Advice on champagne

[Cynicor]

Interesting would be fabulous - one thing it cannot ever do is morph onto an event where attendees feel any pressure at all to bring along overly expensive Champagne - it must be a night about friendship and fun not one-upmanship.

Throw those suggestions into the ring please good people.

I would be interested.

I wonder if we could get a restaurant or hotel restaurant (thinking maybe a hilton or spg who have regular affers and kind of know the crowd) agree to let us all byo if we are paying for a set/al a carte 3 course meal? This way avoids anyone having to host or plan food etc, and is relatively scale-able and the champers will be served in flutes etc?

No suggestions on restaurants as MEL is way out of my hood...

 

[Keith009]

Fab idea! Like princessfiona I'd be interested subject to planets aligning.

 

[Major]

At CDG now and the 2004 Dom Perignon is 129 EUR

Moet & Chandon is 34.50 and Veuve Clicquot is 36.50 EUR

 

[artemis]

MEL AFF Champagne Appreciation Night

Looking for suggestions as to just how we might structure a night where attendees BYO bott of Champers (or two) along to a social get together where we can all share / sample / taste and enjoy some good fellowship.

I am kinda thinking mid July onwards date - no preconceived thoughts on location or format - basically trying to gauge interest at this point in time.

Any interest? Any suggestions?

Sounds fab - like others, if the planets align. Alternatively, why not BNE and get Bernadette O'Shea along to teach a thing or two. Love educational champagne. (self-education expense maybe??.... or wishful thinking!)

 

[Deleted member]

Sounds fab - like others, if the planets align. Alternatively, why not BNE and get Bernadette O'Shea along to teach a thing or two. Love educational champagne. (self-education expense maybe??.... or wishful thinking!)

I would be a starter for that. I seem to recall making the same suggestion at some point.

 

[penegal]

MEL AFF Champagne Appreciation Night

Looking for suggestions as to just how we might structure a night where attendees BYO bott of Champers (or two) along to a social get together where we can all share / sample / taste and enjoy some good fellowship.

I am kinda thinking mid July onwards date - no preconceived thoughts on location or format - basically trying to gauge interest at this point in time.

Any interest? Any suggestions?

I'm interested

 

[Major]

At KUL now and 2004 Dom Perignon is 670 MYR

Moet & Chandon is 206 MYR and Veuve Clicquot is 230 MYR

 

[TomVexille]

I'm interested

We could have it at your house

 

[penegal]

We could have it at your house

That would involve going home sometime...

 

[Cruiser Elite]

It's going to take some organising to put it together - I am away Jun 17 to Jul 10 - any chance a few of us can catch up for an hour or so before I leave to throw a few ideas around?

 

[blackcat20]

Sounds fab - like others, if the planets align. Alternatively, why not BNE and get Bernadette O'Shea along to teach a thing or two. Love educational champagne. (self-education expense maybe??.... or wishful thinking!)

Hey, let us Melbournites have ours first

 

[Keith009]

Restaurant suggestion in MEL: St Crispin. Delightful, fun and on-trend dining at a reasonable price. Or maybe something like coughulus Inc which does shared plates - suited to a group dining setting. Not sure re BYO policy for either, but coughulus Inc serves a pretty nice biodynamic grower/producer champagne, name of which escapes me now but I remember that it's sold at Blackhearts and Sparrows.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Not sure re BYO policy for either.

That is going to be the major hurdle as I see it - a group pf 8, 10, 15 or whatever customers wanting to turn up with their own plonk - buy food only - and want Champagne glasses to test / sample over and over. It's going to require a mini 'think tank' I would suggest.

At least if the good folk here could actually give it some serious thought and post some suggestions it might help to head us down the right path.

 

[TomVexille]

That would involve going home sometime...

You're also welcome to host in a suite at the Park Hyatt

 

[TomVexille]

It's going to take some organising to put it together - I am away Jun 17 to Jul 10 - any chance a few of us can catch up for an hour or so before I leave to throw a few ideas around?

That's a good idea. Any preference on when and where?

 

[artemis]

I've seen lunches at Ripples in Milsons Point in Syd where they've had a long table (of old blokes) and all these bottles of wine wrapped in alfoil. Couldn't work out what was going on at first and then I realised it was a blind tasting!

 

[diningdecadence]

fix st james is well known in sydney for allowing BYO, just to throw another city in the mix

 

[penegal]

I am happy to assist with organising Cruiser.

Many restaurants will be open to negotiation of BYO (and a blanket corkage charge) with larger groups or wine tastings. Obviously there are also liquor licencing requirements, as some restaurants don't have a BYO licence, so need a temporary exemption (to do it "by the book").


Slightly OT: The City Wine Shop actually ran a Champagne experience a year or two ago. The price was quite high. I couldn't go due to travel, but some friends went and thoroughly enjoyed it. Interestingly the "Tea Room" at Melbourne Supper Club would be an excellent venue for a private dinner and wine tasting, however it is likely that particular business would prefer that you tasted their wines (to sell to you), rather than your own.

I can think of one or two candidate restaurants in Melbourne and Albert Park.

 

[Keith009]

Just remembered the drop I was thinking of that's served at coughulus Inc. May have mentioned it up-thread. Very yummy drop by an organic grower/producer:
Champagnes Franck Pascal - Wines : Reliance

It's not the easiest to find as the maker is tiny, only 3.5 hectares of vines! But to my utter shock they stock it at this online shop the OH and I discovered today after stumbling across Grand Central Cellars in Brisbane which specialises in boutique/premium drops (we were looking for someone who sells Ayala Brut Majeur Zero Dosage and couldn't be coughd waiting for Dan's to deliver), and they also mentioned their online champagne store:
http://www.champagnegallery.com.au/franck-pascal-39sagesse39-brut-nature-p-778.html

Can't recommend this drop highly enough. Ps - Sagesse and Reliance are the same thing - they recently re-named the champagne.

 

[KitKat]

I have done something similar for a small group of friends at Esposito, as there were only a few of us, we managed only 3 bottles.


France Soir seems promising (list below) if they still allow BYO except for Saturdays

BYO restaurants in Melbourne: corkage $10 or more - Restaurants - Time Out Melbourne