The 69th Annual Golden Globe® Awards airs tonight and kicks off the big awards season. Always my favorite awards show as it combines film, tv, awards, food, wine and champagne!

To celebrate there will be lots of bubbles from Moët & Chandon, the official champagne of the Golden Globes for the 21st year. More than 1,000 mini bottles and 500 magnums of Grand Vintage 2002 Moët & Chandon champagne, specially created for the show, will be served on the red carpet and inside the Beverly Hilton Hotel’s International Ballroom at tonight’s event. That’s over 9,000 glasses of champagne at $84.95 a bottle ($84,950 worth of champagne)! And don’t forget the over 400 bottles of wine, 2,500 glasses, that will also be served.

Executive chefs Suki Sugiura and pastry chef Thomas Henzi have created an elegant and mouth-watering menu reflecting the global nature of the Golden Globes and it will take a team of 40 chefs and 110 kitchen staff members to prepare it on show day. It will include an appetiser of pistachio crusted pistou ravioli with wild arugula, smoked tomato, kabocha compote and burrata; a combination entree of miso and sake lees marinated pacific sea bass with grilled king oyster musroom and braised prime short rib of beef with porcini pine nut herb ragout in a light cream of sherry wine ginger tamari sauce with roasted fingerling potatoes, candy striped beets, baby bok choy and yellow baby carrots.

For dessert Chef Henzi will be serving a trio of chocolate delice almond crunch terrine and acacia honey, caramel and fresh berries, which will pair ideally with the Moët & Chandon Grand Vintage 2002 and the 23K edible gold Italian chocolates.

For your party open one of Moët & Chandon‘s many options… White Star Impérial (their flagship), Rosé Impérial (the Glamoruous Champagne), Nectar Impérial (the Daring Champagne) and Nectar Impérial Rosé (the Extravagant Champagne).

Cheers to the 69th Annual Golden Globes Party!

It’s that time of year…Thanksgiving dinner shopping and choosing wines to serve with it. There’s lots of advice out there this week on-line so thought I’d share my pairing guidance.

Whether you chose red or white wine, I recommend serving both, the general advice is pair simple wines (lighter and less complex) with complex meals (meaning rich foods, heavy spices and herbs) and pair complex wines with simple meals. Thanksgiving dinner is a little of both so totally up to you! I’m going with simple wines for our big dinner at friend’s house…probably a bottle or more of each category below.

Bubbles

Any special meal should start and end with bubbles! You could go high-end Champagne or serve a bottle of Prosecco or other sparking wine.

• Champagne: Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte, Brut N.V. is a great everyday choice with delicate bubbles and balanced herbal notes ($30). Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte, Brut Rose N.V. is a gorgeous pink color with lots of red fruit undertones ($50). Louis de Sacy Brut Grand Cru‘s beautiful golden color with citrus and herbal notes ($35).
• Prosecco: This Italian option of sparkling wine is my favorite. I love Baby Prosecco for its crips tropical and green apple notes ($9.99).
• Sparkling Wines: Go American this Thanksgiving with Virginia’s fabulous Barboursville Vineyards’ Barboursville Brut, a great fruit aroma and pear taste ($18).

Red Wines

Red wines with low tannins are suggested for Thanksgiving so a lighter bodied fruity wine to go with the richness of the meal.

• Beaujolais: Beaujolais Nouveau, a red wine made in less than 10 weeks from the Gamay grape in Burgundy, France, is meant to be enjoyed immediately upon its release last week (always the 3rd Thursday of November). It’s light bodied fruity  easy to drink wine. Georges Dubouef’s is the classic you’ll see everywhere ($11). Or you could go with a fuller bodied Beaujolais-Village from Dubouef or Louis Jadot (either $14).
• Pinot Noir: Another great option is go American with Oregon’s red wine specialty, Pinot Noir, made of ripe red fruit for lots of berry and juicy flavor. Last weekend I discovered Lachini Vineyard‘s amazing Pinot Noir wines. Their 2008 Estate Pinot Noir was full of raspberry and white pepper with taste of sweet fruit, floral and dark chocolate ($40). King Estate is another great option…their namesake Signature Pinot Noir ($30) or their Acrobat ($19).

White Wines

White wines with bright flavors are perfect for Thanksgiving dinner.

• Viognier: Viognier (Vee-own-YAY) is the official grape of Virginia making a nice dry to slightly off dry white with tropical fruit and honey. So one of these must be your choice: Barboursville Vineyards 2009 Viognier Reserve ($22) or Blenheim Vineyards 2010 Viognier ($19).
• Pinot Gris: Oregon’s white wine specialty, Pinot Gris is a nice option as its between Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc. I bought a bottle of Lachini Vineyards 2010 Pinot Gris last weekend, tart yet fruity with medium body. Again King Estate’s namesake Signature Pinot Gris ($20) or their Acrobat ($15).

Snooth and wine.com are great resources for your wine ordering online.

Cheers to Thanksgiving week with great wine and food!

