Every Saturday TheChampagneSommelier will ask 5 questions about 5 coeur de bouteilles to friends and Champagne lovers from near and far. This Week we took a bubbly chat with Italian sommelier & Champagne lover Marco Alessandro Felicissimo. Merci Marco !
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
BIO
Marco Alessandro Felicissimo
My name is Marco, Italian wine blogger and Italian sommelier certified by the Italian Sommelier Association (AIS). I have been studying wines and their respective regions for more than twenty-five years. I like tasting wines, travelling and exploring wine regions all over the world to get to know as much as possible, there is so much to learn! I love sharing my experiences and what I have learned about the wine world. I have traveled to Champagne several times and visited maisons de champagne as well as family run wineries. It’s a fascinating region and every bottle of Champagne tells its own story.
“Only the unimaginative can fail to find a reason for drinking champagne.” – Oscar Wilde
[follow on Marco Alessandro Felicissimo here]
Which Champagne would You treat your parents or in-laws?
‘Only my parents are still alive. The Cuvée Prestige Grand Cru by Paul Dethune seems to be the right choice for them. A complex extra-brut champagne made with 50% Pinot Noir and 50% Chardonnay. 70% of both wines are are from the same year harvest while 30% is from reserve wines from more than 40 different years aged and vinified in oak barrels. The aged reserve wines make this Champagne relate well to my elderly parents….’
Which Champagne would You treat your lover?
‘I would choose Louis Roederer Cristal Rosé 2013, probably the best rosé vintage after the 2008. It would be ideal for a romantic dinner especially if paired with appropriate dishes like lobster prepared with a champagne butter sauce.’
Which Champagne would You treat your boss?
‘I would say a classic, Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs 2006. With its incredible complexity, structure and balance this wine is one of the best expressions of purity with regard to Chardonnay grapes. A Champagne that is improving year after year and would make happy even the most demanding person.…’
Which Champagne would You treat yourself?
‘I love Blanc de noirs and for this reason I would select Champagne Extra Brut Grand Cru Millésime 2013 La Pelle by Roger Brun winery. Philippe Brun now manages the winery, which I visited some years ago. It’s a complex, very long and intense Champagne, one of my favourites. Luckily I still have a few bottles left!’
Which Champagne would You treat a dream guest, and why, and who’s is Your dream guest?
‘I joined my British wife in becoming a Leeds United Football Club (LUFC) supporter a few years ago. The team was promoted to the Premier League two years ago thanks to its Argentinian head coach Marcelo Bielsa. He would be our dream guest and I would treat him with a bottle of Champagne Brut Charlier & Fils Special Club 2004. It’s a characterful Champagne which would be appropriate for the guest. A special Champagne for a special coach and Spécial Club, LUFC!’
What piece of music would you listen to drinking wine in question 5 ? ]
‘With the dream guest, a special Champagne, a special club we need a special song, in my opinion one of the most beautiful songs ever, “Caruso” which is an opera song written in 1986 by Italian musician Lucio Dalla (1943 – 2012), who also sung it. Dalla dedicated it to Enrico Caruso, one of the greatest and most sought-after Italian Opera singers during the late 19th and early 20th century. Prepare yourself to get goosebumps when listening to this song covered by tenor Luciano Pavarotti.’
