"Distinctive, bright fruitiness, seductive palate and elegant maturity born of the slow, gradual progression from vine to cellar and the interlocking, complementary skills of vine growers, vat men, cellar men, oenologists, and other professionals, all under the guidance of the Chef de Cave."

"Bigger is better! In the northern climate of Champagne, the quality, size, and diversity of our vineyards and grape supplies gives us unique advantages enjoyed by no others. We have the luxury of choosing the best. Our ability to select from a wide range of grapes is as essential to the constancy of the Imperial range as it is to the originality of the Grand Vintages.
In Champagne, we blend grape varieties, villages, and years due to the challenges with climate. In that context, the more diversity you get in your grapes, the more chance you have to get the right and complementary ones. Moet & Chandon owns the largest estate in Champagne with 1,150 hectares of prime vineyards. Combined with our contracted grapes, we get supply from more than 230 villages, giving unrivalled nuances to our wines.

We believe in customized, adaptable oenology with minimum intervention in order to preserve the natural diversity of the grapes, vineyards, and vintages. Having at our disposal an infinite variety of nuances with which to create our assemblages enables the precision necessary for maintaining our House style. We do not force Nature; we guide Her.

People too often and too easily associate big with industrial, and small with craftsmanship. I don't oppose myself size and quality. Craftmanship at Moet & Chandon is a mindset. It is about the details, precision, flexibility, adaptation... far from reproducing a recipe."

• The owner or manager at the door, not just the hostess.


• A busy bar area.


• Wine list that has exciting wines at the7-10 glass range.


• Specials that look recent -- today if possible.


• Right amount of food on a plate -- not microscopic portions, but not huge ones either.


• A crowd that dresses well, but not as if they don't eat out often.

• A host or hostess is there to greet me.


• Everything is neat, orderly and tidy.


• There is a cohesive common thread between the décor, menu, the attire of the waitstaff, the wine list the cocktail list, the beer list; that all tie together.


• How professional are the waitstaff? Are they well groomed, pleasant, polite, and knowledgeable about the products they sell?

There is an intuition among people with experience in restaurant dining about whether their chances for having a great dining experience is going to be good. All kinds of things have to add up right away: How are you greeted and seated? Does the staff seem to be genuinely interested in you as a diner, or are they merely spouting a practiced establishment line that sounds insincere? Does the maître d' or wait staff make you feel uncomfortable because of their attitude?

From the point of view of a former restaurant reviewer, a look at the menu can speak volumes. Are there really delicious-sounding dishes on the menu? Does the menu seem well thought out? Example:

A short menu should not offer a really attractive mushroom or shrimp dish, then include those same ingredients as a key element in one of the few main course dishes.

A wine list does not have to be large, but there should be enough well chosen reasonably priced whites, reds, and roses to offer wine lovers who don't want to spend a fortune... an attractive alternative that will enhance their dining experience.

The quality of the dining experience must match what is being charged or the guest will not return.

I know a place is good, when they are busy. They must be good, or represent a good value.

When I am looking at menus, I look for seasonality, and an ever-changing combination of imagination and ingredients that reflect the geographic location.

I stay away from restaurants with a view, and I am very wary of hotel concierge recommendations. I avoid restaurants that are named after a number, a color, or a place. I know the Chef or owner lacks imagination.

I will definitely follow the advice from the kitchen or service staff of a hotel. I can do research to find the high end restaurants. I want to know the places the locals love.

My family is from Umbria originally. I was born here with a great sense of passion for this land and its tradition. My father started with the textile company in 1955 and in 1971 he decided to rediscover an ancient grape from Montefalco; Sagrantino. Thanks to his intuition, Arnaldo Caprai achieved his goal of becoming the leading producer of Sagrantino. Today, the estate runs 150 hectares with an average of 750,000 bottles produced and sold around the world.

