Tag: nature

Champagne to explore nature – Italian Cuisine

Champagne to explore nature


In Épernay, the historic maison Perrier-Jouët offers a special experience during the Christmas holidays and until the end of January

Who said that it is necessary to wait for spring to be intoxicated by the scent of flowers? In Champagne, Perrier-Jouët offers an original experience for the Christmas holidays. The historic Maison, recognized for its floral style present in wines, but also in the image, it presents The Banquet of Nature by Perrier-Jouët, a new, elegant approach to tasting. The idea came to Séverine Frerson, Chef de Caves, who thought of a true sensory journey in which nature is the protagonist at every stage, from preparation to the conclusion of the tasting. Combining winemaking knowledge with the botanical heritage of the founding family, leads the winelover public to better grasp the rich nuances of Chardonnay, a vineyard that has always been a symbol of the Maison.

With only eight Chef de Caves since its foundation, Perrier-Jouët has been able to work with rare continuity in the art of revealing all the facets of the grape and Séverine Frerson today draws on her vast knowledge of the terroir to select the crus that will best express the personality of each cuvée within the style of the Maison. Looking to the future, the Chef de Cave aims to "further enhance the expression of Chardonnay not only in the final cuvées, but also in the liqueur de dosage and reserve wines, intensifying the floral aromas of Perrier-Jouët champagnes and revealing new ones that further accentuate its aromatic and structural richness . In short, champagne requires patience and meticulous savoir-faire. This is especially true for the vintage Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque cuvées, for which Séverine Frerson created The Banquet of Nature by Perrier-Jouët.

Experience The Banquet of Nature by Perrier-Jouët

Perrier-Jouët has evolved in symbiosis with nature for more than 200 years, thanks to the legacy of Pierre-Nicolas Perrier (who founded the Maison with Rose-Adélaïde Jouët) and his son Charles, both passionate botanists and horticulturists, who introduced progressive ideas on viticulture and vineyard management. And today, at the center of The Banquet of Nature by Perrier-Jouët, arousing the senses, guiding and enhancing the tasting at every stage, there is still nature and its life cycle, which marks each of the proposed stages.

The terroir and Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque Blanc de Blancs 2004

For Maison Perrier-Jouët it is essential to take care of the earth, because healthy vines depend on healthy soil. In 2020, the Maison introduced an experimental regenerative viticulture program to revitalize the land and increase its fertility, to resist the effects of climate change. To prepare the tasting, on chalk fragments of the Perrier-Jouët terroir in Champagne, guests distribute floral waters with cornflower, jasmine and violet, evoking respectively the minerality, floreality and elegance of the cuvée. The mineral freshness is thus accompanied by the floral richness: this perfect combination is offered by Cramant's Grand Cru terroir.

The awakening and Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque 2013

“During the winter months, nature is discreet. It prepares to awaken, gathering the strength to start growing. This is the phase in which nature blossoms, with the promise of a future magnificence . In this moment of the tasting, the aromatic profile of the cuvée is explored through the texture of different flowers – one light with a white buttercup, one denser and velvety with a begonia and one silky with an orchid – evoking the texture of Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque 2013 and its vertical structure, due to the Chardonnay grapes of the Côte des Blancs: "Just like the awakening of nature, Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque 2013 is a still young cuvée, whose complexity distinguishes it as a very promising vintage ".

Flowering and Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque 1999

"This is the moment when nature – and flowers in particular – expresses all its exuberance, with an explosion of colors, aromas and shapes. It is a moment of fullness, intensity and abundance . And then, the experience before the tasting illustrates the evolution of the style of the Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque cuvée. Guests are invited to taste 2 edible flower petals, white pansy to highlight the floral notes of the wine and Indian cress to bring out the evolutionary notes.

To celebrate the holidays and inaugurate 2022, Maison Perrier-Jouët is organizing a series of exclusive lunches until January 29, which will be open to the public by reservation at +330674270588 (gastronomic and experiential menu, food & wine combinations: 310 euros per person).

The tastings take place in one of the most evocative places in Épernay, in the Maison Belle Epoque, an extraordinary setting, emblematic for the history of art. In addition, the tasting experience will begin its international tour in Germany, China and Japan, to be shared with those who will not be able to enjoy it at Maison Perrier-Jouët in Épernay.

The Maison Belle Epoque in Épernay

The villa, once home to the founding family of Perrier-Jouët, has been recognized by Unesco as a World Heritage Site and has opened its doors to the public a few months ago: it houses the largest private collection of French Art Nouveau in Europe, an emblem of the close bond that unites the Maison to art. Perrier-Jouët has been deeply influenced from its origins by the love of its founders for nature and art: from its collaboration in 1902 with the Art Nouveau pioneer Emile Gallé, creator of the anemone for his cuvée de prestige Belle Epoque, Perrier-Jouët commissioned works to artists such as Daniel Arsham, Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance, Miguel Chevalier, Makoto Azuma, Tord Boontje, Studio Glithero, Simon Heijdens and more recently Vik Muniz, Ritsue Mishima, Andrew Kudless and Luftwerk.

Since last summer, the visit has been part of the Belle Epoque Society, a complete range of experiences that includes three complementary spaces: the Cellier Belle Epoque champagne bar, the Perrier-Jouët Boutique and the Maison Belle Epoque. In the villa it is also possible to discover the work of chef Sébastien Morellon, Executive Chef since January 2021: a creative cuisine inspired by nature that takes up the two pillars of Perrier-Jouët, between art and nature.

