Reims, September 2022
The fall season has started brilliantly for Tsarine’s new Solium cuvée, launched just this past spring and already an award winner! And the first award is nothing less than a Double Gold Medal in the Gilbert & Gaillard International Challenge 2022.
The tasting comments by the jury, who gave Solium a score of 90 points, say:
“A lovely gold colour. A highly engaging nose evoking white fruits, exuding a sensation of freshness. On the palate the attack is tonic, intense, with accents of white fruits and hazelnut. A champagne that can be served with the apéritif and with the meal itself.”
As you’ll recall, the international vinicultural competition was founded more than 30 years ago by an independent French group created by Philippe Gaillard and François Gilbert. Published in 19 languages, the Gilbert & Gaillard Wine Guide has become an international benchmark for wine professionals and amateur wine lovers the world over.
Isabelle Tellier on Solium
Isabelle Tellier, Chef de Cave of the House of Chanoine Frères since 2001 and creator of Tsarine Solium, says of the name in the video “Tsarine Solium: The Art of Premier Cru” (length 1’09”) that it “evokes the sun and soil — the sun and soil of Champagne. Only wines from premier cru villages go into blending Tsarine’s Solium cuvée.”
Presented in a bottle with an arresting red-and-gold packaging and labeling, Tsarine Solium is a fresh and complex champagne blended from 72% Chardonnay and 28% Pinot Noir wines from Premier Cru villages in the Côte des Blancs, the Montagne de Reims and the Vallée de la Marne. It is aged for at least forty months in the House’s cellars in Reims.
Tsarine Solium, a pleasure that is immediate and generous
For Isabelle Tellier, “Solium delivers a wealth of sensory pleasures — pleasures that are immediate and generous. Solium is for gifting and sharing. Many gourmet pairings with foods are possible; it goes with just about everything.”
Isabelle, a devotee of food-wine pairings and a confirmed “foodie,” suggests a few delicious associations: “Solium goes quite well with fish — a sole meunière or a monkfish with citrus — and also with meat, like a veal mignon with cherry plums or a lemon chicken. It will set off cheeses such as Comté. And on the dessert side, Solium weds well with an apricot tart or a lemon meringue pie.”
The ideal tasting temperature of Tsarine Solium is between 10° and 12°C.
You'll find Tsarine Solium at the best stores and on the House of Chanoine Frères online store.
