COMITÉ CHAMPAGNE CANCELS LONDON TASTING

5f91de7d-0df7-4c5c-b594-5b1d64f773fe_three_eightyThe Comité Champagne announced this past week that it won’t be holding its Annual Champagne Tasting in London 2017 after over 20 years staging the event.

Françoise Peretti, who heads up the Champagne Bureau in London, wrote, “The Comité Champagne has been reviewing the annual tastings around the world and it was decided to pause the activity in the UK for the time being.”

“The event, which has been running since 1994, has been very successful, but we feel it is time to review it. Should the Comité Champagne decide to maintain the event, it is unlikely that it would take place before 2018.”

She told Drinks Business that the decision to end the Annual Champagne Tasting was “not a question of slashed budgets; not a question of the UK becoming less important, and not a question of Brexit,” but a result of “a change” in the way the Comité was approaching the marketing of Champagne after more than 20 years hosting the event in London.

Adding “After 20 years, it is time to explore other opportunities.”… “We feel that it is time to look at how we can reinvent the tasting… why do the same thing over and over again?”

While she said that it was “most unlikely” there would be a tasting next year, she said, “be assured, there will be activities”.

Looking ahead, she said that the Champagne Bureau would be spending the second half of this year “canvassing agents, the media, the trade and educators” before deciding how best to promote Champagne in the UK.

Concluding, she said, “I like to see it evolving and everything is possible, we are looking at a big event, or other smaller events, and something digital.”

Nevertheless, she stressed, whatever the approach, “education is number one on the Comité Champagne list”.

The Comité Champagne, formerly known as the CIVC (which stands for Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne), is a trade association representing Champagne’s producers and houses. It is tasked with promoting the region’s wines through R&D, as well as marketing and protecting the Champagne appellation.

The generic body was established in 1941 and has held a tasting in London since 1994, which, for the past two years, was held at One Great George Street.

SOURCES:

Champagne Bureau UK

Drinks Business UK

KRUG RELEASES 2002 VINTAGE IN LONDON, UK

Champagne house Krug launched its 2002 vintage in London, UK this week, with cellar master Eric Lebel dubbing it “a purebred stallion” that needed to be reined in due to its “assertive” and “muscular” nature.

Lebel revealed that the wines produced in 2002 had a clear identity from the outset. “From the very first tastings, we saw nature’s generosity in every parcel. The wines announced themselves as round, rich, robust, dominated by fruit and particularly aromatic. As they have continued to develop, we have seen in this blend a remarkable finesse and finish too. It is almost as if each of the 2002 wines that we have chosen to compose Krug 2002 could be their own assemblage.”

Crafted from 40% Pinot Noir, 39% Chardonnay and and, as always in Krug cuvées, there is a high percentage of Pinot Meunier – 21 %; Olivier Krug was equally enthusiastic about the fizz, calling it “an ode to nature” due to its “abundance of pure fruit” and “audacious elegance”.

Cellar master Eric Lebel describes “when making the blend, each individual wine seemed as if it was a blend as the vins clairs were so generous and expressive – the wines had everything, from exotic fruit and citrus fruit to candied fruit, liquorice and honey – everything was in abundance.

Krug 2002 be released on February 1 and each bottle will bear a six-digit code on the back label. This number can be used to find out details on the harvest, Lebel’s tasting notes, food pairing ideas, and recommendations for optimum storage and serving. The price is yet to be revealed.

Riedel Launches New Champagne Stemware from the Superleggero and Veritas Collections

4425-28 gefÅllt auf schwarzEarlier this year Maximilian Riedel launched the Sommeliers Superleggero series — he says: “Drawing on 60 years of wine experience and expertise, the new Sommeliers Superleggero Series is designed to carry the charm of a handmade glass with added superior lightness.” The hand blown Superlegerro Champagne stemware retails for £270/pair.

Riedel also launched this year, from the Veritas range, machine blown Champagne stemware that retails for £55/pair.

I met up with Matt Knight, Business Manager of Riedel UK, at The Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux, at the Royal Opera House, London yesterday and he was very happy to show me the new champagne stemware. Both have the same bowl shape and size, are lead-free and the stems have been lengthened creating a more slimmer and elegant steamware.

