All Things Champagne

I really enjoy celebrating special moments in life with a prefectly chilled bottle of champagne. I have a few favorites that I tend to purchase, and they typically are the ones with less sugar. For some time, I wasn't aware of what makes up the different tastes and sugar levels in different champagnes (or sparkling wine if you will). So, when I received this champagne cheat sheet, I thought I would share it on my blog. What a better time than now right before Valentine's Day creeps up on us!

Champagne has become synonymous with romance and celebration. Unlike wine, choosing Champagne is a much simpler process because there are far fewer choices. Contrary to legend and popular belief, the French monk Dom Perignon did not invent sparkling wine. It was first produced by an English scientist in the 1662, who added sugar to a finished wine to create a second fermentation. This was six years before Dom Perignon set foot in the Abbey of Hautvillers and almost 40 years before it was claimed that the famed Benedictine monk invented Champagne. Although the Dom Perignon did not invent Champagne, it is true he developed many advances in the production of this beverage, including holding the cork in place with a wire collar to withstand the fermentation pressure.

By definition, true "champagne" comes only from that region of France that bears the same name. Specifically, the Champagne region is 90 miles northeast of Paris, close to the border with Belgium. Champagnes typically come from one of three areas within that region: Reims, Marne, or Cote de Blancs. Outside of France champagnes are known as sparkling wines and produced quite successfully throughout the world. Unlike most wines that are named after vineyards, champagnes are named for the houses that produce them. These houses, in turn, produce various brands of champagne, which are known as marques. When you select a bottle of Champagne, it will be these marques from which you will choose. Examples of well known marques include: Krug, G H Mumm , Laurent-Perrier and Taittinger.

Most of the Champagnes produced today is "Non-vintage", meaning that it is a blended product of grapes from multiple vintages. Most of the base will be from a single year vintage with producers blending anywhere from 10-15% (sometimes as high as 40%) of wine from older vintages. If the year is particularly good, some producers will make a "Vintage" wine that must be composed of at least 85% of the grapes from vintage year.

One of the beauties of Champagne is its remarkable diversity - each style appealing to a different palate and budget. The primary types of Champagne include Blanc de Noirs, Blanc de Blancs and Rosé:

Blanc de Noirs - A French term (literally "white of blacks") for a white wine produced entirely from black grapes. Common examples are: Tesco Blanc de Noirs, Gloria Ferrer Blanc de Noirs (sparkling wine) and Piper Sonoma Blanc de Noir (sparkling wine).

Blanc de Blancs - A French term that means "white of whites", and is used to designate champagnes made exclusively from Chardonnay grapes, Blanc de Blancs counts for less than five percent of Champagne produced. Examples include: Piper-Heidsieck, Mumm Napa Blanc de Blanc (sparkling wine), Dom Ste Michelle Blanc de Blanc (sparkling wine) and Piper Sonoma Sparkling Blanc de Blanc (sparkling wine).

Rosé Champagne - The rosé wines of Champagne are produced either by leaving the clear juice of black grapes to macerate on its skins for a brief time or, more commonly, by adding a small amount of still Pinot noir red wine to the sparkling wine cuvee. Examples include: N.V. Billecart-Salmon, Laurent-Perrier's Cuvée Rosé Brut and Legras Brut Rose Champagne (all French Champagne).

Arguably the most important characteristic when choosing a Champagne or sparkling wine, the sweetness is a combination of the amount of sugar added after the second fermentation and aging.
Brut Natural or Brut Zéro - (less than 0.3% sugar)
Extra Brut (0.3 to 0.5% sugar)
Brut - dry (0.5 to 1.5% sugar)
Extra Sec or Extra Dry - dry (1.2 to 2% sugar)
Sec medium - sweet (1.7 to 3.5% sugar)
Demi-Sec - sweet (3.3 to 5% sugar - dessert champagne)
Doux - sweet - (over 5% sugar - dessert champagne) T

The most common is brut, although throughout the 19th century and into the early 20th century champagne was generally much sweeter than it is today.

