Wines & cheeses with Liz Wheadon

Our monthly Channel Wines and Cheeses columnist is Liz Wheadon, General Manager of Glengarry Wines. Initially interested in a career in the culinary area, whilst living for a year in the UK, Liz had the opportunity to attend a Cordon Bleu course in London. She found herself drawn to wine, which quickly became her passion and her career. Late in 1994, Liz started working for Glengarry Wines. Interestingly, her first role was as Retail Sales Assistant in the Glengarry Takapuna store. Whilst wine is a passion, and now the direction of her career, Liz is also a passionate foodie. Weekends are often spent first planning the event and then entertaining friends and family with magnificent food and wine experiences.

The Champagne House of Salon

Situated in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger in the Côte des Blancs, the House of Salon produces only one Champagne, the Cuvée “S”. This Champagne comes from a 6.2-hectare vineyard owned by Salon (Le Jardin de Salon, or “Salon’s Garden”) and from 19 smaller parcels representing 55.8 hectare of vineyards in the famous Champagne village of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. All sites are the originals and were all chosen by founder Eugène-Aimé Salon early in the 20th century.
Eugene Aime Salon had a dream of producing ‘the perfect’ champagne’ and appreciated finesse and depth of flavour in his wines of the area. When he was looking for opportunities the wines from Champagne were all a blend of ¾ Pinot Noir and ¼ Chardonnay but thought that the Pinot Noir grapes made the wines too heavy. To realise his goal of making the best possible Champagne, Salon knew he had to find the best area, the best vineyards in the area, the best grapes in those vineyards – and to use only the best juice in the ripest years. Too term him a fanatic would be very close to the mark.
He enlisted the support of his brother-in-law (a cellar master), and together they began experimenting with Chardonnay grapes from many villages in the Champagne region. They ultimately chose Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, a small village south of Épernay in the Côte des Blancs (meaning only white grapes are growing here). Salon purchased approximately 30 hectares of Grand Cru vineyards and entered into long-term contracts with growers for additional grapes. He selected vineyards from three distinct microclimates, which together gave the fruit, acid, sugar, perfumed nose and exquisite balance Amié was seeking. The land that Salon purchased is today fabulously expensive, with Champagne land being amongst the most expensive wine land on earth.
By the early 1900s, Salon had produced a few vintages of his Blanc de Blanc (white of white) wine that he liked to consume and was very happy with what he was doing. All wines were Chardonnay, and the wine continues to be 100% chardonnay today. When World War I was over, he was encouraged by friends to profit more fully from his wine, and in 1921 the House of Salon was created. House of Salon was headed by Salon until his death in 1943, when the enterprise was left to his nephew. Over the years, it was purchased by a few different major global drinks companies,
but in 1988 Champagne Laurent-Perrier became the majority shareholder of Champagne Salon.
Today, the House of Salon, along with its neighbour and sister house, Champagne Delamotte (the fifth oldest Champagne house, founded in 1760) are both internationally recognised. Both Salon and Delamotte are made separately at different premises, but do share resources. Obviously with the price of Salon and quality of grapes that come off their amazing Grand Cru vineyards, Delamotte benefits tremendously by the association. So little Salon is produced, and so few vintages declared that wine from years where no Champagne Salon is produced go into Delamotte’s resources.
Champagne Salon has actually produced very, very few wines given that their whole philosophy is to produce single variety, single vineyard, single vintage wines and despite the house being owned by larger producers, the philosophies Aime Salon put in place so long ago remain unchanged. Since 1921 they have taken to market just over 30 wines. The wines of Delamotte are going from strength to strength and more are imported here by Glengarry than there ever were available before. Try the four star Delamotte Brut N/V if the Delamotte Blanc de Blanc Vintage 1997 is too expensive. If not then I recommend the Delamotte Brut Rose N/V of which I had several glasses on Friday night. Rose Champagne, with its lovely onion skin colour adds just the right amount of colour to a celebration. If money is no object, or the size of the celebration is extensive, then only Champagne Salon itself will do. We have limited bottles of the 2007 vintage.

The Great Cheeses of France

Many of the great cheeses (and wines) in the world come from France, there are the ones that we are familiar with like Brie and Camembert, but there’s many other great cheeses – in fact there’s over 1100 different cheeses produced there. Here’s a few of my favourites, all now available at Didas stores.
Comte is a cheese that has been produced for many years in the Jura area in central France. It’s traditionally made with milk from around 190 dairies. Comte comes in large rounds, approx 35 kilo’s per cheese, to make each wheel the cheese maker needs 530 litres of milk. Comte is a firm cheese, after being pressed, it is matured and during that process cleaned and rubbed with salted water. Comte is versatile, it’s said that Comte has 83 distinct flavours, it can be nutty, complex, hints of caramel and stone fruit. As Comte matures it goes from being fruity and nutty, to more like the Italian Grana Pardano, with crystals and texture. Comte is an excellent cheese for fondue and can also be used grated or on a cheese board.
Pont L’Eveque is one of the World’s oldest cheeses, it dates back to the thirteenth century, taking on the name of the village in Normandie where it is mainly produced. Beautifully packaged Pont L’Eveque comes as a small square shaped cheese in a wooden box. Port L’Eveque is a washed rind cheese, it is white-orange on the outside with a creamy, soft and full bodied cheese. Pont l’Eveuqe is excellent matched with New Zealand Pinot Noir.
We have another washed rind cheese in store now that at a recent staff tasting proved an immediate favourite with all of the team. Saint Vernier is from the Jura region in France, it comes in small rounds packed in a wooden case. There’s a good reason for the packaging, as soon as you cut into this delicious cheese, it oozes out. Despite its golden exterior, the cheese inside is remarkably mild, subtle yet powerful.
Bleu d’Auvergne is a blue cheese produced between Puy-de Dome and Cantal in France. Blue d’Auvergne is made from Cows milk and is a lot creamier than Roquefort, although the blue mold in both cheeses is the same. Whilst the smell of Bleu d’Auvergne is strong, the taste is spicy with fresh floral characters and a wonderful creamieness. Bleu d’Auvergne is an excellent cheese to us in salad dressings as well as on a cheese board.