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Photos By:: Adil Arora
 When I met Michel Drappier in Prowein earlier this year, he was in a happy state of mind. Drappier had commenced the second innings in India with Ace Beveragez 3 years ago, after the lukewarm performance by the now-defunct Sovereign Impex in 2008.
He was also pleased with a big crowd that had collected to taste from the two Jeroboam bottles of the exceptional vintage 2002 he opened at his stand at Prowein to toast the Show. Michele Drappier who was in Mumbai last year to promote Drappier at an event that I could not attend, told me after the ceremonial popping that’ 2002 was ‘the best vintage during the last few decades and we decided to raise a toast to the Prowein 2015 and our friends, distributors and customers visiting the Show with a couple of Jeroboam bottles.’ He confirmed that most of these have been sold off and are usually popped at only special celebratory events like this.’
Prowein 2015: Drappier Toasts with Mille. Exception 2002 Jeroboams
It was therefore, a special treat for the invited guests at the dinner organised at the Indian-cuisine serving Virq Restaurant at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Delhi when he visited for a couple of days and the guests were welcome to a generous pours of Drappier Millésimé Exception 2002 from magnums (1.5L). I wondered if the guests realised that as my thoughts went to the second meeting with him and his octogenarian father, André Drappier at his winery in Aube, Champagne that I visited with a group of journalists in April this year during #IWINETC 2015.
Star of Côte des Bar
Champagne appellation is divided into five main production areas: Montagne de Reims, Vallée de la Marne, Côte des Blancs, Côte de Sézanne, and Côte des Bar which is in the Aube département. This is closest to Chablis region but also where half the Pinot Noir for Champagne is cultivated. Located in the small village of Urville, Drappier is considered to be one of the best champagne houses in this production zone, producing around 2 million bottles a year.
 Only two variants of Drappier Champagnes are available in India- both are fruity, lively, exuberant, and offer excellent value for money. Carte d'Or is a Pinot Noir based well-structured wine with 90% pinot Noir, 7% Chardonnay and 3% Pinot Meunier. It is fresh, firm and well structured, well balanced and complex with biscuit flavours and good length. The Rosé Brut is salmon pink in colour with a hint of red fruits in its aromas. It is a wine with a lot of character and is made from 100% Pinot Noir. The flavours are slightly peppery and backed by good acidity.
Michael is visionary enough to have realised that the conservative approach used in the first innings was going to blow them away in front of the might Moet Chandon. There was an instant approval to sponsor both the champagnes for the 200th Dinner and 10th year Celebration of the Delhi Wine Club at Hotel Hyatt Regency in September 2012-which was even termed a launch for the Champagne. As has been the case with most such ‘launches’ with the DWC, the Champagne has taken off as the fastest growing Champagne and has been increasing its penetration deeper and deeper over the last 3 years.
As if this was not enough Drappier had been selected as the Champagne- Le Grande Sendrée 2005 at the State Dinner organised for Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 10, 2015 during his visit to sign the deal for planes. Rubbing shoulders with the 1er Cru Le Mouches from Joseph Drouhin 2009 and the Mouton Rothschild 1999 was a sure sign of success and recognition and Michele was very upbeat that morning at the winery.
Michele took us around the winery which included the 12th century Abbey. Of particular interest was a room where we saw different odd shaped bottles used to store the reserve wines. With a history of its champagnes being a favourite of Charles de-Gaulle, Maurice Chevalier and actor Jean Paul Belmondo doing the rounds, it also came around that though they had labelled a champagne after Charles de-Gaulle and Michel had met him once or twice, he wasn’t too fond of the man. I didn’t realise then that I would taste the same special wine at the Taj Mahal Hotel as the second champagne of the evening later in October this year.
 Varqui Crab- layers of crab meat and tandoori shrimp on a filo of pastry was so perfectly cooked that it had a crisp, khasta texture but melted in the mouth. The spices were exotic but not hot enough to drown out the finesse and elegant finish of the Charles de- Gaulle favourite.
Chicken Shorba was next on the Menu-a Chef’s specialty which was justified on its own- Drappier Blanc de Blanc Signature champagne seemed redundant. Personally, I hardly get exciting about the pairing of a soup with champagne- so long as a few sips one tastes are compatible with it. By itself Blanc de Blanc Signature was a delicious champagne and didn’t need any crutch.
The piece de Résistance for the evening was Pan Seared Chilean Bass flavoured with basiland pine nuts in mango and coconut curry served with Drappier Millésimé Exception 2010.
Another surprise was in store when the Drappier Grand Sandree Rose was served- with the dessert platter. Indian Restaurants seem to have developed a fetish for serving Rose Champagnes with desserts- never mind if they are dry and completely unfit with the sweetness. Apparently colour of the bubbly adds to the flavour of the dish. Nonethelss, I enjoyed the final course of Drappier by itself enough.
You will always find Michel looking dapper-always in a suit, looking more like a banker. You cannot avoid being quizzed about the number of bubbles in a bottle of champagne-on all 3 occasions, he asked the same question. After the first encounter I felt very tempted to let him know his favourite answer-about 60 million, based on scientific calculations of the size of the bubbles and the carbon dioxide produced. With Drappier, you could rest assured you are tasting many millions of the fine bubbles, especially with the Rose which he makes only from red grapes unlike the usually allowed procedure of mixing red champagne with white.
Subhash Arora |