Battleground Champagne

'Battleground Champagne' Growers Vs Grandes Marques

Roberson Wine, 26th April 2012

 Grandes Marques have dominated the Champagne scene, but interestingly a quiet revolution is becoming more and more prominent - The Growers are starting to get a serious look in.
 In this blind tasting the two sides were pitted against each other to discover the true taste difference, once you have torn away the name, packaging and advertising...

Racks of wine, upstairs at Roberson

Terroir

'Grandes Marques' are prestigious wine houses such as Moet & Chandon, Bollinger & Tattinger. They don't own much in the way of their own vineyards - instead they source the grapes used in their blends from across the region.
 The house's 'chefs de caves' have the task of blending from thousands of litres of wine, separated by vintage, origin and style, to consistently produce a Champagne that is true to the house's signature taste.
 'Growers' on the other hand, own vineyards that are normally closely packed together within a certain part of the region. This enables them to produce a Champagne that has a true reflection of that particular part of the region's terrior.

Vintage

 There are other differences that dramatically affect the taste; The Grandes Marques have the capacity, in terms of both space and investment, to store vast quantities of reserve wines. This is not only invaluable in times of poor crop (2001 is widely reported as the worst vintage since 1873), but also to blend such character and complexity as has become known of the house: Krug's non-vintage is actually described as a multi-vintage as there can be up to 40% reserve wines in the blend from 20 different vintages.
 The Growers can't rely on this extensive library - so the outcome is usually a smaller percentage of reserve wines used from the last couple of vintages. The outcome is that their Brut curvee typically varies more with vintages than the Grand Marques.

Flight One

 The tasting consisted of 3 different flights. Prior to taking each flight we were informed of the Champagnes and a little bit of knowledge of the houses that were within the flight.
After tasting, an open forum was held to discuss the notes on each Champagne and informed guesses were proposed as to which Champagne was which.
 Tasting Champagne in such a way really encouraged you to look at the colour, smell the aroma and question the taste.
 Each flight had clear favorites and it was easy picking out my personal bests from each flight.

The end of the tastings

 The grand reveal!

 Flight One - #2 was a clear winner for me - This was revealed to be 'Tattinger Brut Reserve'
 Tattinger therefore won over 'Laurent Perrier Brut', the grower 'Agrapart Les 7 Crus' and the ringer - a sparkling wine.
 Flight Two - #6 was delicious - a slightly pinky colour and great taste - revealed as 'Bereche & Fils Brut Reserve' - in my opinion this easily beat 'Chartogne-Taillet Sainte-Anne' and 'Moet & Chandon Brut Imperial'
 Flight Three - #8 was my choice - revealed as 'Veuve Cliquot Yellow Label' - placing just above #9 'Dosnon & Lepage Recolte Noire' and then 'Bollinger Special Cuvee' and 'Egly Ouriet Grand Cru'

 At the end, we were asked to reveal our top 4 Champagnes from all 3 flights - the scores were duly combined to reveal the night's winner:
 It was a unanimous winner : 'Bereche & Fils Brut Reserve' - a Growers Champagne!

 Top 2 Grand Marques: #1 = Veuve Cliquot Yellow Label, #2 = Tattinger Brut Reseve
 Top 2 Growers: #1 = Bereche & Fils Brut Reserve, #2 = Dosnon & Lepage Recolte Noire

All sizes of Champagne upstairs at Roberson

 On a sidenote- the only Champagne in the entire evening to get no votes was #7 - which turned out to be 'Moet & Chandon Brut Reserve'.
 I find this fascinating, as when one thinks of Champagne it's normally Moet.
 But, tear away all those glamorous ad campaigns, the Vogue editorials, the sponsorships, and the pure brand power behind the house - it turned out to be the least like Champagne of the evening.
Just goes to show; don't be blinded by the label, try something new - you'll probably love it!

