Parellada (par-ah-YA-da)

The most refined of the three grapes used to make cava, Spanish sparkling wine.

What is Sillery?

A. A medieval wine made from sprouted grain mixed with honey

B. The brand name of the highest quality basket press typically used in Bordeaux and the Napa Valley

C. A Shakespearean euphemism for wine

D. A famous village in Champagne

Sillery is a village in the Marne department of Champagne. The village’s vineyards fall into the subregion of Champagne known as the Montagne de Reims and are 100% Grand Cru. The chardonnay in particular is renowned.

Come, send round the wine, and leave points of belief
To simpleton sages and reasoning fools;
This moment’s a flower too fair and brief
To be wither’d and stain’d by the dust of the schools.
Your glass may be purple, and mine may be blue,
But, while they are fill’d from the same bright bowl,
The fool who would quarrel for difference of hue,
Deserves not the comfort they shed o’er the soul.

—Thomas Moore (1779-1852), Irish poet, from Irish Melodies, Vol. II

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