Prestife Cuvée - Also known as the Tête de Cuvée or "head of the class", a Prestige Cuvée is literally the best of the best, usually made with the top grapes from Champagne's 17 grand cru villages, places like Avize, Bouzy and Verzenay. However, along with the impressive taste, it also can have an equally impressive price. The two prestige cuvée Champagnes first created, Moët's Dom Pérignon and Roederer's Cristal, still dominate the market and are the icons of what Champagne has come to express.

And there you have your champange guide to take with you on your next beverage shopping trip.

Happy Planning!
kathryn

The Special Event Conference - San Diego

I am posting from my hotel room here in lovely San Diego. I am attending The Special Event Conference, and it has been great so far. Basically, you sign up and attend different seminars during the day, and at night, there are different parties being put on all around the downtown area where we are. I've learned so much, and met so many people in the industry!

Yesterday, my classes consisted of Wedding Disasters and How to Avoid Them. Even though they had some crazy stories (an aunt passed away during one reception, yikes) I felt I could actually outdo them on some of my own stories. I did take away from it though a few more key things to add to my emergency kit. Then I went to a seminar put on by some of our Bay Area colleagues about taking a wedding concept and working it through the entire event, even down to the food, dessert and bar stations. Stations are becoming more and more popular as a way to save some money while planning a large wedding and choosing not to have a seated plated meal. I even went to a class on whether or not to do reality TV, as I've been approached to do a few shows in the past, and usually it didn't work out since I was either already booked, or I didn't have an underage teen getting married who was pregnant (hello, MTV). After that, I attended a class that really didn't help too much, as once you start a business, you know the basics. This was really for people that do wedding planning as a hobby, not their full time career. Not much to learn there, since this is what I do 24/7. The last seminar of the day was How to Be a Good Planner, or something in that realm. It was very informative, and there were about 250 other planners from all over the country and sharing stories, and also creative ways we've all handled certain uncomfortable situations was great to hear.

The Special Event then hosted an amazing party at Stingaree, a great club right across the street from our hotel. We were feted with drinks, and so many tasty delights (too bad a few of us already ate before hand!). It was nice to meet people from all over that do the same work we do. Many of them are the ones you see on TV doing celebrity weddings, reality wedding show, etc., so it's always nice to hear that their challenges are the same as ours.

I am excited to visit the trade show today of all the vendors that are displaying their work. Then I have a few more seminars, a quick dinner at Nobu with some friends, then back on the plane to San Francisco tonight. The conference lasts until Friday, but there is just too much work that needed to be done back at the office, so two days was all I could spare. I am looking forward to implementing some of my new discoveries in some of the 2009 weddings I have, and also into my business.

Happy Planning!
kathryn

Really Cool Green Wedding Photography Giveaway!

Check out this cool contest one of the great photographers I work with is putting on for any of you putting on a green wedding. Check it out and enter to win a free photography package!

Yes, I said free.

Happy Planning!
kathryn

The Dream Bridal Tour No. 2

We hosted our second Dream Bridal Tour yesterday for a group of ten ladies, and it was a fun and very informative day. Not only was the weather amazing, the group of girls that had signed up were so friendly and excited about their weddings. We visited many vendors throughout our tour, and here are a few photos as well as links to the vendors that participated:

Gift bags donated by The Knot

That Takes The Cake - Cupcake Tasting

Nick Brown Photography

Dress Shopping at Bella Bridesmaid

Manicures at Mizu Spa

Shu Uemura Make Up Artists

Lash Bar Demonstration

Andrew Weeks Photography Presentation

Cardgirl Custom Invitations

For those of you who are not familiar with the bridal tour, it is something I put on twice a year. It's a bridal show on wheels where you get a more intimate and detailed presentation from each vendor, as well as many discounts through the particpiating vendors. The day went like this:

