champagne and wine tasting events
Your own champagne and wine event, for corporate hospitality and entertainment
Are you looking for corporate or private entertainment tailored to your requirements? Do you want to exceed your guests' expectations? We, at Revelstoke, can create a wine event for you that your guests will remember and thank you for.
The champagne and wine tastings are unforgettable events and a unique opportunity to try the broad spectrum of champagnes and wines in one sitting. We cover all the major styles, and we guarantee your guests will leave feeling very happy indeed...
We aim to give you a better understanding and knowledge of champagnes and wines. Therefore, the event always starts with a fun, engaging, and focused animated tutorial that provides guests with a crash course introduction to the wines of a celebrated region. Guests then taste their wines as they are taken on an enchanting virtual journey through vineyards and cellars. Production methods, ageing potential, food matching, value for money and other important issues are covered.
1. A Champagne Tasting
Cécile Bergart, founder of Champagne par Excellence, has always believed in trying new and even unheard-of labels, and she thus tries to share her passion for quality by educating and challenging preconceptions about champagne.
She was trained by Mr Dominique Pierrel himself, Champagne Producer from Epernay, to organise informal Champagne tastings and tutorials about Champagne in general, and about unique Champagnes from small growers in particular.
As her portfolio of Champagnes from small producers increased, so did her knowledge of exceptional champagnes. Fully trained in-house at the Bernard Brémont, Péhu-Simonet and J.Charpentier Houses, Cécile Bergart (see photo below) is dedicated to wine-making, but her personality and sense of humour make her tutorials rich in anecdotes and truly entertaining to all, whether you are a novice or a connoisseur. She now organises champagne and wine tasting events for those interested in knowing a little bit more about champagne and wines, their origins, making, blends and styles, but most importantly how to enjoy them at their best!
2. A Champagne themed dinner
We, at Revelstoke, thought carefully about possible menus and food combination with Champagne. Taking both Dominique Pierrel's (Champagne producer) and Fiona Beckett's (food and wine writer) advice, we first identified award-winning Champagnes' qualities in order to extract what particular flavour and aroma we wished to enhance. We then selected individual ingredients and flavours in dishes which would accompany and match the flavours and aromas of the Champagne wines to the best possible effect.
We hope that these ideas appeal to your tastebuds!
As a general note we should say that, flavour-wise, there are striking affinities between Champagne and certain types of food. The fabulous marriage of textures between light bubbles and delicate eggs is one to recommend. The same logic applies to foods such as feather-light soufflés, airy meringues or fragile, wobbly jellies (especially when married with a Champagne with SPIRIT).
Champagne is also the perfect match for lightly cooked or steamed food or raw food like salads or sushi, because it does not overwhelm the food like some wines can.
Bubbles can also act as a palate cleanser, livening up the smooth unctuous texture of creamy sauces or providing a refreshing contrast to deep-fried foods or crispy canapés.
For best possible results, you should start a Champagne evening with a Champagne with SPIRIT as an apéritif (a 100% Chardonnay - Blanc de Blancs), then enjoy another Champagne with SPIRIT with a starter (but this time, 60% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot Noir), then a Champagne with BODY (50% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot Meunier, 10% Pinot Noir) with a first course (fish), then a Champagne with HEART (60% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot Noir) for the second course (lamb), then a Champagne with HEART (90% Chardonnay, 10% Pinot Noir) for a fresh dessert. Then a Champagne with SOUL to finish it off (all on its own - a vintage 1996, for example).
3. The Wine Tasting
a. The Chardonnay Experience
We aim to give you a better understanding and knowledge of the "King of White Grapes", the Chardonnay grape, as well as develop your skills as a wine taster.
Chardonnay was once unrivalled as the source of the finest white wine on earth, but how the world has changed! Women now have the right to vote, the old school tie just won't open the same doors and those Chileans make some damn fine Chardonnay whites for under a fiver. Does Chardonnay still deserve its place at the top of the wine world? Perhaps? Maybe? Definitely! Come and be the judge for yourselves as we lead you on a world journey through Chardonnay's finest appellations.
History, viticulture, vinification, ageing potential, vintages, wine investment, food matching and other important issues will be covered. Wines, Sparkling Wines and Champagnes, all made with 100% Chardonnay grapes. Oaked and unoaked varieties.
b. The Old World - France
This tasting is aimed at anyone who would like to get to know and appreciate the classic wines from France. Do you find it difficult to make sense out of French wine labels?
Compared to the straight-talking New World, the Old can sometimes seem shrouded in myth, tradition and mystery. Not know the difference between Bordeaux and Burgundy? Don't like Chardonnay but like Chablis. Baffled by terroir, millésimes and appellations? Our Old World Workshop will guide you through the classic wines of France, in plain English.
History, famous regions, rising stars, grapes and other important issues will be covered. Our plain-speaking tutor will help dispel the mystery that often enshrouds the great regions of France they will also pass on insider tips to help you avoid expensive mistakes and point you in the direction of the Old world regions that can still offer amazing value for money. We will teach you how to become an Old World buff without becoming a wine bore!
c. The New World
The New World has come along way since the likes of Jacobs Creek burst onto the scene, revolutionising our drinking habits. New World wines have shifted from a mere curiosity twenty years ago, to take centre stage on the UK marketplace.
As wine from the New World has grown in quality and sophistication, so too has the need to understand more than just the name of the country and variety. Our New World tasting will use benchmark wines to guide you through the new classic wine regions emerging from the New World without a Blossom, Creek or Bin in sight, from the wine regions of Argentina, Australia, Chile, New Zealand, South Africa and the USA, as well as develop your skills as a wine taster.
Winemaking, climate, ageing potential, food matching and other important issues will be covered. Our tutors will help you discover the new classics of the New World and will also pass on insider information about the rising stars of this exciting, ever-changing landscape - be ahead of the game.
4. A Wine Themed Dinner
If you like the finer things in life, you will love our Wine and Food Matching dinner. No prior knowledge is required, but a sense for adventure and a voracious appetite are an advantage.
We will breakdown the intricacies of wine into memorable, bite sized chunks, explained in plain English. We will take you on a whistle-stop tour of some of the world's most famous vineyards matched to the regional cuisine - you will be in foodie heaven!
We will discuss the fundamentals of food and wine matching in depth and show that although there are some matches made in heaven (such as Sauternes with foie gras), probably the best matches of all are local foods with local wines. We will guide you through the complexities of the appellations and will point you in the direction of good affordable wines to drink and finer wines to lay-down as an investment. During the tasting, we will pass on insider tips to help you navigate the pitfalls of buying wine in shops and restaurants - and of course how to handle those snooty sommeliers!
The following subjects will be covered during the course of the day on a country and regional basis.
- Overview and history of food and wine culture
- Key grape varieties
- Geography, climate and regions
- Viticulture and winemaking practices
- Wine classification system
- Wine and food matching
- A world wine and food tour
- The future for wine
Ideal to break the ice and entertain guests or clients. The perfect start to a networking event!
References from The Dorchester, Claridge's, The Berkeley, Allen & Overy, Microsoft, etc., are available upon request.
To arrange your own personal event, call us on 020 8545 0077 and we can help you come up with the perfect event.