Putting Together Champagne Event - Would Appreciate Your Thoughts

WINE TALK
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Hi you beautiful people –

I sometimes host very casual (and free!!!) wine events for non-wine-geeks (partially because I don’t have the requisite knowledge to put together one for wine experts and partially because people my age – 28 – aren’t into them much) and for the upcoming event, I chose champagne.

Set-Up

  • Two 2-hour sessions, 20 ppl per sesh; starting with cremant de jura x crement de burg x prosecco to wet the palette and greet folks and get everyone settled. Then a joke about how I intend to heal the “champagne and shackles” themed frat party traumas. Then VERY cursory overview of champagne, touching on winemaking process, NM vs RM, BdB vs BdN vs blends, vintage vs NV, dosage)
  • 4 different champs, 2 of which have already been picked out (Dom P; Krug GC) because I am getting my hands on 6 bottles of each for cheap – which was the reason I chose champagne as the next event theme
  • Each table will have some chips and plant-based caviar (would prefer real caviar but I’m doing this all out-of-pocket so can’t go too ballistic)

Ideas For The Two Remaining Bottles in Line-Up

  • at first, i was thinking I can pick 2 growers to be on the line-up with the 2 big dogs i already selected, so I can tie that into my champagne overview. Seems maybe a bit obvious
  • another idea I had was to pick 1 BdB and 1 BdN since the other two in the line-up are blends. Maybe a rose (billecart le rose maybe??)
  • another idea was to have various dosage levels but can be tricky if I want to showcase higher dosage champagne (extra dry or sec maybe) because I haven’t had very much of those and these 20-something NYC girly pops ain’t gonna want to drink sweet sparkling wines
  • another idea (and I guess this kind of ties into certain elements of above) but to have brioche/toasty boys with the fresher/fruitier style
  • last idea is lame but doing by ascending price point (understanding DP and Krug gc similar pp)

Budget for the other two are between $60 and $150. Curious to hear your suggestions on what you think would be the most “fruitful” line-up that can provide non-wine-nerds a relatively comprehensive spectrum/styles of champagne.

Thanks so much in advance,
Jack

3 Likes
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I’d do a Rose because Rose is delicious and a BdB to showcase Chardonnay.

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I’ll leave the champagne to the experts but perhaps salmon roe (goes great with champagne and chips) might not be priced out of range.

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4

I co-sign this idea.

I would avoid the dosage thing because that’s really not for “non-geeks”, imo.

I’d also strongly suggest having some baguettes on hand. Yes, I know you already have chips, but those are salty and fatty. Yes, I know they pair well with Champagne, but they do mess with your palate if you have too many of them (salt; fat). Baguettes are far more neutral, and serve their intended purpose well here.

I hope you post about the event — it sounds like a lot of fun! :bottle_with_popping_cork:

P.S.: Sabering a couple of your cheaper intro bottles would be a fun way to get the party started. :grin:

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Sounds like you have strong ideas already and will be fine whichever way you go.

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6

I second sabering some Cava or something that is riddled but with different utensils…a butter knife and a spoon/fork.

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