Did you know that St Marius was the best friend of St. Valentine? The legend says that Valentine and Marius were performing marriages in secret while Emperor Claudius II cancelled them in Rome. So let’s celebrate Valentine’s Day with a glass of Marius wine and with the book « Any News of Marius Chapoutier ? » released today.

Last year, Maison M. Chapoutier made a pleasant surprise by launching MARIUS by Michel Chapoutier. This year, to celebrate the white / rosé and red versions, a book « Any News of Marius Chapoutier?  » tells some stories of Marius Chapoutier during his life. « A good wine is a wine you want to taste again » always said Marius. This book pays a tribute to this great man who was the great-great-grandfather of Michel Chapoutier, founder and talented developer of this wine estate. The english version of the book is released on Valentine’s Day. But why on St Valentine’s Day ?

This book is the offspring of A Wine & Food Guide to the Loire, which Jacqueline Friedrich wrote more than fifteen years ago. Since that time, the Loire has changed so dramatically that she felt that, in order to do justice to the improved quality of the wines, to describe the dynamic young vintners, to explain the burgeoning eco-consciousness in each and every one of its multiplicity of appellations, she needed to write a three-volume opus and not the single-volume, 125,000 word book that she contracted to write for University of California Press. Here is the Volume One / The Kingdom of Sauvignon Blanc : Sancerre, Pouilly-Fume and the Sauvignon Satellites.

Michel Chapoutier: « Vous remarquerez que les anglais, avec leur grande expertise et sagesse, ont préféré servir le fromage après le dessert, ce qui voulait dire que le Porto était le dernier vin servi. En France, nous n’avons pas eu la galanterie de subordonner l’ordre des plats à la chronologie des vins. Pour moi, le stilton demeure l’un des plus grands fromages au monde. Et c’est en découvrant les grands stiltons que j’ai appris à préférer les fromages bleus issus de lait de vache à ceux faits avec du lait de brebis. Et quand on l’accompagne d’un Porto Taylor’s d’une année généreuse, comment ne peut on pas fondre de plaisir ! « 

Today, we are celebrating the #PortDay with some names in the world of fine Wine. Learn more about Port and read about what winemaker Michel chapoutier thinks about Vintage Port.

Michel Chapoutier: « English people, with their great expertise and wisdom, have chosen to serve cheese after dessert, which meant that Port was the last wine served. In France, we did not have the gallantry to change the order of the dishes according to the sequence of the wines. For me, Stilton is one of the greatest cheeses in the world. In fact, I learned to prefer blue cheeses from cow milk rather than from sheep milk when I discovered the great Stiltons. And when it comes with a Taylor’s Port from a generous vintage, it is nearly impossible to resist to this pleasure ! « 

Today, we are celebrating the #PortDay with some names in the world of fine Wine. Here Miguel Roquette from Quinta do Crasto and also member of the Douro Boys with Cristiano van Zeller, Dirk Niepoort, Francisco Olazabal…Great names for great portuguese wines !

Miguel Roquette : « To celebrate such a special day I have picked from my humble cellar a bottle of Crasto Vintage Port 1987. »

« My grand father Fernando de Almeida (son of Constantino de Almeida) passed away in 1989. This was the very last Vintage Port declared while he was still alive. You will see from the picture that this wine had no label, only a silkscreen printing. This happened because at the time we were selling most of our Port production to the big shippers in Gaia…