Grechetto, a white grape, Sangiovese, Canaiolo, Sangratino, and blends of the reds are from this region, and used in the center of Italy, except for Sagrantino, that is native to Montefalco. This grape fares well in all types of terrains, yielding wines of different characteristics, but always of excellent quality. The best results are obtained from clay-calcerous soils. Because it is susceptible to magnesium deficiencies, or to excess amounts of potassium, it is best grown with compacted cultivation techniques with high to very high density (Spur Cordon or Guyot).


Sagrantino is definitely the most famous and appreciated wine from Umbria, and considered one of the best Italian reds. The Sagrantino grape has the highest content of polyphenols, compared to any grape. For this reason, it's very important the grape matures slowly in the vineyards, and the harvest has to be executed much later. Alone, the grape produces Sagrantino di Montefalco DOCG. Blended with other grapes it produces Rosso di Montefalco DOC.

...Very intense ruby with purple reflections. The aroma is very persistent with typical accents of blackberries, plum and earth that are perfectly bound to the vanilla given by the wood. The taste is potent, smooth and velvety. Sagrantino is a wine that should be aged at least 10 to 15 years. It can also be made into a dessert wine after the grapes wither.

We focus our attention on every sustainable viticultural model. In the latest years we have developed a project called 'Montefalco 2015: The New Green Revolution'. This study started in 2010 in collaboration with the University of Milan, with the aim of creating a sustainable viticultural protocol specific to the Montefalco wine region. The project calls for the adoption of management techniques for the soil and vines, and in some cases, they're utilized also in biodynamic and organic farming.

"Viticulture in the Mosel valley is dictated by the unique countryside. The character of the growing area is formed by the special geological, topographical, and micro-climatic configuration. Over a period of 15 million years, the Mosel dug into a slate filled mountain range full of minerals that developed 400 million years ago. The slate erodes easily and its components decay and enrich the soil, which are dissolved in the ground water and absorbed by the vines.

Due to the sheltered position of the Mosel valley, it is part of the warmest climactic zones in Germany. The capability of the Mosel River and the soil to store heat and reflect sunlight, minimizes photosynthesis, making winegrowing possible in this, otherwise very cool region."

" We grow on legendary sites. Many of our vineyards have a slope gradient of more than 60%. Handwork is necessary all year around from the cultivation of the wines until the harvest. The valuable combination of steep slopes, soil characteristic, and climate presents our vines with the best possible conditions for development. The natural and necessary interplay between terroir and vines creates continuously impressive and unique taste compositions of our wines.

When my husband Erik and I took over the estate(in 1986) we made a very careful assessment of where we were, and where we wanted to be. We had received the generous gift of a fabulous traditional estate with a great reputation. We both decided, this was a superb base, but we also felt that a bit of 'fresh wind' was necessary to further improve. ....We decided to go out and look for a true 'young lion', who would accompany us and the estate in the future. We found him in the person of Maximillian Ferger, a young graduate from Geisenheim, full of passion and enthusiasm. Together with him and our long-time winemaker Edgar Schneider, we set the way for the future."

"We use careful pruning of vines to restrict yields (Average yield is less than 5000 litres per hectare). We use no artificial fertilizers. We only bring back into the vineyard what has been taken out of the vineyard. We work the cuttings from prunings, skins after pressing, etc...back into the soil. No use of herbicides. No use of pesticides. No use of insecticides. We use pheromones instead. No irrigation. Careful canopy management. We pick by hand, selectively over several weeks with each vineyard harvested 3 to 4 times, to ensure the grapes will be harvested at optimum ripeness."

"We gently press destalked whole grapes at very low pressure. There is skin contact in the juice for many hours to extract as much vineyard character as possible. No use of enzymes. We cool and extract the clean juice. We clear the must only by sedimentation. We do a slow and cold fermentation with natural yeast; either in stainless steel or in traditional wooden barrels. The choice is a winemaker decision. Natural yeast helps focus the character of the terroir of the vineyards. After fermentation many of the wines are left to settle and mature for several months in traditional old wood barrels, which gives more complexity and structure to the wines."