My preference is the Superlegerro – the stem was a bit longer giving it a bit more elegant feel.

Dishwasher Safe: Yes
Height: 260mm

Liz Palmer

ARMAND DE BRIGNAC’S BLANC DE NOIRS LAUNCHES AT HARRODS

ArmandDeBrignac_BlancDeNoirs_LPThis week Armand de Brignac launches a new cuvée — Blanc de Noir Ace of Spades made of 100% Pinot Poir at Harrods, London.

Blanc de Noir Ace of Spades sells for the hefty sum of £695 per bottle and is presented in a dramatic gunmetal bottle.

There is a limited production of 3,000 bottles with 240 being allocated exclusively to Harrods.

“A marvellous strength of the Blanc de Noirs is its versatility; it can truly be enjoyed on its own, but it will also be the perfect wine for an entire meal. This is a very sophisticated wine for the pleasure of a lucky few,” comments Gerald Loparco, a representative for Armand de Brignac. “Harrods has a global reach and an unmatched reputation for excellence, so we thought that our common philosophies and traditional approach with a modern twist was the perfect match for this worldwide exclusive launch,” Gerald adds.

Liz Palmer

Tanguy Martin of Hotel TerraVina has been named Moët UK Sommelier for 2015


Martin’s victory came after a tough final at the Savoy hotel in London today, where he competed against Romain Bardary of the Vineyard at Stockcross, and Arnaud Bardary from Maze in London.

Bardary was placed second, while Bourger was third in the competition, organized by the Academy of Food and Wine Service (AFWS) and The Caterer, and sponsored by Moët & Chandon Champagne.

It was Martin’s third time in the competition, having placed third last year. Commenting on his win, Martin said: “It is incredible. It is the third time I have been in the competition and I have worked hard for this. The standard was incredibly high so I am delighted to have won.”

All three finalists were submitted to a grueling three-hour competition in front of an audience made up of judges, former winners, their peers from the industry, sponsors and journalists.

As part of the competition they were required to: inspect a wine list and identify a number of errors (that were not to do with spelling or pricing); undergo a blind taste test of two wines, one red and one white, as well as describing and identifying them; identify four spirits served in black glasses; serve three tables of former winners in a restaurant role play situation; and finally to pour a magnum of Moët & Chandon Rose Imperial Champagne into 16 glasses.

Each of the finalists showed different strengths but the judges, including Eric Zwiebel from Summer Lodge and Roger Jones from the Harrow at Little Bedwyn, chose Martin as the overall winner.

Among Martin’s prizes for winning the competition was an engraved jeroboam of Moët & Chandon Champagne, and a ‘money can’t buy’ mentoring programme. The AFWS and The Caterer will facilitate a series of educational sessions featuring the UK’s top sommeliers.

The day’s competition started with the 12 semi-finalists of the 2015 competition being whittled down to six finalists, before the final three were selected to compete in the grand final in front of an audience.

The 12 semi-finalists were:

Arnaud Bardary, Maze by Gordon Ramsay, London

Ladislav Basta, the Kitchin, Edinburgh

Romain Bourger, the Vineyard at Stockcross – Wales & South West Sommelier of the Year

Tobias Brauweiler, Hakkasan – London Sommelier of The Year

Mathias Camilleri, Medlar, London – winner of the Chaîne des Rôtisseurs Young Sommelier competition

Zigmars Grinbergs, Hotel du Vin Brighton – South East of England Sommelier of the Year

David Kubler, the Montagu Arms Hotel, Beaulieu, Hampshire – 2015 regional runner-up

Olivier Marie, Coq d’Argent, London

Tanguy Martin, Hotel TerraVina – 2014 Moët UK Sommelier of the Year runner-up

Laurent Richet, Restaurant Sat Bains – North of England Sommelier of the Year

Stuart Skea, Champany Inn, Linlithgow, West Lothian – Scottish Sommelier of the Year

Niels Sluiman, Restaurant Sat Bains, Nottingham

Now in their 36th year, the awards are run by the AFWS and The Caterer, and are internationally recognised by the Association de la Sommellerie Internationale (ASI). They seek to find the best wine waiter or sommelier based on wine and spirits knowledge and front of house beverage skills.

 

Source: The Caterer