I admit that I almost got trapped on this champagne. Someone served it out of my attention, while being entirely committed to the discussion with my neighbour at table. So I tasted it blind. After a few sips, the wine challenged me. Having well-recognized the style of PAUL LEBRUN, I was nevertheless unable to determine which of their wines was in my glass. First I took it for GRAND RESERVE, but the wine seemed thicker, softer, despite the many crispy bubbles exploding on my palate. But its perfume was more on red fruits and peppermint, while the GRAND RESERVE will rather go for yellow fruits and flowers, emphasizing its lightness and finesse.

To cut short my suspense, I went to get the bottle in the fridge and checked the label: it was the semi-dry wine of the house, dosed at not less than 37 g / L. If it were a still wine, it would rank among the sweet wines with this amount of residual sugar. In the wines from champagne, however (and in sparkling wines in general), sweetness is challenged by the naturally high acidity of the grapes and the crispy freshness of the bubbles. Therefore sparkling wines appear lighter and more fluid than still wines with the same amount of residual sugar. The semi-dry wine is positioned close to the CARTE D’OR, the “house wine” of Champagne PAUL LEBRUN. Both are made from the unique CHARDONNAY, grown on the Cote des Blancs and the Sézannais further south.

HERBIVORE SUPPORT : Try it as an aperitif, with some GREEN TOMATOE CHUTNEY on toasts. Throw in some FOIE GRAS and you will have a perfect CARNIVORE SUPPORT . You may as well go for a bit of old, dry PARMESAN cheese, he loves residual sugars as much as bubbles...