Human nature – Italian cuisine – Italian Cuisine

Human nature - Italian cuisine


Artistic and landscape masterpieces, great and small knowledge (including culinary ones) are the treasures that UNESCO protects and enhances. For this to continue to be a wonderful world

With its mountains and waters full of stories and natural treasures, it is not surprising that the territory of Lake Maggiore includes five Unesco sites (often shared with the neighboring Lombardy), rightly defined as having "exceptional universal value". Among them, the Sacro Monte of San Francesco, to Orta San Giulio, on the eastern shore of that gem that is the lake of the same name. An articulated path of chapels and sacred architecture of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it is a place of devotion and one of the most complex concentrations of all the elements that make a landscape unique. Erected in a spectacular panoramic position, the twenty frescoed chapels are inhabited by over 370 life-size terracotta statues that tell – unique case – the life of the Saint. We are in nature and art, in history and in the present. We are in the landscape.

But what is the landscape? Is it really only what we mechanically contemplate around us? If it were a physical-optical phenomenon, wouldn't the world, and with it our existence, be rather limited? And yet, this is often what happens, because one of the paradoxes of this anthropocene lies in the way we see. Ours is the civilization of the image, we see a lot, continuously, but badly, quickly, superficially. To use a "gourmand" metaphor, ours is a bulimic vision: everything is swallowed, now gorging, now nibbling, and the landscape, any landscape, we do not "look" seriously, squeezed as it is on the smartphone screen while the interest in the presumed beauty of a place lasts as long as a selfie.

In fact, we don't really know. But the landscape, as the Sacro Monte of Orta San Giulio, it is not just an event, it is an experience that involves all the senses: of course, the view, then there are the smells (of nature like those of the kitchen), i sounds, the contact with things, the great and small works of human ingenuity of yesterday and today, i flavors of food ("Eating is incorporating a territory", said Jean Brunhes, the geographer who created the concept of "human geography"); then, again the emotions, i remember that all this gives rise to and that continue even after that landscape is no longer in front of us. Synthesize well Paolo D'Angelo, in his Aesthetics of nature. Natural beauty, landscape, environmental art: "The aesthetic, historical and cultural identity of a place is a constantly changing work of art, of which man is, for better or for worse, the main manipulator".

To this problem theUnesco has been remedying for fifty years by identifying, protecting and thus transmitting to future generations the cultural and natural heritage from around the world. With extraordinary results: of the 1121 sites recognized in 167 countries, 55 are in Italy, on a par with China. With the particular that China is about thirty times the size of our country, so that the concentration of goods – both material and immaterial and yet real – in the mistreated "beautiful country where the yes sounds" is truly unique, and should be included our gastronomic tradition is also fully entitled. We are our senses, the emotion and the memory that relives everything. We are "the" landscape. And only in this way is the pleasure of (re) being in reality truly unbeatable.

by Paolo Lavezzari

The rediscovery of wild nature in the era of Covid-19 – Italian Cuisine


Covid-19 is bringing the average Italian traveler to a new form of tourism, increasingly local, responsible and environmentally sustainable. What if it was also an opportunity to isolate yourself by rediscovering the wilderness?

In recent months the theme of "new forms of tourism in the covid-19 era"Is addressed and analyzed by industry experts, including theories, hypotheses and suggestions. Currently, in fact, the average traveler not only has to deal with the fear of having to face a journey full of complications, which may concern both social distancing as well as the anti-covid protocol that accommodation facilities should be required to follow, but also feels the need to live a regenerating holiday. This, in terms of tourist trends, translates on the one hand into short-distance travel, for example for cultural or food and wine explorations of villages and lesser known locations or to rely on the comfort and safety of known or recommended destinations, and on the other to more intimate and adventurous solutions, in the name of rediscovery of wild nature and eco-sustainability.

Summer 2020: more aware ecological holidays

In Italy, during the lockdown period, we witnessed a positive albeit temporary reduction in carbon dioxide emissions (-20%) and a consequent rebirth of nature. Everyone will remember, in fact, how the animals have regained their spaces giving life to unique shows such as the return of dolphins to the Apulian coast or sightings of ducks, hares and roe deer in large cities such as Turin and Milan. The extraordinary nature of these phenomena and the data on pollution have awakened or increased in all of us awareness and sensitivity towards the problem of climate change and environmental pollution. It is not surprising, therefore, that more and more people now want to leave the metropolises and crowded places at a time naturalistic destinations that are as isolated and unspoiled as possible.

Into the Wild post-lockdown holidays

In conclusion, the Covid-19 era traveler is a more responsible traveler who can take advantage of this period to put nature, peace and well-being first. In fact, the alternative and naturalistic holiday model is becoming increasingly popular, thanks to which tourists can enjoy breathtaking landscapes and air quality in peace and, at the same time, reduce frantic rhythms, stress and environmental impact. To do this, you can contact a tour operator specializing in nature trips or you can organize a do-it-yourself trip, perhaps with destinations that are not too far away and intermediate routes or stages to do on foot or by bicycle. As for the type of holiday you can opt for a trip on the road with naturalistic and little tourist destinations, bring with you the equipment to do free camping in mountain woods or near a lake and discover outdoor sports and practices such as birdwatching, trekking or climbing.

In short, by taking a few simple precautions and with the right preparation and equipment, you can spend a pleasant stay in the wild nature that restores our inner balance and that gives us a way to live, appreciate and protect the beauty of the world around us.

Photo: Sustainable tourism_Flickr Blue Forests.jpg
Photo: wild nature camping_Sustainable tourism_Pxfuel.jpg
Photo: wilderness travel_birdwatching_Flickr Or Hiltch.jpg

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