International Women’s Day is the perfect day for highlighting women’s achievements in Champagne! I have often written about the great, strong female innovators who have shaped the champagne industry in the past. People such as Barbe-Nicole Clicquot-Ponsardin (Veuve Clicquot), Madame Louise Pommery and Madame Lili Bollinger to name a few. These were all women who stepped…
Tasting the Stars
Champagne Foraging – it’s a thing!
Champagne foraging is my new favourite pastime! I wish I had more time for it in my day to day life, but I am on holidays now, in France, and my time is my own. Foraging champagne I will go! So what is champagne foraging? I kind of don’t really want to say too much,…
When the Chefs de Cave came to town
Last week, when two Chefs de Cave came to town, I was in my own little piece of heaven. So what is so special about the Chefs de Cave? In Champagne, the Chefs de Cave are the alchemists. They are the ones responsible for looking after what will become the beautiful nectar in our glass from…
Reflecting on Women in Wine
This year on the occasion of International Women’s day on 8 March, I was lucky enough to be hosting an event to celebrate Women in Wine in Australia with The Fabulous Ladies’ Wine Society and The Truffle Man. The event was held at Brisbane’s iconic Restaurant Two and featured wines made by five leading female…
Why there are no bubbles in the 2015 vintage
There are no bubbles in the 2015 vintage of champagne! That’s right. No. Bubbles. Have I got your attention yet? You can breathe again, it’s all ok and perfectly normal – the still wine just hasn’t gone through the secondary fermentation that turns it into champagne! It’s actually action central in champagne at the moment…
How to pick a rosé for your Valentine
What is the perfect rosé to chose for Valentine’s Day? In fact why should you choose rosé at all for Valentine’s Day? It’s a personal choice, really, and there is no easy answer. But, in general, girls LOVE pink bubbles. It’s also a bit rarer, and slightly more expensive than ‘ordinary’ champagne. And if…
Just add bubbles – how not to make champagne!
Those who know me will know that I have a wicked sense of humour and love a laugh. Which is why those near and dear are always sharing anything funny that does the rounds of Facebook that involves champagne or bubbles. And I love that they do! But the video that has been doing the rounds again…
Champagne & Coq au Vin on Australia Day – how close we came!
Australia Day was very nearly all about Champagne and Coq au Vin! Really! If French explorer Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse had left a little earlier and not been held up by a gale when trying to enter Botany Bay on 24 January 1788, our flag could have looked very different! As would our national drink….
