24 Aug 10
The premier Champagne tastings of the year in the USA will take place in New York at the end of August and in San Francisco at the end of September.
The Institute of Masters of Wine Annual Champagne Tastings provide an unrivalled opportunity to survey the full range of wines on the market today, from the most well-known producers through to exciting niche growers and will include many rare and difficult to find bottlings.
The tasting will feature every category of Champagne on the market, including non-vintage, vintage, rosé, blanc de blancs, prestige cuvées, and sweeter styles. Producers featured in the 2010 tastings will include L. Aubry, Ayala, Henri Billiot, Bollinger, Chartogne-Taillet, Guy de Chassy, Etienne Cherre, Gaston Chiquet, Veuve Clicquot, Delamotte, Demière-Ansiot, José Dhont, Hervé Dubois, Charles Ellner, René Geoffroy, Pierre Gimonnet, Bernard Girardin, Henri Goutorbe, Alfred Gratien, Marc Hébrart, Charles Heidsieck, Piper-Heidsieck, Henriot, Krug, Laherte Frères, Jean Lallement et Fils, Lallier, Lanson, A. Margaine, Jean Milan, Moët et Chandon, G.H. Mumm, Bruno Paillard, Pehu-Simonet, Dom Perignon, Perrier-Jouët, Pierre Peters, Louis Roederer, Pol Roger, Ruinart, Taittinger, Varnier-Fannière, Vazart-Coquart, and Vilmart & Cie.
The tastings attract Masters of Wine, Master Sommeliers, students of wine, key wine buyers in the retail and restaurant trade, journalists and private individuals with a serious interest in the wines of Champagne.
The New York tasting will be held at Christie’s Rockefeller Center premises on August 30, 2010. Tickets, priced at $50 each, will be valid for either one of two tasting slots: from 12:00 pm until 2:00 pm and from 2:30 pm until 4:30 pm.
The San Francisco tasting will be held on September 27, 2010, at the Ferry Plaza Building and will comprise a single tasting session from 5.00pm to 8.00pm. Tickets cost $50 each.
Tickets for both the New York and San Francisco tastings are available to book via the www.localwineevents.com website. In order to avoid the overcrowding typical of some trade tastings, ticket numbers are capped at both locations and places are sold on a first come, first served basis.
Charles Curtis MW, of the Institute’s North America Events Committee, said: “These tastings are among the premier wine events of the year and are held in the heart of the best markets in the United States for champagne. For anyone with a professional or private interest in Champagne they provide the best opportunity to survey the diversity of wines on the market today. They are, in other words, events not to be missed.”
For further information see the Events section of the Institute’s www.mastersofwine.org website or www.localwineevents.com.