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 Estonian sommelier & Champagne lover Mikk Parre. Merci Mikk !
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
BIO
Mikk Parre
My name is Mikk Parre and I am a sommelier from Estonia, I am currently working at Time to Wine Bar in Tallinn, Estonia as a sommelier. I hold the Court of Master Sommeliers’ Certified Sommelier certificate as well as the ASI Gold Diploma. I am an actively competing sommelier, having won the title of Best Sommelier of Estonia in 2022 as well as title of Best Sommelier of the Baltics in 2022.
Wine is my life and my passion, my goal is to enjoy the wine world to the fullest and to never stop exploring. As my next adventure I am currently preparing for the next Sommelier World Championships in Paris in 2023, which will be another small dream come true as a representative of my country.
[follow MIkk Parre on Instagram here]
Which Champagne would You treat your parents or in-laws?
‘I have been really eager and excited to get my parents more deeply into the wine world. My parents being fans of clean, crisp and homegrown, I’d steer a bit away from the classic Grande Marque houses and choose a small grower producer that is easy to understand and enjoy. I would choose a NV Laherte Freres Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature for them.
This Champagne always instantly brings back childhood memories of my parents making homemade apple juice from organic apples sourced from our own small orchard, sadly now lost to time. A true clean and crisp expression of freshly crushed apples, combined with the organic and biodynamic principles followed by the Champagne house are sure to spark joy and bring back good memories for them.’
Which Champagne would You treat your lover?
‘She is not huge on Champagne, but loves a great Blanc de Noir for a special occasion or a celebration. I would open a bottle really worthy of the moment, something unique, complex and charming, showing majestic beauty, equal only to her own – a 2002 Billecart-Salmon Clos Saint-Hilaire. An extraordinary Champagne from an extraordinary vintage, I wouldn’t think of treating her to anything less than that.’
Which Champagne would You treat your boss?
‘My boss is a fan of big and bold when it comes to wines and I can assume Champagne would be no exception to that. When treating my boss to a Champagne, I would go with a 2008 Henri Giraud Argonne, a wine that shows great decadence and rustic charm, a Champagne that incites conversation and would be best enjoyed just on its own, maybe on a dark a quiet evening combined with a discussion as deep and complex as the Champagne itself.‘
Which Champagne would You treat yourself?
‘That is probably the most difficult question to answer, as there are a myriad of amazing Champagnes, so many of them with great memories and stories behind them. But if I were to decide on one, I would take a classic favorite of mine which holds a special place in my heart, the 2002 Agrapart & Fils Venus.’
‘An absolutely spectacular Blanc de Blancs Champagne, one which is responsible for sparking my love of Blanc de Blancs Champagnes so many years ago. One can never perfectly recreate the first meeting with a life changing drink but this Champagne manages to get close every time.’
Mikk Parre
Which Champagne would You treat a dream guest, and why?
‘This is where we can dream big and if I dream I can’t think of a more exciting guest to treat than Anthony Bourdain. Though sadly only possible in dreams, to hear his stories and to be able to pick his mind about his life philosophy and travels would really be the stuff of dreams.
When already going wild with ideas about the dream guest, we could also go wild with the drink. I would take out my Champagne bucket list and at the very top I would currently find Pierre Peters Heritage Blanc de Blancs, a blend of 19 vintages, dating back all the way to 1921. A Champagne as rare as it gets from one of my absolute favorite producers, combined with the stories of Bourdain in one sitting would be nothing short of perfection.’
[ what piece of music would you listen to drinking wine with Your dream guest ?]
‘To combine this moment into an unforgettable experience I would listen to the 1970s classic “Whiskey in the Jar” by Thin Lizzy.’