The particpiants met up at our offices on Fillmore and Pine at 10:30am, and we mingled before boarding our shuttle bus to Pres a Vi Restaurant for a lovely three course brunch. We then went to That Takes The Cake for cupcakes, before dashing across the street to Nick Brown Photography and Bella Bridesmaid. We then hopped into our shuttle to take us across town to Mizu Spa for manicure treatments and a little relaxation. After the manicures, we were taken to Shu Uemura for a demonstration on one of our brides at their world famous lash bar. We then walked across the street to our offices again to hear presentations and taste cake from Cake Coquette, hear some more photography tips from Andrew Weeks, saw custom wedding invitations from Cardgirl and custom out of town gift baskets from Woods & Company. We of course ended the day with champagne, and the girls all walked out with tons of loot that they picked up throughout the day. I learned for the next tour, I need to provide much larger bags!

It was a great day, and I really enjoyed meeting all the girls that came along. We had sisters, a mom and bridesmaids as well, so the tour was enjoyable for all. We will be announcing our next tour date by March.

Happy Planning!

kathryn

Loralie + Kevin's Wedding Featured on Four Blogs

We absolutely LOVED being a part of Loralie and Kevin's wedding this past November. Not only did Loralie hire all her vendors sight unseen from our referrals, she ended up with a fabulous team! Our wonderful friends and talented photographers, Joel and Cara Flory, shot the amazing photos from the day, and the wedding photos were not only in San Francisco Brides Magazine, but it is now featured on four really cool blogs. Check it out!

Southern Weddings Magazine Blog
Green Wedding Shoes Blog
Brooklyn Bride Blog
The Brides Cafe Blog

Happy Planning!
kathryn

Happy New Year!

Well, 2009 is upon us, and I'm really excited for the weddings that we have already booked for this year. It's going to be a great year for us, we have some exciting news to share in the next few months, and a great year for our clients that get to celebrate their weddings in the year of the ox.

In other news, we have two weeks left until the bridal tour, with only a few spots remaining! If you would like to join us on our exclusive bridal show on wheels, get your tickets today by clicking here. This is going to be a great event, as we have some really fun spots to visit, and lots and lots of goodies to hand out. Even The Knot has provided us with some gifts to give to our tour participants. We'll be having a lovely champagne brunch, relaxing manicure treatments and a bridesmaid dress private shopping experience. If you have any questions, please email us!

Happy Planning!
Kathryn

Lauren + Gar | Oct 4

I just received these photos from the amazing Jen Kloss Heffner, who was the photographer for Lauren & Gar's wedding on Oct 4th. This was such a fun wedding to plan with such a warm and friendly family, as the wedding took place at Lauren's parents home in Geyserville overlooking their private vineyards. It was magical... and then the rains came! We were prepared though, as I had ordered tents in February, and we had Classic Party Rentals working for four days straight to lay subfloor over the pool, install four tents, heaters, lighting and bring in executive restrooms. It was a huge production, but I loved every minute of it, and I actually tear up when I see their photos, as we all became very, very close through this process. To see them so happy makes me so happy! The best part was that even though it stormed through the night, and rained right up until about 1pm, Lauren and Gar got to have the most beautiful outdoor ceremony by 3pm when the clouds cleared. And, the best thing is, that even if it hadn't stopped raining, they still would have had the wedding of their dreams because they are so in love, it could have snowed, and they wouldn't have cared! Here are some of my favorite shots:

The bride and her bridesmaids

Even though the rain stopped, it was still a little breezy
Dining set-up in the main tent
The female guests enjoyed the colorful pashminas that they could keep warm with and take homeI provided the calligraphy, and we hung the place cards from a rustic room divider
The tables were named after different wineries. The marker was the actual bootle from that winery, which was also served at each table
They had a large bridal party
Wonderbread 5 put on a great performance!
The dance floor was packed even after the final encore was played
You can view the entire slide show by clicking here. The other vendors that were a part of this magnificent team were Caridwyn and Sons Catering, Dragonfly Floral, Justin Fone Video Productions, Patesserie Angelica for the cake, A Day In May did the invitations and California Wine Tours provided the shuttle service for all 200+ guests to the private home.

Happy Planning!

kathryn