour of Veuve Clicquot which was again an interesting tour and like Pommery, the whole business was driven by a widow in the 19th century which was quite rare. Like just about every other champagne house, Veuve has it's inventiveness claim to fame, Madam Clicquot was the inventor of the riddling process that rids champagne of the yeast deposits.
The best part of the tour though was the tasting at the end, we were treated with the newly released 2000 Vintage Rose and followed this with a glass of the 1996 La Grand Dame Champagne which is Veuve's flagship. Needless to say, it was the best Champagne we have had while we have been here.
Veuve was followed by Piper-Heidsieck which offered a unique tour in a seated car that was like a ride at Tokyo Disney! This made for a welcome change to go through a recorded tour seated after 3 walks through the chalk mines. Again followed by tasting, this time we went through the Piper Brut, Blanc de Blanc, Rose and Sec. The Brut was quite nice, while no La Grand Dame, it was quite enjoyable.
Now it was on to the days Piece de resistance! Dinner at Les Crayeres' two michelin star restaurant. On the way here they were offering a 6 course Lobster Degustation with matching Champagne that we joked was too decadent and by the time we were ready to go we almost talked ourselves in to this.
Unfortunately we discovered that this was no longer available since it was no longer seasonal and replaced with a Mushroom Degustation menu and matching Champagne. Apparently this years mushroom crop in France has been exceptional and so the head chef Didier Elena decided that this was worthy of a menu themed around them. While Carolyn was a tad dissapointed by the change, I was quite keen on a dinner themed around the wonderful wild mushrooms available.
In all there were 9 dishes served from appetisers through to deserts. The highlights on the menu by far were the Gourmand Feuillete (mushroom pastry), Blanc De Bar (Sea Bass) and Poitrine de Poularde Bresse cèpes et foie gras (Chicken filled with Foie Gras and Mushroom). The revelation would have been the Sea Bass which is a fish I had for the first time and absolutely adored. The white meat of this fish is like Kingfish but with a unique texture and paired well with the Mushrooms. In fact all dishes were spot on along with the service. It will be interesting to see how our planned visit to three star Hotel Arzak in San Sebastian compares. All these dishes with matching Champagne is perhaps the ultimate in indulgence, but very nice at the same time.
Menu Champignons/ Champagnes