I can guarantee that every time I do a champagne event one of the first questions that comes up is about the price of each of the champagnes we taste.
Fair enough, if you’re thinking of buying wine or anything else the price is an important piece of information, but I avoid giving out the prices until the very end of the tastings so as to allow everyone the chance to judge the champagnes purely on whether they like them or not. As I always say “ just about the only thing that the price tag tells you is the marketing policy”
In most cases the price is not just irrelevant, but downright misleading....
Continue reading "We are ALL wine experts" »
If you're having a party and want to serve champagne ( and what party is complete without champagne ? ) then my advice is that you should always choose to buy magnums rather than bottles. There are several reasons for this so let's look at them one by one....
Continue reading "Magnums of champagne - better than bottles" »
If you have ever dreamed of living the champagne life style, this is your chance. We are selling our house in Champagne and though we'll have a few regrets, it will make a fantastic family home for the new owners.
Read on for more details
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The great and the good of the champagne industry are treading something of a fine line at the moment.
It's just been announced by INAO - the National Institute of Appellations d'Origine- that 40 more villages have been aproved for the production of champagne. ( there are some 320 at present ). These are villages that until now have been outside the permitted area which has been fiercely protected in order, so the argument goes, to ensure that the quality of champagne is maintained. So how come the powers that be have changed their mind now?
Continue reading "More champagne on the way - but not just yet" »
The CIVC ( The governing body of champagne ) recently announced that sales had increased by 7.3% last year whilst only a year ago the chairman of the CIVC said that he hoped the increase could be held at 1-2% only – unusual isn’t it ? an industry that actually wants to keep sales growth down !
If the objective was to keep the cork in the bottle as far as sales were concerned, then clearly the cork popped out and you don’t have to look far to find out why.
Continue reading "Sales of champagne still bubbly" »