Roberson Wine
348 Kensington High Street
London
W14 8NS
http://www.robersonwine.com
phone: 02073712121 
 
 

An evening of Burlesque at 'The Beaufort Bar'

Cocktails & Cabaret at The Savoy hotel, London

Sunday 22nd April 2012

 Hosted by 'The Beaufort Bar' resident chanteuse, Holly Penfield and very special guest Dusty Limits, The Savoy hotel successfully resurrected the golden era of cocktails and cabaret circa 1929.

 Set in the unashamedly, decadently deco surroundings of 'The Beaufort Bar'; an interior that is all about jet black and burnished gold.

 The center piece is an extravagantly stocked framed bar which stands on the hotel's former cabaret stage (The bar offers one of London's most extensive choices of champagne by the glass). 

 This now makes for an intimate performance stage for cabaret's latest reincarnation. It's fitting that this space was once graced by luminaries such as Carroll Gibbons, the Savoy Orpheans and George Gershwin.

Your hosts: Holly Penfield & Dusty Limits

 Holly Penfield and Dusty Limits introduced burlesque stars Miss Polly Rae, and Kitty Bang Bang for some glamorous entertainment...

Burlesque star: Miss Polly Rae

  Suitably glammed up, It felt very decedent to be sat on a Sunday night in this prestigious bar that is steeped in cabaret history. At first it felt almost naughty that such an event was happening, and the audience was clearly a touch nervous to start out – but Holly and Dusty had a way that relaxed people and encouraged them to soak up the atmosphere and get involved (and to buy more expensive cocktails)

  

 The burlesque was interspersed by unusual cabaret acts; a abstract piece involving ‘The Blue Lady’ performing a mega-mix of all songs containing the word ‘blue’ - which just cannot be explained, but was a fantastic piece. Circus acrobalancer Stephen Williams put on an astonishing display of balancing, and was pure muscle – some of the moves he made were simply unbelievable.  

Circus acrobalancer: Stephen Williams

 To be in the same space where all the greats have performed, to hear the historical anecdotes from Holly Penfield, and to sip on the specially created cocktails from this amazing bar was simply divine.  

 We were all on a high as we left The Savoy:

 "An amazing evening, please keep the Burlesque Cabaret at The Savoy. It was mind-blowing and very special, felt truly honored to experience such a magical evening."

Future dates are set for May 20th and July 1st. 

Savoy Cabaret: http://www.savoycabaret.com

phone: 02074202111

Holly Penfield: http://www.hollypenfield.com/

The Savoy Hotel: http://www.fairmont.com/savoy

Instagram

Instagram : @mrpaulcharles

Discovering new sights in my neighborhood on Instagram  

A clean out, discovery and re-work

Re-visiting the wardrobe

 Back in the day, I used to make T-shirts for Chris and I to wear out each week. During a wardrobe spring clean I discovered one I made to wear to Madonna's Re-Invention tour back in August 2004.  Chris had a 'Madonna does it better' T, after Madonna's infamous 'Italian's do it better' T.  I remember Will Young approached Chris at the show to say how much he liked it.
 Mine was based around a Madonna dollar bill-:

My Madonna dollar T

It's a bit worn now (it's almost 8 years old) - but I was impressed (!) by how much detail I'd put into it. I've got a $1 dollar bill in my Filofax, and comparing the two - I got a lot of the original detail in.

One Madonna dollar

 So, on a slightly different vein, and to 're-visit an old skill and utilize on it' - I decided to use this idea as a basis for a gift voucher for a friend.
 It's for a Champagne tasting at a local wine merchant, which hopefully is going to be a great night. Not as much detail in this one, and a bit more sketchy - but I think the overall effect is good. And quite pleased I was a bit old school and just used pen and paper, rather than Adobe Illustrator for this.

Champagne tasting invite

So hopefully I'll write about the event later on in the month - It looks great and is part of my 'bringing a bit of SA home with me', and also re-discovering and utilizing my local area...

First post nerves

First post block - equivalent to that first sketchbook page...