Wine and Spirits Travel

A previous engagement kept me from accompanying the rest of my group to Epernay on a visit to the Perrier Jouet Champagne House.  Epernay had been a classic stop on my October trip to France so I was familiar with this champagne filled city, but wanted to learn more about this brand and its history. Though the wine and spirits giant Pernod Ricard now owns Perrier Jouet, it still bears the legacy of the family it came from in 1811.  The house includes extensive caves which housed many fine champagnes, as well as Italian prisoners during the war.  Most of all, it is filled with tradition founded by Pierre-Nicolas Perrier and Rose Adelaide Jouët on Avenue de Champagne in Epernay, now home to an abundance of champagne houses.  Before I left France, I did have a chance to sit with Cellar Master Herve Deschamps who told me about what makes Perrier Jouët stand out from the rest, “It’s a family work ethic,” he said, “to preserve the quality and maintain the same style.”  The vineyards, w

To say the Perrier Jouet Anniversary Gala was over the top would be an understatement. Beaux-arts de Paris was filled with exquisite photographs of everyone and every time of the champagne. As we walked along through the gallery, we were all dressed to the nines and then some.  I had meticulously picked out a long black dress with a white beaded lace top and a graduated overlay over the black jersey bottom which fit in perfectly and it was certainly the perfect setting to sip Champagne . The evening included the picture of French elegance herself, actress Catherine Deneuve and her son, actor Christian Vadim, as well as model Jeri Hall and her daughter Georgia May Jagger, who is currently following in her footsteps as a model, and actor Alain Delon. Also on hand was Pernod Ricard royalty, including Chairman Lionel Breton and Cellar Master Hervé Deschamps, and the executives of the company's U.S. distributor, Southern Wine & Spirits.  I was honored to be one of only a handfu