SUMMER IN THE CITY CHAMPAGNE AND SPARKLES

It was surely prophetic! The more French champagne that we supped and sipped on Friday 13 June, the more goals that the Dutch football team sent into the net of les Bleus.

Like said football match, our evening’s entanglement with sparkling wines and champagnes en Français started off splendidly, with our excellent host, Bart Ooievaar from champagneproeverij.nl. Based in Amsterdam, champagneproeverij was established in 2002 and specialises in everything bright and bubbly from that famous region in France, and from elsewhere.
Bart started us of with a wonderful Spanish Cava - Agusti Torello Resrva 2005 – which proved to be very popular with our group and it offered a great start to the rest of the evening, scoring 2.87 on our ‘vinometer’. This was followed by an Italian Prosecco – Adriano Adami Dei Casel – which was a fine sparkling wine to be enjoyed at any occasion.
As we began tasting the first of the Champagnes – the well known Veuve Clicquot Champagne Brut from Reims – incoming text messages were showing the first of the great goals against the French at Euro 2008. This excellent all-rounder proved to be the third most favourite of our wines based upon the score from our infamous vinometer, with a score of 3.70.
Our second champagne - a Gosset Excellence – was quaffed in celebration as we heard that a second goal had landed in the back of the French net! And it proved that this champagne was one of the best of the match, being joint first, with a score of 3.88 on our vinometer. We certainly had a great taste in our mouths as we came into half time!
Our third champagne (and other joint first equal) was a wonderful champagne brut from De Venoge Blancs de Blancs (2000). This scored another hit with our wine tasters – and miraculously resulted in a simultaneous third goal for the Dutch team in Berne!!
Having consumed more than 15 bottles of bubbly, we were determined to finish in grand style, and sure enough as the ball passed the French goalkeeper for a fourth time, we were passing around a superb Cristian Senez Cuvée Rosé from l’Aube, Fontette. This bright and refreshing rosé sealed an absolutely wonderful evening of celebration, great company and first class wines.
As always, Bart’s choice of wines was superbly complimented by our hosts, Oscar and Farud, who worked their usual wonder to ensure that the whole evening went off with a sparkle.
Vitis Amsterdamensis was very privileged to have Champagne Proeverij give its presentation – especially on such an auspicious evening – and members are invited to order their champagnes directly from www.champagneproeverij.nl or by contacting ourselves.
This was our last meeting for this season, but we look forward to inviting our members – and looking forward to meeting new ones – when we return in September 2008.