Here we have our heavy hitters, our high-scoring, critic-darling wines of 2019. The wines in this newsletter are worthy of cellaring, worthy of gifting, worthy of sipping with the greatest gusto and the greatest of friends. Scores might not be all there is to understanding a wine, but you can at least be assured that some very experienced palates highly endorse these bottles.
Read MoreWe’ve got a win/win proposition for your: fill your Christmas stockings with half-bottles of wine, and then split the bottle with your partner while opening presents.
Read MoreEvery year, Cinnamon and I cook up an early Thanksgiving dinner, which I try and tell everyone is a work project. All of my friends and colleagues see right through me; I love Thanksgiving, and I would be happy to have it three or four times if I could.
Read MoreEvery year, my father and I celebrate our birthday together by having a wine dinner. This year, we started with the 2008 Pierre Paillard Grand Cru "La Grand Récolte" Extra Brut Champagne, paired with my mother-in-law’s excellent salmon pate starter. Everyone was taken aback by the incredible youth of this 11-year-old bottle, and by the stupendous breed and length. It was a fantastic way to start the party.
Read MoreIt is hard to believe that it has already been thirty years for Fleury making biodynamic Champagne. These wines were our first organic Champagnes at K&L, and we have been importing them directly for almost as long as I have been working for the company. As I always say to customers considering their Champagne, we don’t work with them just because they are organic; we work with them because they make great wine. To celebrate thirty years of biodynamie, they have released a special wine, the Fleury Cuvee 30 Ans, and it is one of the most profound and complex Champagnes they have ever released.
Read MoreIf you have not tasted Lanson Champagne lately, now is a great time to get reacquainted.
Read MoreThis weekend, Cinnamon and I had the chance to preview the soon to be released 2006 Krug Brut Champagne, and we were very impressed.
Read MoreWhat a weekend! Our annual, two-city Champagne Tent Event was another amazing success in both Los Angeles and San Francisco. The events drew sold-out crowds with a total of 300 guests attending each tasting. This year, we had approximately 20 producers pouring their wines, many of whom flew out directly from Champagne. The lineup of over 80 Champagnes was impressive, but the real draw of this event was the opportunity to meet and talk with these producers.
Read MoreLucie Pereyre de Nonancourt and Naomi Smith recently honored our Redwood City staff with a visit from the Grand Siècle division of Laurent-Perrier. Lucie is the newest member of the family to enter the business and is focusing primarily on the Grand Siècle side.
Read MoreWe at K&L are pretty jazzed about our Direct Import Champagnes, which undeniably deliver the finest bubbles-to-price ratio we’ve ever seen. In this week’s newsletter, we’re thrilled to introduce a few new producers to our shelves and to celebrate some of the tried-and-true who have offered consistent quality and value for years. They’ll get you in the mood for our annual tent event this weekend! Let the Champagne jubilee begin!
Read MoreThis past Tuesday, the K&L Champagne team, Scott Beckerley from San Francisco, Diana Turk from Hollywood, Elsa Baez from Redwood City and I sat down for a marathon Champagne tasting. We call it our staff summit, and this was the 9th year in a row that we have gotten together for it. We want to make sure that we are all well informed on the different styles of Champagne that we offer so we can make you, the Champagne lover, happy with your selection. This year we tasted 53 Champagnes from 16 different producers.
Read MoreRecently, we kicked off our annual Champagne Team Staff Summit with a wonderful sushi dinner hosted by Billecart-Salmon and Mr. Clement Calleja. It was wonderful to spend an evening learning about these fabulous Champagnes and having the opportunity to try them all with food and over time. We checked in on most of the range.
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