The first Veuve Clicquot pairing
Brasserie Enfin, late May 2015: the Brut and the Vintage 2008 at my Lyonnaise-Malaysian table.
Veuve Clicquot came to my table in late May 2015, at Brasserie Enfin. There were two evenings, and two champagnes, the Brut and the Vintage 2008, paired course by course with the bistro cooking I was already doing. There was no press release and no launch. The Maison wanted a quiet pairing, and so did I.
The Brut opened the meal and the Vintage 2008 ran from the main course to the close. I cooked what I was already cooking, and the Maison’s champagnes sat at the centre of every course.
By then the room was a year into the Krug Ambassade work, and it would host the Hennessy 250 launch in the early summer that followed. Veuve Clicquot had its own evenings, at its own pace.
Photograph: Brasserie Enfin archive.
The pour
The Brut went with the entrées, the lighter end of the meal, where the food wants a wine that lifts it. The Vintage 2008 carried the main course and the dessert, where its age and depth had a plate to meet. Two champagnes over four courses made one continuous evening. That was the plan the Maison and I agreed on.
Photograph: Brasserie Enfin archive.
The table
Four courses across the two champagnes. The plates below are the record.
What it left
The Veuve Clicquot evenings made no announcement. They did their work, and the photographs in the Brasserie Enfin archive keep the record.
I was glad they came.
Two evenings with two champagnes, and a kitchen ready to listen.
On the Veuve Clicquot pairings, May 2015
Selected Press
Full archive →- Brasserie Enfin archive Veuve Clicquot pairing dinner — late May 2015 Photographs by the Brasserie Enfin team 26 May 2015
I was glad to host Veuve Clicquot at Brasserie Enfin. The evenings were quiet and the pours generous, and the next morning the work carried on as it had the morning before.