As you can easily imagine, I was tickled when an expat princess - or some sort of Germanic royalty, for that matter - phoned me up recently and asked if I would like to meet the head of Champagne uberpowerhouse Krug (AKA Ms. Krug). Though I'm short on German words for "hell yes" - okay, downright bereft - I managed to accept and immediately commenced planning my outfit for the interview. I felt, you see, as though I needed to get dressed for the Champagne as much as for the woman. Two things that, depending on how you look at them, are more or less the same thing in this case.



Hey, Champagne: There's a New Gal In Town
Turns out Margareth "Maggie" Henriquez is not your typical Champagne house CEO. For starters, she's not French. But not only is she not French, she is - mon dieu! - Latin. As in, Venezuelan. Though unmistakably elegant, Maggie's is a subdued elegance that probably strikes the insanely-turned-out Parisian women she bicycles past as inadequately outree.

Bicycles past, as in: Maggie rides her bike all over Paris (no town car for this one!), including to the train station daily for her 40-minute commute to Champagne. If all of this is sounding rather quotidien and not very glamorous, then you haven't yet encountered her enchanting personality, which - I'm gonna go right ahead and say it - sparkles as much as Maggie's ridiculously delicious bubbly. Which, I'll add, offers zero shortage of couture-caliber glamor.

Speaking of trains, the one I took to my interview with Maggie was delayed, which meant that I kept the most important woman in Champagne waiting...for me. I was so flustered by the time I arrived at San Francisco's Hotel Vitale that my sunglasses actually fogged up, a fact that - along with the harried transfer I made in the elevator from Old Navy flip flops to suitably chic pumps - means I arrived disheveled as well as desperate to apologize. Which I did, over and over again, while Krug's dapper Carl Heline waved my tardiness away and ushered me into a suite where Maggie was waiting. Bless her, she just poured me a glass of Grand Cuvee, and we were off.

Heart of the Matter
Maggie told me a bunch of stuff about Krug's new direction since she came on board in 2008: About her decision to bring the focus back to Krug Grande Cuvee, the house's multi-vintage flagship wine. About her desire to tell the story of Krug, rather than simply focus on the wine itself (focusing on the wine - any wine - itself is "boring," she says). About her literally going through thousands of documents at Krug's headquarters until she found the personal journal of its founder, Johann Joseph Krug, and how it details his desire - nay, imperative - to create a product that offers superlative - almost otherworldly - pleasure to its drinkers. You know: the highlights of the story she came to tell.

But what I really wanted to know was about Maggie herself, and what inspires her. Turns out this was just the line of questioning she seems made for. She is not, after all, a woman who wants to sit around and wax "poetic" about barrel fermentation (Krug does it, famously), malolactic fermentation (Krug does not do it, in order to preserve a certain raciness in the wine), varieties used (Chardonnay predominates in the GC), and autolytic character (the yeasty, "mature"-like quality that Krug wines are teeming with). With a wine this good - and at $150/pop retail, $400 on wine lists it better be - the wine speaks for itself. And happily - really, really happily - I had a bottomless glass of it sitting right in front of me.

Work Ethic, Favorite Things
"I have always been in crisis," Maggie told me, with a touch of pride. I'd asked about her career, and she proceeded to recount the following, about how she has always been in crisis "because I've been in Latin America. [When working] in 1993 I had big crisis in front of me. In 1995 I moved to Mexico and I was president of a very large company and we were in crisis..and then in 2001 I arrived in Argentina at another large company, and there was a crisis, and I arrived in 2009 at Krug and there was a global crisis...I know now what has always motivated me: people. So decisions were made thinking about people. First. And everything can come around that."

When I asked her: What are some influences for you outside the realm of wine specifically? She though for just a moment before ticking off a host of tres Latin-French influences: "Art. Anything: Music, ballet, opera, I love opera. And then modern art, I really love modern art. And then nature. Really, nature, even site seeing, is inspiring. It's very inspiring." Maggie has lived in Paris for just two years now, which makes her a newbie Parisienne. What are her "musts" in Paree? "I love to go to the modern art museum. I love to go there anytime. I love to go see plays..to listen to music. I love to go to the Bois de Boulogne to exercise. You have a beautiful contact with nature. And, to be honest, in Paris I take my bike and I go around and I have so much fun." I've mentally transported myself to Maggie's City of Lights already.

Wine: Too Much Rationality, Not Enough Pleasure
My question about what's inspiring when it comes to work elicited the following surprising - in a great way - response: "Krug is really a source of pleasure. What has happened is that the world of wine [has turned] too much into rationality. And this is where Krug was [in the recent past], and this is what I want to move away from. And this is why I looked for history because I knew roots would give me all the richness to have a vision and move away from rationality." With success, she hopes to move "from a functional domain into the domain of art. So the limit is the sky."

Priorities: Life, Family, Art, Wine
Maggie gave me the sense that she is about life first, wine second (frankly, a lot of other stuff before wine; see above). She is unaffected, less controlled than French women. Proof: She was truly drinking with me during our talk, and continued to sip on wine throughout the reception that followed. Not dainty sips a la une francaise, but real quaffs for this one! THIS must be the Latin.

My favorite moment in my chat with Maggie was easily when she said, simply: "You know the best wine is the wine that you like and that gives you pleasure." A woman with a big heart who gets to the heart of the matter. Merci.

