La Maison Fontaine Infusion Competition!

Boutique Bar Show was a major success for La Maison Fontaine Absinthe. The Fountains stopped people in their tracks and the Fontaine of Youth infusion generated a lot of interest from top people in the industry. Many had wished they had thought of it first but we're pleased to say it was created with La Maison Fontaine Absinthe specifically in mind with the help of Allan Gage. Due to the phenomenal interest generated at Boutique Bar Show we have decided to create a competition for the best infusion for La Maison Fontaine!

The best will be featured on the http://www.fontaineabsinthe.com/ web site and of course there will be a great prize with the results announced in 2011. Get in touch if you'd like to participate and be at the forefront of this new wave of interest in artisinal Absinthe and contemporary perfect serves!

Jenny@vqwine.com

020 7529 4308

bonjour@fontaineabsinthe.com

FACEBOOK - La Maison Fontaine Absinthe UK

The Fontaine of Youth

•1.5L Fountain with iced still mineral water
•1 lemon sliced
•Peel of 1 cucumber cut into strips
•6 mint sprigs
•Ice cubes
Fill the fountain with all ingredients and allow to stand for 15mins before serving. Traditional serve (35ml Fontaine) with or without sugar as preferred. Drip contents of the Fontaine fountain to taste, as slowly as possible.

Rui and Jemma behind the Vanquish Stand at Boutique Bar Show.

Angel Champagne

Fifteen years ago Stefano Zagni had a vision - he wanted to produce the worlds most exclusive Champagne. Given the first 24 bottles of Angel Champagne are a collection priced at £250,000.00 - I'd say he's succeeded in his goal!

It's certainly been a long time in the making but on the 15th and 16th of September Angel Champagne was introduced to some top London drinks industry movers and shakers and also The Press in La Suite at Vanquish Wine HQ.

The first thing Stefano did all those years ago was find an exceptional wine maker - he certainly succeeded when he teamed up with Patrick d'Aulan. Patrick's family owned the Champagne House Piper Heidsieck for over 200 years and as he says himself "I was born in a glass of Champagne". Both Stefano and Patrick worked for many years sourcing exceptional grapes and developing the Angel style. For Angel the cepage is Chardonnay dominant and the assemblage for the non vintage is from 3 year old wines and the 2004 has only just been released. Because Angel uses the very best grapes it is only available in tiny quantities and we suspect we may even have to put it on allocation....

Taste:
The non-vintage is straw yellow in colour with green apple tinges and the nose offers good bready yeast with pronounced fruit notes. Things were looking promising, but the palate totally took me by surprise - the mouthfeel is so incredibly soft, it's like drinking liquid silk! Delicate fruit notes come through which are well balanced with the yeasty undertones and it provides good length at the end. Overall, I'd say Angel nv literally oozes style, sophistication and offers unparalleled finesse.

The 2004 is much bigger in profile than the nv with big fruit and big bready notes and consequently cannot quite match the finesse of the nv, but then it's a different wine. It's sensible to offer two different styles in a range and after talking to Patrick about these conclusions he agreed that it was indeed his strategy to produce two fantastic but not identical Champagnes. I for one think he's succeeded. Angel 2004 is my preferred style of Champagne and probably will be for those wine buffs with a developed palate - it's deliciously big and full, but I can also see why the nv is going to be a massive hit.


Stefano Zagni (Founder), Sinitta (Creative Director) and Patrick d'Aulan (Wine Maker)

Sinitta in La Suite talking to the industry about Angel Champagne.
Sinitta really is a fantastic ambassador for the brand, she's passionate, enthusiastic and has some great ideas - we'll be definitely be hearing more from her on Angel Champagne.

Other ambassadors for Angel Champagne are:

Mariah Carey,

Rhianna,

Ne-Yo

Fabolous.
You can watch their various videos on the Angel website:
http://www.angelchampagne.com/news.html

If you are interested in listing Angel Champagne please contact us at Vanquish.

Ted Breaux and Jared Gurfein of Lucid visit London

If you are not sure who Ted Breaux is then watch this History Channel show called Modern Marvels:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5aeNxd_z_c&feature=related

Things have moved along quite significantly since that film was made in 2006. Jared Gurfein of Viridian Spirits recruited Ted to produce an all natural Absinthe for the American market. Lucid was born out of this partnership and between them they successfully challenged the ban on Absinthe in the U.S.

Vanquish Wine is now the UK distributor for Lucid Absinthe and on Saturday 4th September both Ted and Jared came to London for a whistle stop tour. Our first port of call was Paramount to see the sights of London from above. Thanks to Amanda for her amazing hospitality.

On Sunday we had a Bar Tender Session at Montgomery Place. Alex Olas, the Bar Manager, is well versed in the ways of Absinthe and is also a big Ted Breaux fan so M.P. was the obvious place to meet. Thanks Alex and everyone one that turned up on Sunday. It was a real joy to share a comprehensive Absinthe training with some of London's top Bar Tenders! Montgomery Place is also the first official stockist of Lucid Absinthe!

The tube strike was a a bit of a problem (well done London!) but we persevered and made it out to Putney to Citizen Smith. If you haven't been I'd highly recommend it!

Paul Bradley, the Bar Manager, looking very pleased with his Lucid and Fountain! He also made some great versions of Ted's pre-prohibition cocktails - get in touch if you'd like a copy and some comprehensive Absinthe training!

I'd also like to thank:

Spooks for his great work at Callooh Callay,

Flavio and the team at Nobu,

Theo for making some fantastic pre-prohibition cocktails on Tuesday,

Ed from Salon D'Ete - very sorry it's now gone!

Sarah, Lee and the Team at Graphic,

Sara and David from Summer Fruit Cup,

Clayton Hartley from The New Sheridan Club,

Pauline and Peter from The Floating Rum Shack,

Alan from Foodpedia,

Ben from Blue Tomato,

Caroline and Manfred from The Londonist,

and finally a massive thank you to Ted and Jared!