Champagne – grand houses and great little growers
In 2013 I was fortunate enough to win the Champagne scholarship as part of my WSET Diploma studies. These pages are mainly based on the resulting visit in March 2013. This was a real education (a very pleasurable one) in itself, a crash course in the remarkable diversity of Champagne styles in this the most technical of wines.
Champagne scholarship 2013 – how an Italian sparkling wine led to a trip to Champagne- Avenue de Champagne, Épernay – the Champagne lover’s street of dreams!
- Effervescence – the visual excitement of Champagne in the glass
- Options in Champagne – the growers’ wines of Laherte and Bérêche
- Alfred Gratien – traditionalist on the move
- Blending at Beaumont des Crayères – what a small, special cooperative can achieve
- Ruinart – the art of good company – a grand house with remarkable cellars
- Bollinger – quality in the long term – the factors which lead to consistently great wines
- Aesthetic delights at the Restaurant Foch, Reims/a> – gastronomy that looks as good as it tastes
- Deconstructing sparkling wine – a master class on sparklng wine styles with Martin Hudson MW
- Ayala and Bollinger for starters – preparing for the trip to Champagne
- Top glasses – a brief stop-over at André Jacquart, Vertus
Click here to return to French regions home page
March/April 2013
