Champagne Tasting Results

What a way to end another great season of Toronto Vintners Club tastings.  On November 20th, 2012 a packed house got to taste a fantastic line up of Champagnes (and hopefully help narrow some peoples decision on what to serve this holiday season).  Our guest speaker for the evening was Marc Donaldson, of Churchill Cellars.

This tasting was a little different from our normal tastings.  To ensure that the champagne stayed cold and fizzy, two separate flights of champagnes were served.  Each flight was rated separately, which gave us two top wines for the night.

 

For the first flight, we tasted the following 4 wines: Lanson Black Label,Veuve Clicquot Brut, Piper Heidsieck Brut, and Mumm Cordon Rouge Brut.  When it came time to rate these, the club and guest speaker for the night were at odds.  The Club's favourite was the Mumm Cordon Rouge Brut Champagne where as Marc Donaldson, our guest speaker for the evening, gave top billing to the Veuve Clicquot Brut Champagne NV, which the club had rated last.

The second flight saw TVC serving: a Bollinger Brut Special Cuvée, a Pol Roger Brut, a Charles Heidsieck Brut Réserve and, a Huff Estate Cuvée (a sparkling wine from Price Edward county).  The results from this flight were much more consistent, with both the group and our guest speaker picking Bollinger as the top wine.

And here are the rankings. The blank line in the table separates the first flight of wines from the second.

Name of Wine (in order poured)	Group Ranking	Guest Ranking
A - Lanson Black Label Brut Champagne NV	3	4
B - Veuve Clicquot Brut Champagne NV	4	1
C - Piper Heidsieck Brut Champagne NV	2	2
D - Mumm Cordon Rouge Brut Champagne NV	1	3
E - Bollinger Brut Special Cuvée Champagne NV	1	1
F - Pol Roger Brut Champagne NV	2	4
G - Charles Heidsieck Brut Réserve Champagne	3	2
H - Huff Estate – Cuvée Peter F. Huff, 2008	4	3

We would like to thank everyone that came out to our events in 2012.  And we hope to see you all back for our events in the coming year, to join us in tasting some great wines at some great events.

January 15th – 2006 Burgundy
February 19th - N. Rhone Reds
March 19th - Hitching Post wines
April 16th - Wines of Portugal
May 21st - 2004 Brunello
June 18th - Chablis
September 17th - '03 Bordeaux
October 15th - TBD
November 19th - TBD

Pop a cork for Champagnes in November!

When you imbibe Champagne, you'’re drinking "the stars" and lots of history. Many Champagne houses go back centuries and their founders/wines often played roles in political, royal, literary and wine making history. We taste Champagnes from: Pol Roger, Mumm, Bollinger, Veuve Clicquot, Lanson, Piper-Hiedseck, Charles Hiedseck with a tremendous amount of history, and one from an award-winning Ontario winery, Huff Estates in Prince Edward County, made by a transplanted winemaker from Burgundy.   We will be joined in the evening by two individuals from Huff Estates who will be our guest speakers: Frédéric Picard, winemaker and Jason Sharpe, General Manager as they compare their award-winning cuvee against some notable champagnes from France.

So whether you’re a fan of Ian Fleming/James Bond (Bollinger), a racing car enthusiast (Mumm) an ardent support of royalty (Charles Heidsieck ), or just a wine lover, drinking champagne is one of those ‘must do’ activities in life and hopefully, more than just at New Year’s, birthdays and anniversaries.  Come celebrate the upcoming holiday season with TVC and make your Champagne choices for 2012. 

Theme:  Champagnes
Date:      Tuesday, November 20/12
Time:      6 PM
Where:   41 Willcocks St., Toronto, ON (U of T Faculty Club)
Cost:      TVC Members:  $61;  Non-Members/Guests:  $76  (includes reception wine plus light appetizers with the wines)
Buy tickets  Note:  All ticket sales are final. No refunds will be offered unless we sell out and have a wait list.