Creating a fine Champagne is an art, as is drinking it. So liven up your life with a well-deserved flute…
In today’s cash-rich time-poor environ, how we live defines Luxe. Modern luxury is not about owning expensive brands but living experiences that are spontaneous and sublime. Champagne has never found greater relevance in our lives.
This Friday (or Tuesday or Thursday), think outside the vodka bottle. Or the whisky. Begin a new tradition. Template experiences will not do anymore. A luxe experience will. A Champagne experience.
A trip to the wine shop, a bottle of Champagne and voila you’ve got the evening sorted.
Ever wondered why everyone in Europe drinks it all the time? As an aperitif, through lunch, with dinner, at a nightclub? Perhaps it is the glamour, the sophistication of it all. The way you hold a tall, elegant Champagne flute makes you feel like you are romancing it. Or just the idea of Champagne itself. Madame de Pompadour, a lady of great influence with impeccable taste, once said, ‘‘Champagne is the only wine that makes a woman even more beautiful after drinking it.’’ She was referring to Moët & Chandon, the world’s most loved Champagne in the mid-1700s.
Or perhaps it’s the bubbles and the crispness. After all legend has it that when Dom Pérignon first invented Champagne, he called out to his brothers and said, “Come quickly, I am tasting the stars.”
If that isn’t magic, what is?
My relationship with Champagne began many years ago. I first discovered bottles of Moët lying in a brave old mahogany cupboard that my father had sourced on one of his antiquing trips and very creatively converted into his bar. The bar stood steadfastly on a vintage ruby Persian carpet and housed many a vintage, some of which were from Epernay in the illustrious Champagne region of France. I remember seeing bottles lying neatly together – dark green with a hint of crimson and gold. They glistened in the evening light like emeralds. It wasn’t packaging, it was jewellery. And I was in love.
All the romanticism of Champagne aside, perhaps it has something to do with the wine itself. The bouquet of the wine allows you to get expressive and transforms any moment into the fabulous and unexpected. The fine quality, the liveliness, the elegance and the generosity of Champagne – just a flute and you are ready to rock and roll.
Then you have Luxe in Pink. The wonderful Rosé Champagnes. After all, what is life without Moët & Chandon Rosé Impérial, the most seductive and glamorous expression of Champagne? The radiant pink of Moët Rosé seduces and delights with an intense fruitiness and flamboyance on the palate. It is no surprise that it is a perennial favourite with the ladies. Or, if you really know your wine, it is the perfect mélange, an assemblage of Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay that gives it an expressive, lively bouquet of red summer berries with floral nuances and hints of red pepper. Fresh, spontaneous and supple! Love in a bottle.
To me a special evening is about the experience you create. With Champagne it becomes a little easier. It is that magical ingredient that jumpstarts any evening into a luxury fantasy. A bottle of Moët and it becomes all about a rich passionate lifestyle, involving fabulous dinners and lively discussions that always turn into celebrations. It is about leading an extraordinary life – about elegance, pleasure, splendour and luxury.
From the table of Louis the XIV to the Maharajahs to the modern Maharajahs, it hasn’t ceased since the 1600s. The magic of Champagne!
A self-confessed luxury addict, Gaurav Bhatia is a luxury expert. Him being invited to speak at the International Herald Tribune Luxury Conference is proof enough of that. Creative, spirited and bon vivant, he loves to travel, collect antiques, and celebrate life with gastronomy and Champagne.
