Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/426275
86 { THE SOMM JOURNAL } DECEMBER/JANUARY 2014/2015 { cover story } ou always remember your first: first kiss, first car, first sip of wine. Can anyone forget the first time they saw a bottle of Perrier-Jouët Belle Époque—with its white anemones curled around the statuesque, dark green bottle, evoking the wild grace of nature that is central to the Art Nouveau movement? While for many this is the first moment of contact with Perrier Jouët -, behind the bottle lives more than 200 years of history and a persistence towards greatness, a legacy the founders of the now illustrious house—Pierre-Nicolas Marie Perrier and Adèle Jouët—could have only dreamt of when, in 1811, they got married. Located on the 48th parallel, at the northern edge of the 30-to-50-degree latitude range that is the historic standard for cultivation of Vitis vinifera, the Champagne region is ideally suited to cool-climate, Atlantic-influence viticulture. Situated in the heart of Épernay, Perrier-Jouët has over time carved out 65 hectares of prime vineyards within Champagne's "magic triangle," ideally suited to growing the level of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier required to maintain the label's distinctively floral house style. Having set out on a Chardonnay-dominant path from its inception, the house still favors a Chardonnay-centric style, sourcing fruit from their vineyard holdings in the prestigious Côte des Blancs villages of Cramant and Avize. Pinot Noir, sourced from Aÿ and Mailly, north of the Montagne de Power Power Power Flower PERRIER-JOUET BELLE-E´POQUE CROWNS PERNOD RICARD'S SCINTILLATING SPARKLING WINE PORTFOLIO " by Julie Ruvo Torres Power Power Power PHOTO: CAL BINGHAM