Stand Napoleon ruled that «after a victory you deserve champagne, and after a defeat you need one», echoes Gabrielle Chanel, who always felt the need for a glass: «I only drink champagne on two occasions, when I’m in love and when I’m not”, it is clear that for the French, bubbles are more than a national pride.
Portrait of Richard Juhlin @ FREDRIK-SKOGKVIST. Champagne Magnum Opus New York 2023.
Therefore Richard Juhlin that he is a Swedish gentleman, translated into English, perhaps he should receive honorary citizenship from the Champagne region: he tasted more bottles than anyone elseand, in the thousands of blind tests, he almost never got the wrong wine (once, his mother beat it…).
Competence, sensoriality, passion for this universe are so profound as to make him an authority in the field.
Prestigious bottles of champagne. : © Champagne Magnum Opus, Rizzoli New York, 2023
Terroir, history and top list
Write on Spectacle du Monde, The Champagne Revue, Wine International… goes on tv (Drinks and Restaurants in Europe In the USA, nesevis in Norwayi), and now he has decided to pour into his own new book everything he learned and discovered about French bubbles: the result is Champagne Magnum Opus (Rizzoli New York) an illustrated imposing, precious, elegant, which alternates with more technical and really painstaking sections (such as the top lists of Vintages, the characteristics of the terroirs, the indications of all the villages where the harvest takes place, the “map” with an evaluation of 13,000 champagnes from 900 producers), the history and curiosities of each maison, from the most celebrated to the most familiar. And then, rites and characters that link champagne, gastronomy, conviviality. The labels, the campaigns, the dosages, the menus. The celebrities. The photographs are magnificent.
The cover of Champagne Magnus Opus by Richard Juhlin © Champagne Magnum Opus Rizzoli New York 2023.
100 champagnes in life
Enjoyable and very useful, even more so for the uninitiated, the chapter dedicated to joy of champagne. Which comprises precious indications for recognizing it, keeping it, serving it, combining it. To taste it, above all. In seven steps explained by the wine critic. The challenge to take up? Taste all one hundred champagnes you need to drink in life, according to Juhlin. A pleasure that no one, if they could, would escape.
Richard JUHLIN, Champagne Magnum Opus, Rizzoli New York 2023
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