IN THE SPIRIT WITH FRÉDÉRIC PANAïOTIS Video

You know what you know about a lot of Champagne brands: Dom Perignon in celebration. Freixenet in mimosas. Veuve Clicquot in the hotel room. But what do you know about Ruinart and Dom Ruinart? You know the bottle has a unique, low-slung shape. You know the price point is high but not unthinkable. And you know the bottle isnt on your regular rotation. But the joy of Ruinart, as least for now, is all that you don't know, and all that's waiting to be discovered.

Chef de Caves (yep, thats a fancy French word for our blue-collar sounding winemaker) Frédéric Panaïotis recently came through Phoenix to chat with distributor reps and big fish clients about the last harvest and how some of Ruinarts key vintages are progressing. Sure, he s always reminding people that Ruinart is the oldest Champagne house in the world (1729), that for a short period after the war, Ruinart was only distributed in one restaurant and one brothel, and that the brand has made a legendary comeback with legendary wines key to almost all of them are Chardonnay grapes from two distinct regions of France.

Click below to watch our interview with Panaïotis after one of his seminars at the Westin Kierland. During the segment, he chats about the delicacy of cellared Champagne and how Ruinart has a style/vintage meant for any occasion, whether thats a celebratory toast or late night, but never, ever, in a mimosa. He thinks the people who drink Ruinart are quality-seekers, sure, but they don't succumb to household names, drinking only what that ad in Wine Spectator tells them to.

Besides shopping for Ruinart at BevMo!, Sportsmans, or AJs Fine Foods, subscribe to our Twitter feed @eateraz for a list of local restaurants we were surprised to hear carry this perfect Champagne. See, it's good to not know things, and then, well, know them.