Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame 2015 Garden Gastronomy

Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame Garden Gastronomy

So what exactly is Veuve Clicquot’s concept of 'Garden Gastronomy' As the Maison’s CEO Jean-Marc Gallot explained at the global launch of Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame 2015 in Paris, it is a creative and culinary collaboration where a select group of world-class Chefs, covering a spectrum of cuisines, were invited to play with different plant-based ingredients, grown from the soil adjacent to Veuve Clicquot’s prime vineyards and create their own culinary interpretation, inspired by the wine.

In essence, it is a dazzling constellation of Michelin stars in orbit around the galaxy of the new Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame vintage, drawn by the pull of gravity to the very earth from where the wine is created and plants are grown.

Garden Gastronomy was born out of the desire to challenge the boundaries of the tastebuds and goes way beyond a conventional wine and food pairing. For the launch of the 2015 Cuvée the Maison invited eight Chefs from renowned restaurants across the globe to collaborate.

The participating Chefs offer diverse cuisines, but have a shared philosophy: they all offer a garden-based cuisine, respecting the seasons. They were invited to interpret their individual vision of Garden Gastronomy, and to team up in creating culinary creations to match the new vintage of La Grande Dame 2015. The dishes they created were served at the Garden Gastronomy Summit 2023, where guests from around the world were served an 8-course meal at the spectacular venue in Paris, La Grande Menuiserie, for the global launch of La Grande Dame 2015.

This is not just a one-off event. Each dish is also offered on their menus in their restaurants. So Grande Dame enthusiasts and foodies could indeed take a gastronomic tour of the world and discover the breadth and diversity of food pairings possible with this Cuvee!

Carole Bilde, Chief Marketing Officer who played an instrumental role in conceiving the project, explained to me that the starting point was for the Chefs to visit the culinary garden created at Verzy, one of the historic vineyards owned by Veuve Clicquot. No less than 400 varieties of plants have been cultivated there – vegetables, fruits, herbs, flowers and aromatic plants, adjacent to the vines used to make La Grande Dame. Thus, making a seamless connection through the soil itself between wine and food, glass and dish.

Who are the Chefs participating in Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame Garden Gastronomy?

We were fortunate to witness first-hand the eight Chefs hard at work with their teams in temporary kitchen installations at La Grade Menuiserie, putting the finishing touches to their sensational dishes. They had flown in their ingredients, and brought small teams. In order of the extraordinary feast we were served, the Chefs are:

Dario Cadonau, In Lain, Switzerland; Amelie Darvas, Äponem, France; Domingo Shingaro, Due Camini, Italy; Emanuel Renaut, Flocons de Sel, France; Enrico Crippa, Piazza Duomo, Italy; Sally Abé, The Pem, UK; Alberto Toe, Horto, Italy, and Kanji Kobayashi.

Conceiving a project is one thing, delivering it is another. This is a fantastically complex programme. In English, we say: “Too many cooks spoil the broth”. Eight top chefs could be a recipe for catastrophe or a battle of egos. Not here. The project was in keeping with Madame Clicquot’s approach, pronounced two hundred years ago: “If in the search for perfection, we can take two steps at a time, why be content with just one?” In this case there were hundreds of steps, from the planting of the culinary garden in Verzy, the reaching out to Chefs, the collaboration between them, the devising of dishes inspired by La Grande Dame and the manifold plants on the garden, the planning of an 8-course menu with each dish of a different culinary style, the logistical challenges of organising such a launch, with a cast of global chefs for a cast of global media guests.

How does Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame Garden Gastronomy taste?

As a taste profile, La Grande Dame is predominantly made from Pinot Noir – 90%, with 10% Chardonnay, so it has that ability to marry depth of flavour with elegance and longevity. As Madame Clicquot pronounced: “Our black grapes produce the finest white wines.” Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame 2015 is an exemplary vintage. It has a beautiful golden hue, a vibrant bead of effervescence, a complex aroma with hints of fresh almonds, candied fruit, apricots. The palate is elegant and finely balanced, with peaches, hazelnuts, madeleines amaretti. With a satisfying mouthfeel and enduring finish, it is beautifully balanced, complex and very moreish! The accompanying dishes demonstrated what a versatile wine and vintage it is; each dish brought out different aromas and flavours. Visually it is striking, with Veuve Clicquot’s signature orange label encased in packaging created by Italian artist Paola Paronetto. The same colour palette of soft blues and purple were deployed to decorate the venue, so it was a truly immersive experience.

In my opinion, La Grande Dame deserves to be better known as a world-leading Prestige Cuvée. It’s indisputably in the top league of Champagnes, but arguably not as famous as Dom Pérignon, Bollinger R.D. or Roederer Cristal. The legacy of the widow Madame Clicquot, the visionary daughter-in-law of the founder Philippe Clicquot, is kept very much alive and kicking through the Veuve Clicquot Bold Awards, recognising the achievements by women across the world in all sectors, from entrepreneurs to philanthropists.  La Grande Dame was introduced in 1972, when the Maison celebrated its bicentenary with the 1962 vintage. Just over 50 years later and now creatively entwined with the Garden Gastronomy concept, its roots are firmly established and its reputation will continue to flourish.

For more information: https://www.veuveclicquot.com/en-gb/la-grande-dame-2015-paola-paronetto