"My husband and I received a great gift (the estate) and our responsibility is to maintain and improve it, so that at some time in the future, we can hand it over to the next generation."

"We met at school, Cornell University. We actually met the last days of classes. Then we were both hired by the same company, a venture capitalist company, located in Binghamton.
Leading up to the last days in Binghamton, Fred and I talked about how we could get into the wine business. We had well-paying jobs for our age and experience, but we couldn't stand the environment. We were willing to start on a lower level and move from the ground up, doing what we were passionate about.
Fred knew that he wanted to be on the production side. I was not sure, but the import side seemed to be alluring, as I thought that would be the best way to be exposed to as much wine as possible. Once we left Binghamton, we went our different paths. Fred went to work for Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyards because he wanted to become a wine maker, and I went back to Sweden to study Geology and finish my Masters in Agriculture. Afterwards, I worked in New York City for about six years in the wine trade. While Fred was cleaning barrels in the night, I was selling Fortissimo in Staten Island as my first job; a sales territory no one else wanted. Times moved on and we gradually moved up in the world (nothing against Fortissimo sales on Staten Island).
Around 2003-4, Hermann insinuated that he wanted to retire. Some investors and potential buyers visited the winery, but the only one who could make the wine was Fred, and Hermann gradually realized there was no other person than Fred that could do this. I was there working on weekends and vacations, and on one occasion took six months off to become the winery's cellar rat. During this time I established a relationship with Hermann.
Later, Hermann asked Fred if I wanted to help buy the vineyard. In 2007 we officially took over the winery with the help of friends and banks, so that Hermann could retire comfortably!"

"The weather. The variation of weather and the resulting variation in the vintages of the wine. In addition to being one of the most beautiful wine regions in the world, with the waterfalls, gorges, and lakes; it is also one of the most challenging regions to grow grapes. We are a truly a cool climate region, the only cool climate region in America where we have the zest and freshness to grow Riesling. We have a true identity. There is a niche here. In order to deal with the changing weather, we need to be agriculturally savvy.
The soil. There are finite spots in the Finger Lakes where you can grow vinifera in relation to the lake. On those sites, we sort out where it is better to grow Cabernet Franc and where it is better to grow Riesling. That's what makes our region unique and exciting. The building blocks of terroir are the interaction between climate, soils, site selections, and cultivars. The Finger Lakes has a great potential showcasing terroir.
Great wine regions have established the vineyard as the number one priority, and the person producing the wine is second. Our region is unique because site selection and matching the variety to the site comes second to growing great grapes."

"Since Hermann was one of the pioneers in the region, and had a background in the nursery business, the relationship between vine and soil is very important to us. Our soil ranges from shallow and gravelly with shale bedrock to richer, deeper, silt loam. The HJW Vineyard is probably the most interesting. In 1973, Hermann learned on this site by trial and error. HJW turned out to not grow reds all that well; the vineyard was a very cool spot. In purchasing Magdalena and Josef in 1999, Hermann explored richer soils and a slightly warmer site.
In planting each vineyard site, we are meticulous about how and where to plant and trellis. We arrange some rows east to west, some rows north to south, depending on the airflow of the lake, and the erosion. For example, on our northern sites, we plant the reds (Cabernet Franc and Pinot Noir) which have richer soils. Some of our whites demand less heat and maturity, so we can use Southern sites, which have less productive soil. As a result, our Riesling and Chardonnay capture a backbone of wet stone, acidity, stone fruit, and flint components."

"Funny story... originally, Fred was a business major, and I was an agronomy major in Sweden. Today, Fred is on the vineyard, nursery, and winery side; whereas I am on the business side.
Initially, Fred and I did everything, all the time! 24/7! We never left the vineyard or winery. Now, we are a little more structured. It took us almost five years to get an assistant winemaker, whom we just hired. Fred's wife Maressa and interns all helped in wine production and anywhere they were needed. As we are enjoying some attention around the country, and many markets have started to show interest in us, I have been traveling more and more. In the winter months, I go to see the distributors. But, between May and Thanksgiving, I am at the winery most of the time..."

