This week we toast it up and chat with the amazing Melissa Neptune of Josephine's Creme and the amazing Marvina Robinson of Stuyvesant Champagne.
My grandmother started making this Creme in her small Louisiana kitchen and began gifting it to the women in her family. I distinctly remember the day this family tradition was passed down to me. During a visit home from attending college in New Orleans, she called out to me, “MELISSA! Get in this kitchen and learn how to make this creme!” I guess she got tired of me always running out AND running to her for more! It never crossed my mind that our family tradition could become an entrepreneurial venture. I began making some of the Creme and gifting it to my friends. My friends loved it. They told others… and they loved it, too. And now Josephine's Creme has grown into a full line of skincare "secrets" that we know you will grow to love!
Growing up, M. Robinson’s love affair with champagne began quite humbly as a college student. She and her friends would often pool their limited funds to purchase a bottle of Moet & Chandon, White Star. They frequented a liquor store on Fulton Street and St. James Place within the neighborhood she was raised. They would do the traditional toast, cheers, and proudly sip out of their plastic cups. Although this Bottle of Nostalgia was discontinued, it stoked a love for champagne in Marvina’s heart that would burn brightly until this day.
M. Robinson desired her own brand of champagne to serve as the private house label for her upcoming champagne bar. In order to achieve that goal, she worked with a vineyard in France to create Stuyvesant Champagne. The first tasting of Stuyvesant Champagne was hosted by Suite 607 located in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. This was the first official tasting in the United States with invited guests. After receiving great feedback from the carefully selected attendees, she was able to confirm the two selections that would become the primary offering of Stuyvesant Champagne; a Rose and a Grand Reserve Brut.
One of M. Robinson's fondest memories of champagne occurred in January of 2019 when she visited the famous Les Deux Magots in Paris, France. She sat outside in the cold, under a heated lamp, chatted with a fellow patron, and sipped champagne as they did in the movies.
M. Robinson has a zest for life and travels and hopes to bring a taste of home, spice, and culture to the Champagne community. She is one of the few African American women owning a Champagne brand. Her love for her hometown, Bedford-Stuyvesant (Brooklyn, NY), inspired the name of her brand, Stuyvesant Champagne.
She invites you to raise a glass and toast to the freshness of family and beginnings of a strong and fruitful relationship.
Composition: Traditional blend of the 3 Champagne grape varieties from several harvests.
Made up of approximately 60% Pinot Noir, 20% Pinot Meunier and 20% Chardonnay for the white wine. A Pinot Meunier-based red wine is added.
Bottles: 750 ml
To the Eye: The salmon-colored rose enhances the sparkling foam.
Nose: The generous bouquet evolves towards notes of raspberry and redcurrant.
Mouth: The mouth develops into a taste of fleshy cherry.
