Putting the Fizz into Festive Networking: Champagne

Feeds (What's a feed?)
	Articles This month's events
New articles by email

You are not logged in.

Vincent Fau

Jerry Chu

twinsenwu

Karl Dominik

Search

Friends

Putting the Fizz into Festive Networking: Champagne

Champagne is the wine of celebration, launching thousands of ships, used to toast millions of weddings and special occasions and marked along some of the most luxurious products and brands in the world. There is no season for Champagne as there may be for other wines, whites in the summer and reds for a cold winter's night. A glass or two of bubbles can seal a business deal worth millions, welcome in a newborn into the world, or even respect those that have been lost but not forgotten.

But when you ask for Champagne, what is it you are getting and indeed how do you approach to use and enjoy such an esteemed drink?

Firstly, let me be the bearer of the bad news. Not all Champagne is Champagne and I don't mean another China imitation product. We use the term 'Champagne' to wrongly describe wine with bubbles in it. Every warm blooded French person cringes at this crime against one of their national treasures, up there with the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and frogs legs for lunch. So lets clarify what is and isn't the real deal, but also gain insight into the other offerings around the world that are very much as good as many top Champagnes.

Champagne

True, unequivocal Champagne can only come from the tiny area just outside Paris, called Champagne. Here, it is said hundreds of years ago the art (or more like it a result of things going wrong) of creating bubbles in still wine was developed. Over the centuries, the perfection of the types of grapes planted in this region and the process used to produce premium Champagne took hold.

So know you know what Champagne is, your probably thinking what you are holding in your hand, or being served at the Shanghai all you can drink deals.

In essence and to simplify the knowledge, the main difference between Champagne and everything else, apart from quality levels, is the name. As the world came to an agreement with France to not use their 'brand' names to describe their own wines, the rest had to call their lovely bubblies something else, and here they are briefly.

Sparkling Wine

Used mainly in the new world wine regions of Australia, New Zealand, USA and South Africa to describe their bubbly offerings.

Prosseco

Italy's mainstream equivalent and often served a little sweeter than the rest, found in many of the Shanghai bars and restaurants.

Cava

For all you Spanish lovers of salsa and samba, Cava is great with tapas.

Sekt (Sect)

Eastern Europe's idol and can cover many quality levels and styles but hardly found in China.

The good thing to know about these alternatives are that in many cases they are much more affordable than Champagne and especially with the top sparkling wines of the new world, are equal to if not better than many of their French competitors, so don't automatically equate quality to price.

Champagne comes into the pedigree status when they roll out the red carpet for the Prestige Cuvees (simply the best bubblies in the world). Think of brands like Dom Perignon, Krug, Bollinger RD, Louis Roderer Crystal, just to name a few. Here, years of heritage and history plus an uncompromising level of quality, produces Champagnes that are quite simply irresistible and respectfully out of reach for most of the working public.

Bubbly Manners and Etiquette 101

You are now armed with some knowledge of what you are about to drink. You have just parted with many hundreds of RMB to get 120 mls of liquid in a glass that looks like it should hold a flower in it, and you are socialising with colleagues or trying to impress the new boss. The pressure is on to look elegant, intelligent and competent enough to talk linguistically among guests from several different countries.

DO

Smell Champagne or other Sparklings as you would still wine
Hold the tulip glass by the stem (very elegant)
Ask for a style that you like: Brut is dry, sec or demi-sec is sweet.
Serve well chilled as the bubbles stay longer in the wine.

DON'T

Swirl the glass like you would red wine, it will go flat
POP the cork out of the bottle; release the cork out softly
Pour into the base of the glass, pour onto the sides so not to over fizz.
Call some cheap wine with bubbles in it Champagne

One last thing with Champagne and other Sparkling wine is that you do get tipsy quicker than with just normal still wine. The bubbles may look good, but they also have a tendency to take the alcohol straight to your head. So when you are at the next Xmas party and you want to retain some demeanour and poise don't, I repeat DON'T, let the bubbles do the talking with your boss. As I always say, it's better to have half as much of something that is twice as good..

Michael Lee is a wine consultant with over 10 years experience and an independent voice on wine in China. For further details on Michael's work and how he can create a memorable wine experience for you or your company, please contact him on email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Bookmark this article: