Hi Everyone,

As a hospitality industry professional, I’m often asked what is the most satisfying part of your work?

I’d ask others in the industry the same thing.

And many would come back with the same answer: Creating the “Blue Moment.”

The “Blue Moment” – That blip in time where exceptionalism in service and creativity blows the mind of the guest. That magic experience they remember forever, inevitably going on to tell all of their friends and family about. I’m not just talking about restaurants, this holds just as true in this indie retail sector, if not possibly more so due to the volume associated with retail, even if on the retail end you don’t “see it,” instead just hearing about the experience when clients return to the shop.

It is the reason most of us work in this industry.

It is why most of us love what we do.

…Such was my thinking when coming across this “new” creation in the Cremant de Bordeaux category from Chateau L’Arche, a classified-growth Sauternes producer.

Picture yourself, on a warm September afternoon, with your friends on Labor Day…

You casually explain that you have in your hands a Champagne-method Blanc de Blancs, based on Semillon and Sauvignon, from a historic 2éme Cru Classé Chateau, where instead of using sugar for the dosage liqueur they chose to use Sauternes wine, and not just any Sauternes wine, but a 30-40ml splash of their Grand Cru, vintage flagship cuvee to be exact!

Why no winery in the area thought of such a thing until four years ago is a bit surprising (you’d think the Sorbonne educated brains at Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy would have been all over this idea decades ago) – It makes SO much sense, and the added aromatic complexity you end up with from the Sauternes dosage, while subtle, is just gorgeous. Let everything settle in bottle and develop for extended time, and you end up with a full-bodied example of Crémant, leading with peach/hay/lemon, backed by generous brioche/yeast components, with a very dry finish.

Set in a lineup of regional Crémant wines, Chateau d’Arche NV Cremant de Bordeaux “L’Arche Perlee” really stands out, even against the top-tier $$$$ single-plot Crémant de Bourgogne releases from Picamelot which are brilliant in their own right and better than most anything you’ll find in Champagne.

The price for admission?

$23.85.

Enjoy divvying this up this Labor Day weekend.

Thanks as always for the support.