Happy Hour Featuring Champagne Philippe Gonet with Special Guest Chantal Gonet

“Too much of anything is bad, but too much Champagne is just right.”

Mark Twain

All sparkling wines are not created equal and Champagne along with some of the finer examples of sparkling wines made with this same method established over the last few hundred years in France's northernmost wine region.

Champagne is the name of a region and therefore anything inside the boundaries of Champagne can use this name on their label, everything else is just sparkling wine.  The important thing to look for on the label when it comes to sparkling wines outside of the Champagne region is the method of production and if the words, methode champenoise are there were in business, this means that the sparkling wine in the bottle is made with the same standards that are used in the great wines from the Champagne region of France.

We drink Champagne and sparkling wines made with the methode champenoise here at Wine Watch every night as scientists have found evidence that they are good for your brain’s cognitive functions.  Seriously check out the article at the end of this offering for the dirt on how these tiny bubbles benefit your brain.

Discover one of the hidden secrets of Champagne as we welcome Chantal Gonet back to South Florida for an incredible tasting featuring the entire line-up of Philippe Gonet Champagne.  The fee for this tasting which includes dinner is $95 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463.

Happy Hour Wine Tasting Featuring Philippe Gonet Champagne  

with Special Guest Chantal Gonet

Thursday, November 6th

6pm

NV PHILIPPE GONET SIGNATURE BLANC DE BLANCS, BRUT CHAMPAGNE, FRANCE

NV PHILIPPE GONET 3210 BLANC DE BLANCS EXTRA BRUT, CHAMPAGNE, FRANCE

NV PHILIPPE GONET ROY SOLEIL GRAND CRU, BRUT CHAMPAGNE, FRANCE

2018 Philippe Gonet Blanc de Blancs Millesime, Champagne, France

NV PHILIPPE GONET BRUT ROSE, CHAMPAGNE, FRANCE

Menu

American Sturgeon Caviar stuffed potatoes

Crispy Pork Belly bites drizzled with orange marmalade

Arctic Char in Wonton with Hoisin BBQ

Bang Bang Chicken

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

The fee for this event is $95 + tax for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com. 

A bit about Champagne Philippe Gonet:

Founded in 1830, Champagne Philippe Gonet is located in the heart of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, literally a stone’s throw away from Champagne Salon and a few steps away from Clos du Mesnil. The 23 hectares of family vineyards are divided among 47 parcels. Chardonnay is the Gonet’s select grape variety comprising 19 hectares planted in 11 different villages. One-third of their Chardonnay sites are in Le Mesnil, with one historical parcel located near the village entrance that was planted in 1929. In the early 1970s parcels in La Chapelle-Mothodon and Le Breuil were acquired for Pinot Noir. In 1990, the seventh-generation brother and sister team of Pierre and Chantal Gonet took control of their family estate when they were only 22 and 23 years old after the sudden death of their father.

They have succeeded in continuing to elevate the house as a reference for Chardonnay from Le Mesnil through wines of marked character, minerality and structure that express the rich, pure, nuanced terroir of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. For the past 100 years, the house has built its reputation on Blanc de Blancs. While technically a negociant, the Gonet family is among the largest family growers in Champagne and the majority of their production is from estate grown fruit. Pierre and Chantal are committed to espousing the terroir of Le Mesnil through their distinct Blanc de Blancs cuvees.

Scientific proof that Champagne is good for your brain

New research shows that drinking one to three glasses of champagne a week may counteract the memory loss associated with ageing, and could help delay the onset of degenerative brain disorders, such as dementia.

Scientists at the University of Reading have shown that the phenolic compounds found in champagne can improve spatial memory, which is responsible for recording information about one's environment, and storing the information for future navigation.

The compounds work by modulating signals in the hippocampus and cortex, which control memory and learning. The compounds were found to favourably alter a number of proteins linked to the effective storage of memories in the brain.  Many of these are known to be depleted with age, making memory storage less efficient, and leading to poorer memory in old age and conditions such as dementia.  Champagne slows these loses and therefore may help prevent the cognitive losses that occur during typical and atypical brain ageing.

Champagne has relatively high levels of phenolics compared to white wine, deriving predominantly from the two red grapes, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, which are used in its production along with the white grape Chardonnay.  It is these phenolic compounds which are believed to be responsible for the beneficial effects of champagne on the brain.

Professor Jeremy Spencer, Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, University of Reading, said: "These exciting results illustrate for the first time that the moderate consumption of champagne has the potential to influence cognitive functioning, such as memory.  Such observations have previously been reported with red wine, through the actions of flavonoids contained within it.

"However, our research shows that champagne, which lacks flavonoids, is also capable of influencing brain function through the actions of smaller phenolic compounds, previously thought to lack biological activity. We encourage a responsible approach to alcohol consumption, and our results suggest that a very low intake of one to two glasses a week can be effective."

Dr. David Vauzour, the researcher on the study, added: "in the near future we will be looking to translate these findings into humans.  This has been achieved successfully with other polyphenol-rich foods, such as blueberry and cocoa, and we predict similar outcomes for moderate Champagne intake on cognition in humans."

Previous research from the University of Reading revealed that two glasses of champagne a day may be good for your heart and circulation and could reduce the risks of suffering from cardiovascular disease and stroke.

The paper is published in Antioxidants and Redox Signalling.

ENDS

For all media enquiries please contact Alex Brannen 07834 006 243 or James Barr 07788 714376

Notes for editors:

The University of Reading is ranked among the top 1% of universities in the world (THE World University Rankings 2012) and is one of the UK's top research-intensive universities

The Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences is the largest University department of its kind in the UK, combining state of the art teaching facilities, clinical nutrition unit, labs and the largest pilot processing plant in the UK. The Department is internationally recognised for the quality of its research and enjoys a high public profile both domestically and internationally.

The department continues to work with the food industry over a wide range of industrially funded research projects and contracts under our Food Chain and Health research theme. This includes one-to-one funding from multi-national companies through to small and medium sized enterprises.