CHAMPAGNE STUDIES
Prior to Covid, Australia’s Champagne Bureau held a competition known as the Vin de Champagne Awards. Essays were set to test knowledge and communication skills, finalists from each State were selected for a blind tasting with interview, awards given and a winner chosen in each of the professional and amateur categories. A state finalist twice, I received a Merit Award in 2010. The essays really improved one’s knowledge of champagne, as did the tasting practice.
The European Champagne Ambassadorships seem to have gone the same way as the Vin de ChampagneAwards. Perhaps it’s felt that such promotions are no longer required to spur further interest in a field that has met with tremendous and increasing commercial success in every country. Should either of these awards be re-instated, watch this space.
GLORIOUS CHAMPAGNE …image copyright © the Wine Scholars Guild
In the absence of the Vin de Champagne, one could register with the Wine Scholars Guild for their on-line course, for which they grant a ‘Champagne Master’ certificate details available here.
Tyson Stelzer, the author of the biennial ‘The Champagne Guide’, also runs a regular two-day course eponymously known as Tyson Stelzer’s Advanced Champagne Certificate.
Tyson Stelzer’s Advanced Champagne Certificate – 3-4 February 2024
Study by yourself or with friends, one chapter at a time, using my tome, ‘Champagne A Tasting Journey’ as your course material. Download free of charge the tasting worksheets which accompany most chapters.
Any queries email Kaaren Palmer
In addition, held in many locations both nationally and internationally, the Wine and Spirit Education Trust’s long established 4-level study courses are excellent precursors to any in-depth wine study.
Last updated June 26 2023 …KP