A drink with... Idris Elba
Following the launch of a new rosé Champagne from his brand Porte Noire, internationally renowned actor Idris Elba talks to Natalie Earl about his foray into Champagne, and bringing it back down to earth.
‘It wasn’t a conscious choice to be part of a Champagne brand. Seven years ago, Champagne Sanger invited me to visit its Champagne school. And I thought, what a lovely invite, to go to one of the oldest winemaking schools in Champagne.
‘I said to my wife – whom I was dating at the time – do you want to come to Champagne? It sounded very romantic. We had this incredible, full, rich day of history, skill, sharing, and the students were really happy to see me. I learned how to twist the bottles [riddling], and all about the cuvées and vineyards. And we topped it off in one of the vineyards eating cheese and drinking Champagne. At the end of the day, they said “we want you to own your own cuvée”. At first I thought, you mean take a few home? I had a big trunk… And they said “No, you’ll have your own, we produce it: we have these lovely batches of grand cru, and you can name it and do what you want with it.
‘My favourite is the Porte Noire Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Vintage (2013, £89 portenoire.co.uk). We haven’t really marketed ourselves around me and celebrity wines. It has my name on it, but we haven’t pushed that element. Celebrity wines tend to have a more transactional approach: the thinking is volume, volume, volume. With our grand cru, there is a volume capacity we can reach, and that’s it. So we are more in tune with people discovering it and liking it, rather than the hard sell.
‘Bad Champagne gives me a residual effect the next day. Finely produced Champagne doesn’t. When you realise that alcohol suppresses your nervous system, you don’t want to put any old liquid in your body! Beyond Champagne, I like a Syrah, heavy and bold.
‘Often I get to be in different parts of the world where there are always stories behind the wines there. Unexpected stories are fascinating to me, and in wine there seem to be quite a few,
because wine is tied up with the land, and with people. I was blown away by the selection and history of winemaking in South Africa. The English producers of sparkling wine that I’ve met also have great stories. And the wines are getting much better, too.
‘For me, growing up in a modest background, Champagne was something to aspire to, popping a bottle if you reached a milestone. Typically these are big moments, marriage, engagements, birthdays; but with Porte Noire, it’s a really good liquid at a very affordable price. So the idea is that it doesn’t have to be saved for these celebrations – it can just be, “I got through my day”. I want people to rethink where and how Champagne is appropriate.’
To read the full interview by Natalie Earl, go to decanter.com