Last night, we were treated to an incredible after-hours staff seminar on the Champagne of Krug. Mr. Roberto Loppi, the new Krug ambassador for the US, presented the history, the savoir-faire and the wines of this top Champagne house to our Redwood City crew. We packed the tasting bar with our team and learned a lot about what I consider to be one of the greatest producers of wine in the entire world.

Last night, we drank a bottle of the fantastic 2007 Thiénot "Black Ball" Blanc de Blancs Brut Champagne and I have to say that I was very, very impressed with it. This Champagne, which is sourced entirely from Thiènots' own estate in the Grand Cru's of the Cotes de Blancs, is fermented all in stainless steel at their ultra-modern facility just outside of Reims in Taissy. I had tasted this several times before, but this Champagne is for drinking, and sure enough, the 2nd glass was better than the first.

It is a rare thing for us to have three vintages of the same great Champagne in stock. I am proud to say that we have a little vertical available now of the exceptional Pol Roger Brut Blanc de Blancs Champagne and they are all special in their own way. The export director of Champagne Pol Roger, Mr. Pierre-Samuel Reyne came and visited me in Redwood City recently and shared a wealth of information on the wines, and last Friday we did an instore tasting with Pol Roger that broke the record for Champagne Fridays with 77 tasters.

For our 15th wedding anniversary, Cinnamon and I decided to vacation in Sancerre, a region who’s wines we have always loved, but a place we had never visited. Located at the eastern end of the Loire Valley, this is the true couer de France, and we found it even more beautiful than the pictures we had seen and the descriptions that we had heard. I promised Cinnamon that we would not spend a lot of time working on our vacation, so we kept the appointments to a minimum. One producer that we could not miss however, was Franck Millet, who we have been importing directly here at K&L for 25 years.