Secrets of Champagne

You could pay a fortune to see one of Mark Oldman’s famous, “five-star” (Food & Wine) “wildly popular” (Aspen magazine) live seminars at the nation’s top food festivals or you can take a Bevinars virtual wine class for a fraction of the cost and from the comfort of your own living room. In his trademark style that Bon Appétit calls “winespeak without the geek,” award-winning author and renowned speaker Mark Oldman transports you to four of the world’s iconic wine regions: Spain, Portugal, the Loire, and Champagne.

SECRETS OF CHAMPAGNE CLASS

If you polled any group of wine experts, the majority of them would name Champagne as their desert-island wine pick. This precious potion from northeastern France remains one of life’s great glittering indulgences, primed to mark a celebration or as reason for one, and increasingly a wonderful accompaniment to almost any meal.

We will consider a range of key subjects, including how to distinguish between seemingly similar types of Champagne, how to find the house style that best fits with your taste, what accounts for the growing appeal of grower Champagne, whether prestige cuvée Champagnes are worth their price, and the best bottles for the upcoming holiday season.

We will start with grower Champagne, the small, privately-owned producers that grow their own grapes and are currently all the rage with insiders. Next, we examine an all-Chardonnay Champagne against a Pinot-dominant bottling and see how grape proportions and other factors can account for stylistic differences. Finally, we look at rosé Champagne, the category most coveted among connoisseurs and most versatile for pairing with food.

In additional to the featured wines being presented, Mark will clue you into other Champagne types, including brut nature and demi-sec styles. And, as is his tradition, he will demonstrate the fine art of sabering a bottle of Champagne.

And we will cover tasting techniques, decoding the label, and food pairings — including classic favorites such as caviar and sushi as well as less formal matches such as French fries, mac & cheese, and spicy fare.

Moreover, if you’ve ever been to one of Mark’s presentations, you know it is brimming with humor and his trademark “nuggets” of useful insider information that you won’t find anywhere else.

The cost of the class is $55 per household, and if you want to taste along with Mark, an optional Bevinars wine kit is now available to purchase at Wine.com. 

You are encouraged — but not required — to taste along with Mark. If you wish to buy the accompanying Wine.com wine kit, please do so here as soon as possible after you register below. 

The featured wines are:

• Grower Champagne
• Blanc de Blancs Champagne
• Pinot Noir-dominant Champagne
• Rosé Champagne

The specific selection of wine, and its vintage, can vary depending on your location, but all bottles have been personally approved by Mark for their deliciousness and typicity.

If you do not purchase the wines online, you are free to ask a trusted local merchant for their recommendations for the wine types listed above.

Registrants will be emailed the Zoom link and reminders prior to the class. The class fee is non-refundable.

FOUR-WEEK COURSE: The Secrets of Champagne class is part of the four-week Secrets of Iconic Regions 4 (Sept-Oct) course. Register below for the full course (4 classes) and receive a 20% discount on the course. The cost for four classes is $176 per household.

MISS A CLASS, NO PROBLEM: Full course participants may access video recordings of the entire course for two months after the course ends, ideal for those who miss a class or want to watch again. Individual class registrants may request a link to the recording of the relevant class.

FREE GIFT WITH FULL 4-WEEK COURSE: Purchasers of the full course will be mailed a complimentary, limited-edition Bevinars wine glass polishing cloth. Custom-made for Bevinars, the cloth is extra large and made of plush microfiber, perfect for polishing your stemware to a fine sparkle.