Champagne Joseph Perrier Managing Director Benjamin Fourmon (left) with Chef Guy Martin of the iconic Le Grand Vefour in Paris.
Champagne Joseph Perrier Cuvée Royale Demi-Sec
A well-made Demi-Sec or off-dry champagne is delicious when the gentle sweetness is fruitiness rather than a sugary sensation. Joseph Perrier produces a thoroughly convincing Demi-Sec which will continue to mature and evolve in the bottle. It will be even more stunning between 3 and 5 years from now. And beyond. Patience is however one of the hardest qualities to subdue when a bottle of bubbly is in front of us. Resistance, I discovered, was agony. And futile. The wine opened up with green, ripening pineappley/honeyish fruit. Intensity was coursing through every bubble. The gentle flourish of sweetness on the finish was the much needed excuse to take another mouthful. Sixth-generation Benjamin Fourmon took over from his father Jean-Claude in January 2019 and continues the pursuit of quality in the family-managed Champagne house based in Chalons. His great, great-grandfather Paul Pithois had purchased Champagne Joseph Perrier in 1888. Before becoming managing director, Benjamin Fourmon was export manager and their Paris sales representative. He had joined Champagne Joseph Perrier in 2014 and was an accounting controller for Accenture, the multi-national Fortune Global 500 company before that. Fourmon’s ancestor Paul Pithois had worked with Louis Pasteur in his research on the fermentation of wine.