Orange you glad I didn't say Sparkling?

I have made an excutive decision. I've decided to devote the following year to an exploration of sparkling wine. I have the privilge of working in the wine industry and for a winery that makes amazing sparkling wine but I want to go deep. My plan is to roam with my taste buds seeking out sparkling wines from all over the world to taste and research. Rather than keeping my notes in some dusty journal - I thought I'd document them here. Of course, the yarn pairings will be part of it so this could take some interesting turns.

I thought I would start with one of the classics...Veuve Clicquot. This is one of the oldest Champagne houses started around the time of the French Revolution. It was built to promenence by a woman named Barbe-Nicole Clicquot - also known as "The Widow Clicquot" (Veuve means widow in French). Generally, using the word widow in the name of a product isn't adivised unless you're marketing black veils or Kleenex. This Champagne is made in the traditional method meaning the second fermentation occurs in the bottle. It has amazing notes of baked apple, warm bread and a crisp finish. I had my glass with pear slices and Cheddar Cheese.

As a marketer, I've long envied the way Veuve Clicquot is so closely aligned with the distictive colour of yellow/orange. The colour was first used on the bottle labels in the late 1800's to make it easier to see in the dark cellars. For those keeping score, Pantone 137C is its closest match.

I happened to visit Julie at the Needle Emporium yesterday and on the 45 min drive to her store, I was listening the "The Widow Clicquot" audiobook. If you love history and wine - I highly recommend it.

With orange on the brain and a desire to make this lovely new design (Ravelry link) by Julia Trice called Reverie; I was drawn to the new yarn line Julie carries called Mrs. Crosby. The line has a beautiful sport weight yarn called Hat Box (merino, silk, cashmere) with a shade of orangy/yellow that's Veuviliciously amazing. It's called Spicy Habanero.

Sparkling wine is alive, complex and like Post It Notes and Penicillin, the result of a mistake that actually turned into something beautiful. If that isn't a metaphor for knitting, I don't know what is.

 

 

 

 

 

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