{"id":13941,"date":"2016-02-10T10:27:50","date_gmt":"2016-02-10T10:27:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/?p=13941"},"modified":"2016-02-10T19:33:03","modified_gmt":"2016-02-10T19:33:03","slug":"the-ruinart-lighthouse-a-tasting-of-champagne-and-chardonnay-with-frederic-panaiotis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/champagne\/the-ruinart-lighthouse-a-tasting-of-champagne-and-chardonnay-with-frederic-panaiotis","title":{"rendered":"The Ruinart Lighthouse: a tasting of Champagne and Chardonnay with Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Pana\u00efotis"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ruinart<\/p>\n

Yesterday I visited the Ruinart Lighthouse, which is an exhibition and tasting being held at the Violin Factory near London’s South Bank. The focus of the three-storey exhibition space is on Chardonnay, with various exhibits and art works beautifully displayed.<\/p>\n

The Lighthouse is open to consumers and tickets are still available for the next two days (10th and 11th February) here<\/a>.\u00a0 The tasting is being hosted by\u00a0the smart, articulate Ruinart\u00a0chef de cave Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Pana\u00efotis.<\/p>\n

Our tasting was a little different. Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric had selected six still Chardonnay wines which we tasted blind alongside various Ruinart Champagnes, with a focus on Chardonnay, still and sparkling. Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric mentioned that there are 31 clones of Chardonnay authorised in France, and Champagne grows 11 of them. This tasting was a fascinating exercise, and I can’t think of many other Champagne houses that would think of pairing their wines blind with still Chardonnays like this.<\/p>\n

\"ruinart<\/p>\n

Champagne Ruinart Blanc de Blancs NV (magnum)<\/strong>
\nThis is mainly 2012 base wine and was disgorged 6 months ago. Fine pear and white peach nose leads to a lovely citrus palate that’s crisp and taut with a bit of spiciness. Very pretty and delicate with some pithy bitterness. 92\/100<\/p>\n

Bret Brothers M\u00e2con-Chardonnay 2013 Burgundy, France<\/strong>
\nFrom 35-80 year old vines from a 0.44 hectare plot. Organic farming, wild yeasts. Rich apricot, melon and honey nose reminds me of Sauternes, but the palate is quite dry with marmalade, citrus and apricot flavours, as well as a hint of grape and mandarin. Tangy and open and quite delicious. 93\/100<\/p>\n

Neudorf Chardonnay 2010 Nelson, New Zealand<\/strong>
\nWarm, spicy and powerful with richly textured fruit. Lovely complexity and precision, this is spicy and intense with a hint of reduction and lovely acidity. 94\/100<\/p>\n

Champagne Ruinart Dom Ruinart 2004 France<\/strong>
\nJuly 2013 digorgement, 5.5 g\/l dosage. Toasty, fine and expressive with some nice nuttiness. Lovely taut lemony character: so expressive and pure. 94\/100<\/p>\n

Giaconda Chardonnay 2012 Beechworth, Australia<\/strong>
\nAppealing sweet rich peach and pear fruit. Bold and delicious with nice acidity. Has a rich core of fruit here with fine spiciness. Very stylish. 93\/100<\/p>\n

Droin Chablis Grand Cru Grenouilles 2013 Burgundy, France<\/strong>
\nLovely exotic sweet nose with apricot, marmalade and bold, fresh acidity. Tangerine and apricot jam flavours with a dry, mineral edge to the palate. An atypical Chablis. 92\/100<\/p>\n

Champagne Ruinart Dom Ruinart 1998 France (magnum)<\/strong>
\nDisgorged March 2009, with a dosage of 7.5 g\/litre. This is drinking beautifully, with lively, spicy, toasty richness. Savoury, spicy and vivid with lovely acidity under the white peach, pear and lemon fruit. Linear and nutty, this is at its peak now. 95\/100<\/p>\n

Ch\u00e2teau de Puligny Montrachet 1er Cru Poruzots 2009 Burgundy, France<\/strong>
\nSubtle, fresh and textural. Quite mature with nice pear and citrus fruit, with a mellow personality and some nut and spice notes on the finish. Subtle. 93\/100<\/p>\n

Peter Michael Cuv\u00e9e Indig\u00e8ne Chardonnay 2006 Sonoma County, California<\/strong>
\nSweet, rich and with some honey and spice notes, as well as hints of butter. Smooth, sweet and showing some nutty development 89\/100<\/p>\n

See also: the wines of Champagne Ruinart<\/a><\/p>\n

\"OLYMPUS<\/p>\n

\"OLYMPUS<\/p>\n

\"OLYMPUS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I visited the Ruinart Lighthouse, which is an exhibition and tasting being held at the Violin Factory near London’s South Bank. The focus of the three-storey exhibition space is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,65],"tags":[360,380],"class_list":["post-13941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-champagne","category-chardonnay","tag-champagne","tag-chardonnay"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13941"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13951,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13941\/revisions\/13951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}