Horseradish showcases its root minerality

Champagne is a curious exception to the rule of the ordinary tastes: while everywhere, the sugar is gaining ground, in food as in beverages, the inimitable sparkling wines to drinks in more nature. Continues a long evolution started following several centuries. At the origin of the champagne, there is the combination of three elements. Of course, wine elaborated with the raw material are the grapes of pinot noir, pinot meunier and chardonnay. The bubble, then formed under the effect of yeast during fermentation in the bottle. Liquor, finally, sugar cane and wine, that added after disgorging and before closing their Cork stopper bottles. It is, more or less sweet - or even not at all-, gives champagne its "wild" or sweet side. Today, the large houses compete rampant on the niche of the more gross than gross. But the demi-secs and dry, poorly named (as actually rather mild), resist, especially in Germany. Try to at least once: these champagnes are drank once have an outdated luxury. And are capable of surprise. The evidence with these friendly "games" with the results, it should be noted, do not see the intrinsic quality of these wines but their agreement with a private flat.

Game 1: Laurent-Perrier, ultra-brut / Deutz, semi-dry 1999.

The dish: Melba toasts of marinated salmon, granny smith, horseradish herring eggs. This dish is a joy for white wines. With his side, came the excellent salmon in thick cut on thin slices toastées and charmeuse complexity generated by the agreement of Horseradish and the Green Apple, which is playing the range of flavors - sweet, salty, acid and the bitter. It bothered the ultra-brut of Laurent-Perrier, wine very determined, extreme fresh, perfectly controlled, voltage out of Nice bitterness, never aggressive. Horseradish showcases its root minerality. Young and vigorous, the Deutz defends with energy, adapting very well to the flesh of salmon. It gives the distributed at the sea side of the flat but at the unbalance, by totally dominate the Green Apple sugar. The winner: Laurent Perrier ultra-brut.

Game 2: Duval-Leroy Fleur de Champagne first thought / Philipponnat, Sublime reserve 1995.

The dish: crab fried vegetable roll and crushed peanuts. Still composition full of freshness, inspiration heavily Asian, presented as large nem. There is here the work of alliance of the maritime and land by the flesh of the crustacean plant dressing. The peanut crushed and reduced to a thick cream line brings a welcome fat, facilitating agreements with wine, permanent concern of the cuisine of Alain Dutournier. On this very nice implementation, the flower of Champagne of Duval Leroy, champagne very fine aperitif, fades completely, perhaps due to lack of relief. However, peanut cream said the sophisticated side of the semi-dry Philipponnat 1995. Contrary to what one could think, the alliance with the plant works very well, and the dish is spicy this daring Champagne tastes. The winner: Philipponnat Sublime reserve.

Game 3: Philipponnat, class of 1522, extra-brut / Jacquart, semi-dry.

The dish: Chutney of melon, molds bouchot and green curry. We have chosen this achievement, new on the map of the Pinxo, thinking that it would give rise to an Exchange balanced between the two natures of champagne, crude bouncing on the iodine taste while the semi-dry melt to the sweetness of melon chutney. In fact, this completely baffling, without freshness, quickly saturating dish in the mouth, assured without reservation the supremacy of the semi-dry. Even the beautiful cuvée Philipponnat 1522, an extra-brut while tension, intense, aromas perfectly highlighted by the low dosage, fight with panache but must make weapons. The acidity of the wine does not balance the lofty character of chutney. As the Jacquart, sometimes at the right time on this composition complex to develop but ultimately simple enough to taste. Simple to access him also, this style is the natural partner. The winner: semi-dry Jacquart.

Game 4: Rosé Devaux, cuvée "D" / Devaux, semi-dry.

The dish: Golden Goose NET on the skin, spinach shoots, cannelloni forest. Return to classicism (of high class) with this tasty dish that lends itself less than the others to "pincher" with its traditional architecture: de-icing cannelloni, filled with mushrooms, accompanied by thin strips of goose served pink and firm but tasty. This variation of the kitchen of the Carré des Feuillants is pink, usually happy in the company of the game pen in dense flesh as the ducks and geese. It is a material which emphasizes the "D" Devaux, rosé of young base tannins with low dosage reinforces the holding. In this fratricidal test, the style takes less job of the game, despite a beautiful attack, fresh for a champagne of this type. The winner: rosé Devaux.

Game 5: Gonet Médeville, rosé extra-brut / De Venoge, wine of paradise.

The dish: diplomat white chocolate strawberries. An absolute delight, admittedly, it serves. Strawberry white chocolate foam highlighted a line of dark chocolate sauce. The aromatic intensity is enhanced by a very moderate sugaring which gives this gourmet meal end a completely air dimension. This gave rise to the tighter match of this friendly competition. Because less determined than others (it is a sec), the wine of paradise was the surprise of this tasting. A "sweet" but champagne without heaviness, with the finesse of aroma added. On this strawberry, it offers an agreement in the former, regressive. Return the taste of candy to children or those desserts of grandmother. However, the extra-brut rosé of Gonet Médeville wins a short head. It is so good, this rosé to the aromas of red fruit of a high precision, that he could face a large number of agreements, and not only serves. The winner: Gonet pink Médeville.

The bleeding is the operation to expel the "plug" yeast dead which was formed in the neck of the bottle at the end of the fermentation.

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To the sweet crude

The classification of the champagne, the crude to the soft, obey very specific criteria for determination in sugar. It is mainly the liqueur wine and cane sugar added after the bleeding and before the closure (the expedition liqueur) that defines the character of the wine. A nature gross has less than 3 g of sugar per litre, an extra-brut less than 6 g and a gross less than 15 g. It is then in the dry: extra-dry (between 12 and 20 g), semi-dry (between 33 and 50 g) and dry (between 17 and 35 g). Finally a sweet champagne includes at least 50 g of sugar per litre. There is no very diet!

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Pincher to the Pinxo

Opened by Alain Dutournier a few metres from the Carré des Feuillants (two Michelin stars), the Pinxo offers a more user-friendly approach always innovative in the former kitchen. Here, each dish is served in three small portions, two for the one who commissioned it, one to get a taste of its guest... In the country of Dutournier, it's called "pincher" (take with the fingers, vines). But will not say that it is of tapas...

Pinxo, 9 street of Algiers, 75001 Paris. Tel.: 01 40 20 72 00.