"Our future plan for the winery is to elevate the quality. Although we are one of the oldest in the Finger Lakes, we are very young compared to the other regions of the world. We are still working on our plantings, viticulture, and vinification methods.
The winery has a history of being very agriculturally driven, in the sense that we have little intervention in the winery. Instead, we focus on the quality of the fruit. We continue to review the potential of our sites with better management. We use an organic spray program with no herbicides and no pesticides, and we will try to grasp the powers that are out of our control-flirting with Steiner (the father of biodynamic farming) a small bit... The goal is not only to make very high quality wines, but also to elevate the wines of the whole region by spearheading the Finger Lakes as the premier Riesling terroir of the country."

"The Finger Lakes have elements of all three of these regions, which goes back to the idea that site selection is critical. For instance, Alsace is known for its Grand Cru system, which focuses on the positioning of the vineyards. We are very similar with regard to the diversity of soils. However, Alsace has a much warmer climate.
The Mosel is almost entirely Riesling focused, similar to our fascination with Riesling. You can pull many quality levels from the same sites from the same grapes. I would also say the climate is closer to ours, yielding a similar more restrained, flinty, and more fruit-driven Riesling.
In terms of the Rhine, when you get a certain distance from the Rhine, you can't grow vineyards. Similarly here -- once you get to a certain distance from the lake, the moderating effects take longer to occur. However, the Rhine region is slightly warmer than ours, and they produce rounder Rieslings with higher alcohol levels.
If you look specifically at climate, those three regions do not deal with the consistency of extreme cold temperature like we do. Therefore, the terroir in the Finger Lakes has more structural acidity than you would typically find in the other three regions (Of course that will always be up for debate).

"The unique character of cognac provide from a strong charter. Within the Cognac area, Fine Champagne Cognac is the only blend of two crus, protected by the "Appellation d'Origine Controlee", the French law of 1938 which officially recognizes the complementary qualities of Grande Champagne and Petite Champagne. Cognac belongs to the luxury products heritage of France, but it was also adopted very rapidly by China (From 1883 on) the USA, Russia, and Europe. This product is associated with very strong values such as success, respect and honour. Cognac is also very versatile, depending on its qualities, and can be enjoyed neat or on ice for an XO, or in a cocktail for our V.S.O.P., etc...
But I want to take your question further and ask what differentiates the Remy Martin cognacs from the other cognacs of the region. It is their harmony and opulence owing to the quality of the grapes combined with the talent of the winemakers and distillers who work to form cognacs that are harmonious and aromatic."

"Coming exclusively from chalky lands, the best parcels of Grande Champagne, Louis is composed exclusively by eaux-de-vie which has been awarded (bonus 10%).

It represents the absolute mastery of time, the result of nature, a succession of daring initiatives. The cellaring methods are different in the selection of the Grande Champagne's Eaux-de-vie. Louis XIII is the result of a unique heritage of rare and exceptional eaux-de-vies transmitted through centuries."

"My days are dedicated to different major activities. The most obvious one, naturally, is tasting and sampling. Every day I taste eaux-de-vie in order to carry out two essential missions: first of all, the selection of the eaux-de-vie proposed to us by our winemaking and grower-distiller partners. This is what we call the 'agrement' or approval process.

Thousands of samples are submitted to us during each distilling season, and we make a painstaking selection based on taste and quality criteria. I also taste very regularly the eaux-de-vie that are ageing in our cellars in order to check their development so that I can know at any moment the exact state of our stocks. And I taste the blends that I make. I select from the great diversity of our eaux-de-vie those that are ready to enter into the composition of the different Remy Martin cognacs and I make the right blends necessary for reproducing the exact taste of each one of them, year after year.

