Jaillance is bubbling to Singapore shores in late September this year and many of you must be thinking, “What exactly is Jaillance?” Well, Jaillance originates from the Drome Valley, nestled between Vercors and Provence, and it represents the Cave de Die, a cooperative founded in 1950; which produces sparkling wines that are second only to Champagne in France and it is the leading French brand in Appellation d’Origine Protegee sparkling wines.
I figured that many of you must be scratching your heads right now and you probably might not be familiar with certain technical wine terms; hence, I would try my best to keep this blog post really simple to understand.

Anyhows, Jaillance is making its debut in Singapore with two bottle-fermented French sparkling wines; the demi-sec Muscat, Clairette from Die and the brut Semillon from Bordeaux. Before I go on to introduce these two really fabulous sparkling wines, please allow me to define certain wine terms for you so that you more or less will understand what I am about to share with you.

The term demi-sec means semi-dry and the term brut means dry. So in other words, if you see the word, “brut” on a wine label, it means the wine has an extremely low or no sugar content; on the other hand, if you see the word, “demi-sec” on a wine label, it means the wine has a slightly higher sugar content level and is mildly sweet. If you prefer sparkling wines that are extremely sweet, you should look out for labels that indicate moelleux or doux [very sweet]. However, it is extremely rare that sparkling wines are moelleux or doux; most of the time, sparkling wines are either brut or demi-sec. If you’ve a sweet tooth, then demi-sec sparkling wines are actually good enough.

The terms, “Die” and “Bordeaux” are wine producing regions in France and the terms, “Muscat”, “Clairette”, and “Semillon” are the grapes that are used in producing the sparkling wines.

Here is a picture of a bunch of Clairette grapes; and Muscat and Semillon grapes look kinda similar as Clairette grapes.

So now that you have more or less essentially understood the wine terms, let me introduce you to the two fabulous sparkling wines that Jaillance is bringing to Singapore; the demi-sec Muscat, Clairette from Die, and the brut Semillon from Bordeaux.

The wine tasting session was held at Balzac Brasserie, a French restaurant at Rendezvous Gallery.

This is where Balzac Brasserie is located.

From Jalliance 2012

From Jalliance 2012

Jaillance‘s Muscat, Clariette and Semillon.

From Jalliance 2012

A closer look at the wine label. I believe that by now, you would have more or less understand what the wine label means. What’s probably ancient to you is, “Methode Ancestrale” and “Methode Traditionnelle”. Well “Methode Ancestral” means that the sparkling wine is made using the ancestral method while “Method Traditionnelle” means that the sparkling wine is made using the traditional method [similar to how Champagne is being made in Champagne].

From Jalliance 2012

A closer look at the back portion of the wine label. Good information to know but might be a bit hard to understand.

From Jalliance 2012

This is Mr. Oliver Campos, Business Manager of Asia-Pacific, UK and Scandinavia. He gave us a short but informative introduction to Jaillance and the two sparkling wines that we were going to sample.

From Jalliance 2012

Just look at those small fizzy bubbles. You just have to know, the smaller and finer the bubbles, the better the sparkling wine is. Usually, big bubbles are associated with cheap sparkling wines.

From Jalliance 2012

After the informative introduction by Mr. Oliver Campos, we had a food and wine pairing session where delectable canapes were served.

From Jalliance 2012

To pair with the Semillon, we had the Carpaccio of Red Beetroot and marinated Calamari

From Jalliance 2012

and the Balzac Smoked Salmon and Creme Fraiche and Chives on Mini Tartine

From Jalliance 2012

To pair with the Muscati, Clariette, we had the Reblochon Tartiflette and French bacon

From Jalliance 2012

and the Camembert Croquette with wild Mushroom Veloute

From Jalliance 2012

As the Muscati, Clariette goes well with desserts too, we had the Classic Homemade Lemon Tart

From Jalliance 2012

and the French choquette and Vanilla cream

From Jalliance 2012

Ok, I know alot of French terms here are pretty confusing but well, they’re French.

And because I really don’t want to give you readers an information overload, a lot of information regarding Wines can be found on the Internet and Wikipedia is a good start. Anyhows, both the sparkling wines are just superb and I really like it because the taste of the sparkling wines are mellow, balanced, and it certainly exudes a rather exuberant kind of sophistication. Unlike other sparkling wines where the grapes used in producing the sparkling wine are harvested using machines, Jaillance harvest the grapes by hand, a method that is really costly and that which proves its commitment to producing only the finest French sparkling wine that is second only to Champagne in France. No wonder it is indeed the leading French brand in Appellation d’Origine Protegee sparkling wines!

After the wine tasting session, Jaillance was really so generous that they gave each of us attendees a bottle of the Muscat, Clairette and the Semillon. Not only that, they gave us an Ice Bag which would really come in handy for picnics and also a Wine Bottle Stopper.

From Jalliance 2012

So, if you’re wondering where on earth you could find Jaillance‘s sparkling wines, you can find them in Cold Storage, MarketPlace, and Bottles & Bottles from late September and you can also find them in FairPrice, FairPrice Finest, and FairPrice Xtra from early November onward.

The best part is, the Muscat, Clairette is going at $26.90 and the Semillon is going at $29.90; a price that is really value for money, considering the fact that you’re getting award-winning sparkling wines which usually cost about $40+ a bottle. Hence, if you’re planning a 18th or 21st birthday and you’re thinking of having some booze to rock the night away, you might want to consider getting Jaillance‘s sparkling wines for that extra special touch.

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Sparkling Wine Trivial:

Do you know that Champagne is a sparkling wine but not all sparkling wines are Champagne? As a matter of fact, the word, “Champagne” has been used too casually that people tend to associate all sparkling wines with Champagne. Now what is really true is this, that Champagne is a sparkling wine that is produced exclusively only in the region of Champagne in France; and all other sparkling wines that are produced outside of Champagne are known as sparkling wines.

Stay tuned to more updates from us!

God bless!