I've got some news about an exciting free event happening in London! On Tuesday 25th November and Tuesday 2nd December you can go to a free champagne tasting evening - how great is that!
I went to the first of these events this week and it was such fun and really informative. Tuesday evening's event was hosted by Notes who are a speciality coffee, food and wine bar, with 3 branches in London - Moorgate (where we went), Trafalgar Square (where the event on 25th November is being held) and Covent Garden (where the 2nd December event will be). All of the wine that Notes sell is provided by Liberty Wines, so they sent James along to teach us all about Champagne Devaux, one of the champagnes stocked and sold by Notes. All 3 tastings follow the same format and offer 4 types of Champagne Devaux to try.
The evening started with a bit of history about Champagne Devaux. This champagne house was founded in 1846, some 168 years ago and run by the Devaux family who sadly lost 3 of the men running the house at an early age. In fact by the late 1987 none of the Devaux family remained to run the house and it was sold to the Union Auboise, one of the biggest vineyard holders in the region. However, Champagne Devaux remains one of the top quality champagnes available. With all this talk of champagne it was definitely time to try some, and first up was the Devaux Grand Reserve NV, a 3 year old champagne (double the minimum required age for champagne). There are 3 grapes that can be used to make champagne - Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier. Devaux only use Pinot Noir and Chardonnay for their champagnes and the Grand Reserve uses a blend of 69% PN and 31% Chardonnay. The Pinot Noir grape that Devaux grows is one of the finest in the champagne region. This produces a very gentle champagne, that's extremely drinkable! I often find bubbly can be great for a glass, but that I wouldn't want to drink more than that, whereas I could the Devaux Grand Reserve all night!! It retails at around £25 a bottle, but tastes like it's worth a lot more.
Next up was the 'D de Devaux' Le Rose NV, which was probably my favourite of the night. It was a fresh tasting, summery flavour, full of berries and would pair perfectly with a berry-laden, creamy pudding, although also very drinkable on its own. This retails at around £50 a bottle, and I think is definitely something I'll be getting to take to friends' summer parties to enjoy together. I sometimes find pink bubbly to be too sweet and sickly but this is fresh, punchy and just delicious. James told us this was due to the low added sugar content in the fermentation process. We also learnt that champagne is the only rose wine allowed to be made by using a blend of red and white grapes. Normal rose wine must be made as such by the grape skins rather than using a blend.
Our third champagne to try (and by the way, the tasters are very generous amounts!) was the 'D de Devaux' La Cuvee NV - a blend of 66% Pinot Noir and 34% Chardonnay, retailing at around £33 per bottle. This is a creamy tasting bubbly that I found to taste quite oakey as well. It would be great to serve with main courses such as chicken or fish dishes.
The final, and most expensive champagne we tasted was the 'D de Devaux' Vintage 2005, a 50/50 split of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay that tasted both fruity and nutty and had a golden colour. It left a taste of honey after drinking and was really delicious. As with all the other Devaux champagnes the Vintage has an alcohol content of 12% which seems to be about average for luxury champagnes, and allows the drink's flavour to really shine through. An interesting fact that I learnt about champagnes is that each year the champagne house holds back a proportion of its finest champagnes to add to the next year's batch to enhance the flavour of that wine.
I had such a great evening learning about the provenance and process of making champagne and being talked through the different varieties available from Devaux. If you want to go to one of the tastings - both start at 7pm and run for just over an hour - email the people at Notes to reserve your place - but be quick - I'm sure they'll be booked up really soon!
I went to the first of these events this week and it was such fun and really informative. Tuesday evening's event was hosted by Notes who are a speciality coffee, food and wine bar, with 3 branches in London - Moorgate (where we went), Trafalgar Square (where the event on 25th November is being held) and Covent Garden (where the 2nd December event will be). All of the wine that Notes sell is provided by Liberty Wines, so they sent James along to teach us all about Champagne Devaux, one of the champagnes stocked and sold by Notes. All 3 tastings follow the same format and offer 4 types of Champagne Devaux to try.
The evening started with a bit of history about Champagne Devaux. This champagne house was founded in 1846, some 168 years ago and run by the Devaux family who sadly lost 3 of the men running the house at an early age. In fact by the late 1987 none of the Devaux family remained to run the house and it was sold to the Union Auboise, one of the biggest vineyard holders in the region. However, Champagne Devaux remains one of the top quality champagnes available. With all this talk of champagne it was definitely time to try some, and first up was the Devaux Grand Reserve NV, a 3 year old champagne (double the minimum required age for champagne). There are 3 grapes that can be used to make champagne - Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier. Devaux only use Pinot Noir and Chardonnay for their champagnes and the Grand Reserve uses a blend of 69% PN and 31% Chardonnay. The Pinot Noir grape that Devaux grows is one of the finest in the champagne region. This produces a very gentle champagne, that's extremely drinkable! I often find bubbly can be great for a glass, but that I wouldn't want to drink more than that, whereas I could the Devaux Grand Reserve all night!! It retails at around £25 a bottle, but tastes like it's worth a lot more.
Next up was the 'D de Devaux' Le Rose NV, which was probably my favourite of the night. It was a fresh tasting, summery flavour, full of berries and would pair perfectly with a berry-laden, creamy pudding, although also very drinkable on its own. This retails at around £50 a bottle, and I think is definitely something I'll be getting to take to friends' summer parties to enjoy together. I sometimes find pink bubbly to be too sweet and sickly but this is fresh, punchy and just delicious. James told us this was due to the low added sugar content in the fermentation process. We also learnt that champagne is the only rose wine allowed to be made by using a blend of red and white grapes. Normal rose wine must be made as such by the grape skins rather than using a blend.
Our third champagne to try (and by the way, the tasters are very generous amounts!) was the 'D de Devaux' La Cuvee NV - a blend of 66% Pinot Noir and 34% Chardonnay, retailing at around £33 per bottle. This is a creamy tasting bubbly that I found to taste quite oakey as well. It would be great to serve with main courses such as chicken or fish dishes.
The final, and most expensive champagne we tasted was the 'D de Devaux' Vintage 2005, a 50/50 split of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay that tasted both fruity and nutty and had a golden colour. It left a taste of honey after drinking and was really delicious. As with all the other Devaux champagnes the Vintage has an alcohol content of 12% which seems to be about average for luxury champagnes, and allows the drink's flavour to really shine through. An interesting fact that I learnt about champagnes is that each year the champagne house holds back a proportion of its finest champagnes to add to the next year's batch to enhance the flavour of that wine.
I had such a great evening learning about the provenance and process of making champagne and being talked through the different varieties available from Devaux. If you want to go to one of the tastings - both start at 7pm and run for just over an hour - email the people at Notes to reserve your place - but be quick - I'm sure they'll be booked up really soon!
'Free' and 'champagne' is my favourite word pairing!
ReplyDeleteLots of love,
Angie
SilverSpoon London
Two of my favourite words too Angie - you should go if you can, really enjoyable evening :)
DeleteRosie xx
Tickets booked! Thanks for the heads up x
ReplyDeleteBrilliant! Enjoy :)
DeleteR xx
Utterly fabulous - what a brilliant time I am sure you had , only wish I could have been there too :) xx
ReplyDeleteIt was wonderful! You should go to one of the next ones, such a great evening :)
DeleteRosie xx
Love champagne tasting! Although the head the next day is interesting! Looks like a fabulous day out!
ReplyDeleteKatie <3
It was such fun, though I did that on a Tuesday, whisky tasting on the Wednesday then gin tasting on the Thursday!!! Ugh!
DeleteR xx