Toasted Pascal Boye, director of Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte, kicking off the French Regional Wine Luncheon at the 2011 Epcot Food & Wine Festival. Four delicious Bistro de Paris courses were paired with four sublime Champagnes from Nicolas Feuillatte and proved just that. Most people think of Champagne only as an aperitif or celebratory beverage but its great for all occasions and perfect with food.

Founded 30 years ago by Nicolas Feuillatte, who started out in the coffee business, Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte (pronounced f00-yacht) is now the #1 selling Champagne brand in France and the #3 Champagne brand worldwide. They have 2,200 hectares of vineyards in Champagne, France including 13 of 17 Grand Crus and 33 of 42 Premier Crus (villages in Champagne are classified according to their quality, Grand Cru is 100% and Premier Cru is 90-99%). Winemaker Jean-Pierre Vincent and his team turn lovely wines into exquisite champagnes. As Pascal called out for us, Champagne is a wine before the yeast is added and the wine is aged a minimum of 3 years thus producing Champagne. While the company was sold in 1986 to Centre Vinicole de la Champagne, the largest union of Champagne producers, 86-year-old Nicolas at 86 years old is still involved in the business he created.

Over the three-and-a-half-hour luncheon, Eric Weistroffer and his fabulous Bistro de Paris team popped bottle after bottle of Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte, 65 bottles to be exact for the 85 of us, to serve with our lunch.

Amuse-Bouche paired with Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte, Brut N.V.

• Combines ’04, ’05 and ’06 grapes and aged 3 years.
• Grape Variety: 40% Pinot Noir, 20% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot Meunier
• Aroma: White fruit, herbal with a touch of nut.
• Taste: Delicate bubbles combine with smooth, balanced herbal notes.
• Price: $30
• My thoughts: Great everyday champagne and at a great price for this quality.

Snapper with Champagne Sauce paired with Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte Cuvee 225, Vintage 2003

• Aged 7 years
• Grape Variety: 50% Pinot Noir, 50% Chardonnay
• Aroma: Hints of honey, spice, vanilla.
• Taste: White fruits with vanilla.
• Price: $55
• My thoughts: This was my favorite course and pairing! The Champagne itself is divine but then paired with the gruyere cheese and bread crumb encrusted snapper and the Champagne sauce, it knocked my socks off! This Champagne has more structure, depth and a nice lingering aftertaste.

Veal Medallion & Sweetbread Forestiere paired with Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte Brut Cuvee Palmes d’Or, Vintage 1999

• Nicolas created this champagne in 1985 in memory of one of the loves of his youth. It comes from 8 famous Grand Cru Vineyards.
• Aged 10 years, 1999 was a great vintage.
• Grape Variety: 50% Pinot Noir, 50% Chardonnay
• Aroma: White flowers, honey, pineapple, vanilla.
• Taste: Soft round small bubbles accentuate the aromas and leave them lingering on your pallate.
• Price: $139
• My thoughts: The story that goes with the Champagne is fabulous and when you see the bottle designed for it, its amazing! A lovely and very complex Champagne with many layers. This grand Champagne would be a wonderful gift or add glitz to any special occasion.

White Chocolate Mousse with Raspberry and Praline paired with Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte, Brut Rose NV

• Beautiful pink color comes from brief skin contact of Pinot Noir grape with the wine.
• Grape Variety: 60% Pinot Noir, 10% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Meunier
• Aroma: Red fruit bouquet.
• Taste: Full of strawberry, raspberry and blackberry layers.
• Price: $50
• My thoughts: I love rosé and this Champagne variety is no exception! Not only is it gorgeous in the bottle, the pairing with dessert brought out the fruit of the wine, lightened sweetness of the praline and sweetened the mousse.

It was an incredible afternoon of champagne, food and meeting new people, including my table mates Pat, Pat and Denise, and one of my highlights of this year’s festival. See the gallery for more great photos.

With all the holidays coming up, try pairing Champagne with some of your meals. Everyone will be pleased!

For more on Champagne, see more Grape Occasions articles.

Santé!

On a flight now to Orlando for this 16th annual food and wine lovers dream festival! Our first visit last year was a blast and this year I’m looking forward to new experiences including:

• Epcot Wine School: I’m attending one of the five wine schools offered during the festival. Sunday’s school is ‘Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered by Italian Wine’ with Sharron McCarthy, CSW of Castello Banfi Wines.
• French Regional Lunch: Friday I’ll be dining at Bistro de Paris featuring the Champagne region with Nicolas Feuillate Champagne and their sales director Pascal Boye.
• Disney Wines: Debuting at this year’s festival are two new Disney wines Sogno d’Italia wines, a Pinot Grigio and a Chianti, developed exclusively for Disney in partnership with Banfi.
• 25 international kiosks of food and beverage including new this year Portugal, Caribbean and Hawaii.

Follow me on Twitter (@GrapeOccasions) the next few days for updates then I’ll have lots to share on my website next week.

Cheers!