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…
Tasting the Stars
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…
Collections
One of the less talked about side effects of drinking champagne is the amount of memorabilia that is accumulated. Collections of unforgettable moments that you just don’t want to throw away. There are the empty bottles, the caps, the beautiful presentation cases, even the corks. That Krug 1988 that we drank on our 10th wedding…
Visiting the Champagne Underground
Far below the astonishing beauty of the Champagne countryside lies an underground maze of equal beauty and history. There are hundreds of kilometers of the cellars running through champagne, which were originally built 30m below ground to keep the champagne at a constant temperature while it was fermenting. Ironically, the cold winter temperatures in the…