Thursday, June 9, 2016

The Palm Restaurant in downtown Los Angeles was the place where a press event announced the coming of Palmer & Co. to the West coast.
This high end Champagne producer joined the ranks of France's champagne producers decades ago but only entered the U.S. market last year on the East coast.
.We were greeted by Raymond Ringeval, Export Manager for Palmer and Bill Rumbolz, western division manager for Gonzalez Byass Famila de Vino USA.
Raymond explained that Palmer was founded by a group of established growers in Avize, France.  These growers owned vineyards in two of the most respected regions of Champagne--La Coe deSezanne and La Vallee with most of the vineyards designated as Premier and Grand crus.
We tasted four wines starting with Champagne Palmer Brut Reserve which has four years aging on lees.  We thought  it elegant and wondered what was to come since it was in the lowest price range at $50.  Next was Champagne Palmer Brut Rose Reserve.  Enjoying the high end, price wise, was Amazone de Palmer Tete de Cuvee and this wine was truly memorable.
The three grape varietals  used in Palmer champagnes, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier enjoy much aging in solera  before blending.
While we tasted four champagnes actually eight different cuvees will be available in the US.
The Palm Restaurant was the perfect place for this event and with the tasting of these champagnes we were able to match them with elegant appetizers and then a buffet of quality entrees that have given this restaurant much fame through the years.

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