Posted by Courtney at 09:05 PM • Comments (0)

Last night I headed to newly Michelin-approved (read: starred) SF gustatory haunt Saison to pay respects to the French Culinary Institute as it celebrated the launch of its first-ever Cali branch. More on the location (on the Peninsula) and courses offered here (per Inside Scoop: we can expect more "uniquely Californian" classes at the CA campus that take advantage of local produce, seafood, wine, dairy etc.). And while the school's arrival is great and all, the real news to me is that the FCI - at its campus in NY and SF - has become the first teaching organization to be officially "approved" by the American Court of Master Sommeliers. FCI, in fact, will offer a specialized education program that dovetails with the Court's Certified Sommelier exam, which I took and passed back in 2006. The conjoining of this practical step with a curriculum is a good one. Well done, FCI.

Pics: watch for the inimitable Jacques Pepin, honorary chef/instructor for FCI, and Saison's FCI-trained Josh Skenes, a Food & Wine Mag Best New Chef of 2011 inductee! Congrats, Josh.

See pics from the event here

Posted by Courtney at 10:16 AM • Comments (0)

This just in from The Swill, my beverage gossip column at Eater SF. It's my coverage of this week's Taste of Mendocino here in SF - lots of great pics and insider tidbits on this northerly region. Watch for dish on Navarro Vineyards, Phillips Hill, Trinafour Cellars, Philo Ridge, Elizabeth Spencer, Toulouse, Goldeneye & Roederer Estate. On the food front: Shamrock Artisan Goat Cheese, Mendocino Sea Salt and Seasoning Co., canner/blogger Caroline Radice and Wicked Bon-Bon Chocolatier.

***Via Eater:
Mendo likes to hang its hat on being green--as in, the "greenest wine region in America." The area boasts the greatest percentage of certified organic vineyards of any wine region in the US, so there's some truth to the claim. But let's talk about what else is hot about Mendo: pot and people...

Continue reading at Eater

Paparazzi PS: View my entire Flikr stream from the event here.

Posted by Courtney at 11:50 AM • Comments (0)

Note: After the jump, an excerpt of my recent contribution to Uncorked: a tasting note-as-online-dating-profile. Srsly. ;)
***
I'm excited about my latest freelance gig, which is a first in that I'm writing for an iPad-only wine mag. Called Uncorked and published by Nomad Editions, brainchild of former Newsweek Prez Mark Edmiston, it's a great read thanks to a tone that dishes up a healthy serving of humor and wit alongside superb vinous info. Contributors include cool names in wine such as Joe Roberts (1WineDude), Tina Caputo, Jeff Lefevere, Virginie Boon, Catherine Fallis, Chris Sawyer and Laurie Daniel, and it's edited by the wry and knowledgeable Steve Yafa. Subscriptions are ridiculously cheap at just $1/month for FOUR issues. So you have no excuse not to check it out! The Washington Post called Uncorked "smartly written," - and BTW, it DOES feature embedded video now!

Read two back issues and explore subscription here.

And continue reading for MUST LOVE PIZZA, tasting note as Match.com profile. Seriously. Good for a laugh this FRI morning!

2009 Big House "Beastly Old Vines" California Cardinal Zin

MUST LOVE PIZZA
About Me & Who I'm Looking For: I'm looking for someone adventurous who loves to LOL, doesn't take himself too seriously, and - this part's a "must" - has a deep, uncompromising love of pizza. Deep dish, thin crust, New York, Neapolitan - it doesn't matter to me which type you heart (though it's even better if you heart them all). So long as you partake of the pie when we're together, this relationship is destined to be one with sizzle.

Interests: Cocktail hours, happy hours, home-cooked meals, long meals, fast-casual meals, picnics.
For Fun: I like to mix it up and hit the occasional tailgate party, book club get-together and excursion to the cool new wine bar. I even like to smuggle into a movie if it's a title I can relate to on a deep personal level, like The Hangover Part II.
Favorite Hot Spots: I'm raised in vineyards throughout the Golden State, ultimately winding up at our winery on California's Central Coast, not far from the infamous Soledad State Prison (hence the name "Big House," heh). It may not be the sexiest place to come from, but it's home. I gladly venture out for dates and will meet you pretty much wherever you are - providing you strike me as worth the journey (see handle above).
Last Read: The Cheese Manifesto, American Pie: My Search for the Perfect Pizza, and The Great Tomato Book. Right now I'm really interested in the existential state of the tomato in its post on-the-vine, pre prepared-sauce incarnation.
Sign: I come largely from very special 100+ year-old vines, but I don't recall exactly in which month these vines were born back then...

***Subscribe here for the rest! ;)

Posted by Courtney at 09:39 AM • Comments (0)

Wherein I compare this illustrious Austrian grape to a certain Austrian ex governor of ours. Read it to believe it. Big thanks to Michael Mina somm Josiah Baldivino, Sons & Daughters bev maven Carlin Karr and Roland Micu of Napa's La Toque for their fabulous commentary. I'm looking forward to Assyrtiko sending "gateway wine" Gruner the baklava!

Read on @ Eater SF

pictured: sommelier Josiah Baldivino

Posted by Courtney at 11:05 AM • Comments (0)

I love this imaginative slideshow featured at SF MoMa's wine-themed Pop-Up Magazine collaboration this spring. My favorite parts are when winemaker Sean Thackrey "says" (it's an illustrated slideshow, so these quotes appear written out) "I've been doing this a long time/You'd think I'd be bored with it" but "My only purpose/ In the entire universe/As a winemaker/Is to produce a pleasure." Drawings of objects such as workboots, tools and a graphical rendering of the Bolinas sea and sky are poetic in their simplicity while conveying much. Atmosphere. Rhythm. And of course, pleasure.

Art by Wendy MacNaughton, sound recordings by Amy Standen.

Posted by Courtney at 12:24 AM • Comments (0)