Champagne tasting, while pleasurable, can be really hard work and quite overwhelming – especially if you do it seriously and take notes along the way. There are years and weather conditions to take into consideration. There are percentages of different grapes, the date of disgorgement, the eye, the bubbles, the nose, the mouth…..the list goes…
champagne
I sabered alone
I did it, and I didn’t even feel guilty. I felt empowered! I sabered a bottle of champagne alone. No crowd, no occasion, no fanfare and no witnesses except the slightly surprised kookaburra in the tree to my left. Sabering a bottle of champagne, like drinking one, is usually done in company. You do it with…
The Original Champagne Sisters
Champagne has a lot to thank its women for. In a field mostly dominated by men, historically a select few woman have been influencing the way champagne as we know it is enjoyed. Louise Pommery (d. 1890), Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin (d. 1866), Camille Olry-Roederer (d. 1972), and Lily Bollinger (d. 1977) have all been huge influencers in a country that didn’t even allow…
White Truffle Dreaming – the perfect Champagne Match
I am sure I was dreaming over the weekend. I have a memory of such a fantastic meal that I am not really sure if it actually happened. It was a perfect synergy of food and champagne. There was a glow in the dark label from Dom Perignon, a magnum of Laurent Perrier with a…
Tasting Notes 2 – Non Vintages
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…
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…
