World’s largest champagne tasting event busier than ever, despite slump
As the world’s largest champagne-tasting event drew to a close yesterday, there was, beneath the lavishly painted and gilded ceiling of Banqueting House in Whitehall, the air of a Wild West saloon.
Wine tasters, who had sampled up to three varieties from each of the 70 champagne producers, developed a weave in their step as they retreated from the sampling table to direct a plume of froth into a nearby spittoon.
On the site where Charles I lost his head in 1649, some more indulgent members of the wine trade were in danger of losing their footing. The sawdust in dozens of spittoons placed around the hall was sodden with champagne that would fetch up to £200 a bottle in a restaurant.
Champagne sales in Britain have taken a beating during the recession, dropping 15 per cent in 2009 to 30.5 million bottles — but Britain remains by far the world’s biggest importer.
The tasters, who were predicted to get through 10,000 bottles yesterday, said there was an art to spitting. Paul Howard, a wine teacher from Wine Alchemy, said that more practised tasters develop the accuracy of Clint Eastwood’s tobacco-chewing desperado in The Outlaw Josey Wales. “They tend to be French,” he said.
“There is a technique to it. It feels strange when you first try it, but after about an hour it becomes second nature. “You have to spit if you are tasting this much champagne, but there are one or two where it is cruelty to do so — almost criminal.”
The event audibly livened up towards the end as tasters felt the effect of the product that they had neglected to spit out. Tim Kitchener-Smith, a wine merchant in Clapham, South London, said that after several hours he was in a “pretty good mood”.
Jonathan Simms, of Pommery, agreed that champagne tastings could quickly get out of hand. “Harrods have a tasting once a year for consumers. I was at the one in December and it was like the Charge of the Light Brigade. Industry events like this are calmer, but it’s interesting to see who will be the first idiot. There are always one or two.”
He said that spitting toothpaste into his bathroom sink had been good practice. “I’ve seen some people spitting over people’s heads. It’s as if they spend hours in front of the mirror perfecting it.”
Although champagne sales in Britain have dropped to levels last seen in 2002, more producers than ever attended the annual tasting session held by the Champagne Bureau, the British arm of the industry body.
Britain has escaped the steep drops in the US, the second-largest importer, where sales fell to 1992 levels. In Russia sales fell by more than half. But Mr Kitchener-Smith said the recession could have a profound effect on the industry despite the efforts of retailers offering large discounts. Tesco is now selling Taittinger, the brand James Bond drinks in Casino Royale, for £23 a bottle — a discount of about £8.
“When we come out of the recession [shops] are going to be in trouble, because people are going to be saying, ‘Why are we now paying £70 for a bottle with a meal in a restaurant?’” James Wilson, of Taittinger, said that Tesco set the price, not the producer. “Unfortunately supermarkets from time to time have a mind of their own. They are doing it off their own bat.”
Competition between Champagne houses can be fraught, but few were prepared to admit it yesterday. Pierre Vollereaux of Maison Vollereaux was concise when asked if there were some rivalries that stood out as being particularly bitter. “No,” he said, with a twinkle in his eye. “Everybody hates everybody.”
Jane MacQuitty's favourite champagnes
Champagne continues to be the Rolls-Royce of sparkling wines. This is despite competition from the New World, with nowt to match its top prestige cuvées, or blends, and little to compare to its best vintage bubbles on the next level down. Here are my top five-star buys.
l998 Taittinger Comtes du Champagne Blanc de Blancs, Majestic Wine Warehouses £100 •Gorgeous, toasty, roasted almond-stashed, aged blanc de blancs champagne, a hard prestige style to pull off. A triumph 2000 Bollinger Grande Année Champagne, France, The Wine Society (01438 740222) £59 •A great vintage year and Bollinger is one of the great champagne houses, so tuck into this rich, dreamy, beefy, nutty champagne while you still can.
2004 Heidsieck Gold Top Brut Champagne, France, Budgens, from April 1 it drops to £19.50, Majestic Wine £30 or buy two for £20 each until March 22 •It was hard to say goodbye to the beautiful ’02 vintage but ’04, with time, will be even finer, so buy in this lesser vintage bubbly, with its ripe, waxy, lively, floral spice, and age it yourself.
Lanson Black Label Brut Champagne, Morrisons £28.98, Waitrose down to £22.39 until April 13, Tesco, down to £20.98 until April 6, Co-op £28.99, and Budgens £28.60, down to £22.00 from April 1 onwards •Delivers plenty of pleasing, waxy, lemon brioche-styled aperitif fruit. Look out for deals at Easter.
Oeil de Perdrix Rosé Brut Champagne, Majestic Wine £26.65 down to £17 until March 22 •Pink champagne is usually a disappointment, so it was great to find this partridge eye pink bubbly with fine, faintly blackcurrant-perfumed floral fruit back on top form.