I was pretty excited to be invited back to talk on Bubbly Talk Radio again about grower-producer champagnes on The Flute Enthusiast. Since we are hoping to make this a regular show I decided we should start from the very beginning and compare three non-vintage champagnes from 3 different producers. The interesting thing about non-vintages from grower-producers…
Tasting the Stars
Champagne 101
It has recently been bought to my attention that some people, who would really like to know more about champagne, are too afraid to ask about the basics. So while I know a lot of people who read this blog already have some knowledge about champagne, this post is for those real debutantes. So they…
The Art of Sabrage
If you believe the folklore, we have the Napoleonic soldiers to thank for the Art of Sabrage. During the Napoleonic wars in the early 1800s, legend has it that as the troops moved through France on their way to Russia, the Veuve (widow) Clicquot opened up her house for the soldiers to rest. She is…
Every cloud has a bubbly lining
The weather was against us on our most recent trip back from France. Or so it seemed. Delay after delay meant our initial 22 hour trip home turned into a 43 hour marathon. Luckily for us, the lovely people at Emirates Airlines in Paris let us go into the business class lounge – with 3…
The Importance of Being Bubbly
Champagne without the bubbles would just be another wine. There are more than two million bubbles in a flute of champagne, and the composition and quality of these bubbles can make or break the tasting experience. Not only that, but the style of glass can also affect the quality of the bubbles. But let’s start…
You can’t put a price on memories
“I drink it when I’m happy and when I’m sad. Sometimes, I drink it when I’m alone. When I have company I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I’m not hungry and drink it if I am; Otherwise I never touch it – unless I’m thirsty.” Madame Bollinger, one of the “grande dames” of French…
From small producers big drinks come
What is it about the small producers? I am often asked how I came about developing such an interest in them. In fact, when I first started discovering the Champagne region, we would always stay with friends from Epernay. It seems that every family from the region has their favourite ‘big’ house they keep a…
Keeping Mumm
On my first Christmas with my new French family, we were living in Japan, in a small village on the Chiba peninsular about 80km, and a thousand years away from Tokyo. My parents-in-law were coming to visit our dolls house apartment to take the opportunity to see a part of Japan that not many tourists…
