Champagne school

After the excesses of Hayman Island I decided it was time for a health kick on Monday.

I vowed to drink less alcohol, buy lots of fruit and veggies, go to a Pump class on Monday night …

Then I checked my diary and remembered I was enrolled in Champagne school at 6pm.

Ah well, maybe the health kick can start next week …

I hopped on a bus after work and headed to the most amazing hotel in the city called the Capella Sydney to attend my first-ever Champagne Bureau Australia masterclass.

I walked into a room that looked a bit like a luxurious school classroom. There were rows of tables and chairs, with name tags and lists with pens, bowls of bread and lots of Champagne glasses.

I looked at the list and my eyes went very wide. There were 14 Champagnes on it!

This was the “Champagne Menu” …

Bracket 1
Louis Roederer Brut Nature 2015 [Philippe Starck]
Bourgeouis Diaz B’DM Brut Nature
Gosset Extra Brut

Bracket 2
Palmer and Co. Blanc de Blancs
Ayala Le Blanc de Blancs 2016
Jacques Lassaigne Millésime Brut Nature Blanc de Blancs 2014

Bracket 3
Jean-Noël Hatton Extra Intense Brut
Henriot Millésime 2012
Charles Heidsieck 2013

Bracket 4
Marc Hebrart ‘Noces de Craie’ Grand Cru Blanc de Noirs 2018
Lallier Blanc de Noirs
Bollinger PN AYC 18

Champagne Rosé with canapés & mingle
Abelé 1757 Brut Rosé
Salmon Rosé

It’s a hard life being a booze writer.

I was seated next to the most lovely woman, who is married to the winemaker at Thomas Wines in the Hunter Valley. We had an animated chitter chat and followed each other on Instagram, which is the modern business card in my world.

I would have been in quite the state if I had drunk every half glass that was poured for each bracket in the tasting. I showed restraint and just had little sips of each one, drank lots of water and nibbled on bread between sips.

I have to admit that before I attended Champagne school I did not know my Blanc de Blanc from my Blanc de Noir, or my Demi Sec from my Brut, but I have been educated now.

And I have discovered that I am a fan of Blanc de Noir, which is made from pinot noir grapes. I had no idea Champagne was made from red grapes. The Blanc de Noir Champagnes were very fruit-forward and well rounded. Nom, nom.

I found the Blanc de Blanc Champagnes, which the experts loved, to be too yeasty for my palate.

I also quite fancied the no or low-dosage Champagne. ‘Dosage’ is a technical term for the final touch a winemaker will have on any Champagne cuvee. It takes place after the disgorgement, where the dead yeast cells are expelled from the bottle. A liqueur de dosage – usually a mix of wine and sugar – is normally added at that point, but in the case of zero dosage only still wine is used to top up the bottle.

Historically Champagne was very sweet. Russians in particular liked their wine to be super sugary in the 19th century – it was about six times as sweet as the sweetest “Demi Sec” Champagne on the market today.

These days hardly any sweet Champagne is exported to Australia, with our taste swinging towards dry Brut styles.

Low or no dosage exports to Australia also doubled between 2021 and 2022.

As Champagne Bureau Australia Director John Noble said: “Our expert presenters used words like ‘austere’ and ‘restrained’ [to describe the low-dosage Champagnes] but I think once this style of Champagne is paired with food, it really starts to open up and get exciting. In Australia our dining styles are so varied – and I think that these lower dosage cuvees suit both our Aussie casual style of dining and the food we eat.”

I enjoyed how crisp and clean tasting they were.

Read more about low-dosage Champagne in a story I wrote for Drinks Digest here.

After the official proceedings we moved to another room to mingle and sip pink Champagne, which I also loved!

Most of the Champagne students were there for the long haul, but I caught up with a few former colleagues then decided to be sensible and catch the bus home.

I’m still laughing about my last conversation of the night with a woman who was exhorting that it was wonderful that she and I had both decided to “embrace our wrinkles”.

I am not entirely sure that is a view you should pronounce on behalf of others ..: it’s a bit like loudly presuming we have both decided to “embrace our spare tyres”.

But hey, go her for calling a spade a spade.

Maybe next week’s health kick will make me look less elderly ..:

Song of the day: Oasis “Champagne Supernova”