There is just something about Champagne that makes you feel glamorous, elegant and in the mood for celebrations!!
Always keep a good bottle of Champagne in the fridge for special occasions. Some times the special occasion is that you have a bottle of Champagne in your fridge
- Hester Brown
Thanks to the folks in the Franschhoek Wine Valley for the 4 tickets I won for the Franschhoek MCC & Champagne Festival.
It was a beautiful day on Sunday, perfect weather, bubbles flowing, people dressed in their stylish black, white, stripes and polka dots and a fantastic atmosphere.
The bands were great, those that entered and modelled in the best dressed competition were a hoot! and the dance floor was still on fire even after the stalls had all packed up.There could have been a few more food stalls, but we had a DELICIOUS mussel bowl and a salmon sandwich which was more than enough. With our ticket we received a glass and 10 tasting coupons, which worked really well, you could choose your French Champagnes worth 3 or 4 coupons, or our homemade MCCs for 1 or 2 coupons. Or, like the boys chose to do, just buy a bottle, sit back, relax and enjoy!
Of course, for our own health, we couldn't get to everything, but a few mentions of the ones we did enjoy...MORENA is definitely still one of our favourites (that's what the boys were buying). SIMONSIG Kaapse Vonkel was another favourite of the day with their well deserved Veritas GOLD and 4 John Platter stars, the Cuvee Royale was also pretty good!
KRONE was a hit, you could taste the Krone Borealis 2009, Krone Rose 2008, and Nicolas Charles Krone for just one coupon. All of which are made from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, the second spending a bit more time on skins to give it a little pink hue and some fruit flavours, and the third, with extended lees contact was definitely the best of the three.
VILLIERA was also another great stop, not only were there three tasting for 2 coupons, but their Munro Brut, was probably the best MCC of the day! The Grier MCC was also pretty delicious.
AVONDALE is another farm I've been wanting to get to, they are well known for their organic wines, and Avant-Garde Food & Wine Pairings (Crafted by Chef Reuben Riffel). Their Armilla Brut was really nice.
It was great to see some of the smaller boutique farms there too, the likes of Charles Fox, Francois La Garde, GM & Ahrens, Ross Gower to name some, all of whom specialise in and focus on MCC production. Their MCCs are obviously really good because they put everything they have into them. Well worth a visit to some of their farms!
The only Genuine FRENCH Champagne we landed up tasting was the Piper Heidsieck which was really nice. But honestly, our home grown MCCs are not far off the genuine Champagnes from the infamous Valley in France. While this is brought in by Edward Snell, quite a few of the wine farms in Franschhoek actually import the genuine French stuff. Colmant imports Chabivin, Morena stocks Thierry Lesne, Ken Forrester brings in Billecart-Salmon just to name a few.
There were a few macarons on sale to add to the French feel, but it would have been awesome if some of these Champagne Cupcakes (made by the Curvy Carrot ) were available. Guess we'll have to make some ourselves the next time we pop open an MCC.
All in all it was a fantastic afternoon, enjoyed by all and great to get to know a little more about the delicious MCCs and Champagnes we have available right here on our doorstep!