There is another aspect of my work that I strive to keep in mind all the time. We call it 'wood management':

This is the parallel management of our stock of eaux-de-vie and the barrels in which they are aged. Just imagine; Remy Martin possesses the largest stock of Fine Champagne eaux-de-vie in the world. They are aging in about 200,000 oak barrels. And to optimize this aging, we replace the barrels regularly over the years. It is an important task. The final aspect of my daily work is quite different: recreating the products of the range every year and innovating.

I very often think about new types of blends that may have a chance of being produced to enrich our range of cognacs. In the Remy Martin style...

Lastly, I travel from time to time to explain my work. And I have a chance to meet you, Brad."

"Aged 20, I was noticed by the House of Remy Martin where I was offered my first job. I was never to leave this employer. Working with the cognacs of this venerable House, my responsibilities continued to evolve over the years: research activities, analysis of cognacs and tasting in the company's laboratory.

'Like eau-de-vie, you improve and mellow over the years.'

1993 was a landmark year for me because it was then that I joined the prestigious and very exclusive 'tasting committee' where I intensified my collaboration with the Cellar Master of those years, Georges Clot.

The Centaur brand appreciated my work and my patience, qualities required for the production of quality eau-de-vie. In 2000, Georges Clot appointed me his own assistant. My consecration arrived three years later. I was entrusted with the immense responsibility of perpetuating the Remy Martin style and carrying on its centuries old traditions. I became the first woman Cellar Master of a major cognac producer.

'I am only interim,' I warn all those who forget that the great cognacs are developed over several generations of Cellar Masters.

'Happiness is a team sport,' as Romain Gary wrote, 'And so is cognac,' I used to add discreetly."

"There is no place for ego in this profession. I am the heiress both of Georges Clot, whom I succeeded, and all those who preceded me in this post. I often compare my role to that of a relay runner who is given the baton by a teammate and then has to pass it on to another teammate in the best conditions. Wanting to create a new style or leave my personal mark on the Remy Martin cognacs would be totally contrary to the mission entrusted to me. The style is not Pierrette Trichet nor Pierre, Paul or Jacques, but Remy Martin! The story of Remy Martin is a success story. My wish, which is what is expected of me, is to 'continue the story'. I am not here to please myself but to give pleasure to all those who enjoy Remy Martin cognac.

"My most memorable moment in my work was the creation of the Louis XIII blend, which is the high point of my professional life, the fact of producing a cognac with thousands of batches, some of which are over a hundred years old. I have to show respect for the product. Each creation is a great moment. In 2007, Louis XIII gives birth to Black Pearl, an exclusive series produced from a century old tiercon (a type of oak barrel), installed in a cellar hidden in the Grollet Homestead since 1960. 786 carafes numbered 001 to 786 were produced..."

"You are right; being a cellar master is not a lonely job. Nobody is any good working alone. I work very closely with a team of ten people who assist me in my daily work. This 'tasting committee', as they are called in Remy Martin, has a very clearly defined role; it supports the Cellar Master in the selection activities, and in the construction and monitoring of the blends. My work is surrounding by a network of tremendous interaction; with the members of this team, with our wine growing partners (who start the process) with the teams that work in the cellars and with many other employees. It is a long human chain. This know how and tradition, passed on from generation to generation fascinates me."

"Louis XIII is the world's most prestigious spirit, transcending the category by virtue of its remarkable composition, genius and age. There has never been and will never be one competitor. Louis XIII is the King of Cognac and the Cognac of Kings, thanks to the precious reserves of eaux-de-vie that has been maturing since 1874, the year of its creation."

"To prepare a heritage as prestigious as the one that has come down to me. In a major distillery of cognac, the heir to a long tradition of quality and excellence, such as Remy Martin, the mission of the Cellar Master is, as I see it, to ensure compliance with all the aspects of the production process that have built up the reputation of the House over the centuries. You have to keep looking back and looking ahead. That is the gist of the double responsibility entrusted to me; to guarantee today the style that has always characterized our cognacs and to give the future generations of Cellar Masters the means to perpetuate this style by adopting a very long-term outlook in my daily work."