Grand Champagne Helsinki is here again from April 21st to 23rd ! Bubbles fill Helsinki’s Old Student House on this April weekend bringing together champagne lovers, gourmands and top names in the industry. The three-day event features experts sharing their know-how and champagnes. Our local experts will hold their Master Classes in Finnish but there is a great range of lectures available in English by our esteemed guests from Champagne. Read more and buy your tickets online at www.grandchampagnehelsinki.fi.
Olivier Krug, Champagne Krug – Journey into the Krug Universe
Master Class: Thursday 21.4 18 – 19
Master Class: Friday 22.4 16.30 – 17.30
Grand Champagne Helsinki is privileged to welcome Olivier Krug to his first visit to Finland! As the family’s 6th generation representative and international ambassador of the house, Olivier Krug knows the house inside out. In his Master Class Olivier introduces us two recreations of Grande Cuvée, the only prestige cuvée champagne that has been produced every year for 170 years. Also we will get to taste the brand new Vintage cuvée from the top year 2002. This we will get to compare with the 2003 vintage.
Champagnes:
Krug Grande Cuvée NV
Krug Vintage 2003
Krug Vintage 2002
Krug Grande Cuvée NV (2003 recreation)
Charles Heidsieck Blanc des Millénaires – Cyril Brun, Chef de cave, Champagne Charles Heidsieck
Master Class: Thursday 21.04 16.30 – 17.30
Master Class: Friday 22.04 18 – 19
Master Class: Saturday 23.4 14.30 – 15.30
Cyril Brun has been Cellar Master with Charles Heidsieck since May 2015. His Master Class give you access to the jewels of the Charles Heidsieck cellars. Cyril introduces us to a great vertical of vintages of the house’s glorious prestige cuvée Blanc des Millénaires from 1995 all the way down to 1983. This champagne that originates in Côte des Blancs’ premium grand cru villages belongs to the nobility of Champagne. It is a blanc de blancs every champagne lover should get acquainted with.
Champagnes:
Charles Heidsieck Blanc des Millénaires 1995
Charles Heidsieck Blanc des Millénaires 1990
Charles Heidsieck Blanc des Millénaires 1985
Charles Heidsieck Blanc des Millénaires 1983
Lanson style – the perfection of time – Hervé Dantan, Chef de Cave, Champagne Lanson
Master Class: Thursday 21.4 19.30 – 20.30
Master Class: Friday 22.04 19.30 – 20.30
In his Master Class, Lanson’s newly appointed cellar master Hervé Dantan sheds light to the unique and age-defying style of Lanson. As the guardian of the house style Dantan shows us examples of the Lanson’s wide portfolio specifically bringing forward the great ageing capacity of its wines. Gold Label 2008 is showcased as an example of a Vintage Lanson from a top year. However, Dantan also opens some historical classics for us, the Vintage Collections 1996 and 1976.
Champagnes:
Lanson Extra Age Brut NV
Lanson Noble Cuvée Brut 2000
Lanson Gold Label 2008
Lanson Vintage Collection 1996
Lanson Vintage Collection 1976
Montgueux – the ‘Montrachet of Champagne’ – Emmanuel Lassaigne, Champagne Jacques Lassaigne
Master Class Fri 22.04 15 – 16h
Montgueux’s majestic chardonnay wines from the Aube are far too poorly known by the public, even if they are highly rated by the cellar masters of Champagne. Out of its small domaines by far the most reputed is Jacques Lassaigne. ’Monsieur Montgueux’, Emmanuel Lassaigne, who has been in charge of winemaking since 1999, is humbled by his age-old terroirs. Emmanuel Lassaigne is the best guide imaginable to the terroir and the chardonnay wines of the region. Lassaigne’s highly individualistic champagnes are full of character. In this Master Class we will taste the highly natural wine range of Lassaigne including the rarer-than-rare Coteaux Champenois white wine.
Champagnes:
Jacques Lassaigne Les Vignes de Montgueux NV
Jacques Lassaigne La Colline Inspirée NV
Jacques Lassaigne Le Cotet NV
Jacques Lassaigne Millésime Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature 2007
Jacques Lassaigne Coteaux Champenois Haut Revers de Chutat
Taittinger stories – Clovis Taittinger, Champagne Taittinger
Master Class: Fri 22.04 16.30 – 17.30
Master Class: Sat 23.04 13 – 14
Clovis Taittinger joined his familial Champagne Taittinger in 2007. There, he represents the family’s name worldwide and is in charge of grape suppliers and grower relationships. In his Master Class Clovis Taittinger shares the colourful history of this house, the third oldest in Champagne. He sheds light to the family’s vision in guiding the old yet modern house and defines the style in its making. Our understanding will be completed by tasting some of Taittinger’s most interesting cuvées, not the least the new vintage 2008, which was privileged to be the Nobel Dinner wine in 2015.
Champagnes:
Les Folies de la Marquetterie NV
Vintage 2008 Magnum
Comtes de Champagne 2006
Comtes de Champagne Rosé 2006
Enhance the experience by your choice of glass and food – Philippe Jamesse, Head Sommelier, Les Crayères
Master Class: Fri 22.04 19.30 – 20.30
Master Class: Sat 23.04 17.30 – 18.30
Impeccably skilled in service at Champagne’s Les Crayères restaurant, Philippe Jamesse is one of the World’s most experienced sommeliers in combining champagne and food. He, if anybody, knows Champagne producers and their wines thoroughly. In the Master Class he will share his view on combining champagne and food. Philippe has also created a series of wine glasses ‘Jamesse Prestige’ in partnership with Lehmann Glass and in his Master Class he will also talk about his own visions when creating the Grand Champagne glass.
Champagnes:
Philipponnat Non-dosé NV
Louis Roederer Blanc de Blancs 2009
Jacquesson Cuvée 738
Vilmart & Cie Grand Cellier NV
Laurent-Perrier and the magnum effect – Edouard Cossy, Champagne Laurent Perrier
Master Class: Thu 21.4 15.00 – 16.00
Master Class: Fri 22.04 19.30 – 20.30
Master Class: Sat 23.04 14.30 – 15.30
Edouard Cossy is responsible for Laurent-Perrier’s Northern European market. In his Master Class Edouard Cossy will shed light on the elegant Chardonnay driven house style of Laurent- Perrier. But the specific focus of the tasting is in the myth of the magnum effect. Are champagnes different, and better in a magnum, and why? Is the price quality ratio at optimum when choosing a magnum? Come and taste it yourself!
Champagnes:
Laurent-Perrier Brut L-P
Laurent-Perrier Brut L-P magnum
Laurent-Perrier Vintage 2006
Laurent-Perrier Vintage 2006 magnum
Bollinger Special Cuvée expertise – Denis Bunner, Champagne Bollinger
Master Class: Sat 23.4. 16 – 17
Blending is the soul of champagne and Bollinger’s deputy cellar master Denis Bunner sheds light to creating the Spécial Cuvée and Bollinger’s hallmark house style. In this master class we will get to the taste different blending components from base wines to previous years’ reserve wines. We will of course also sample the end result, a finished bottle of Spécial Cuvée. Denis also gives us the opportunity to appreciate the house’s prestige cuvée La Grande Année 2005.
Tasting:
Bollinger Spécial Cuvée NV
Bollinger La Grande Année 2005
Champagne base wines and reserve wines
Champagne Janisson-Baradon – Cyril Janisson, Champagne Janisson-Baradon
Master Class: Sat 23.04 19 – 20
The siblings Cyril and Maxence Janisson have turned their family property upside down in 15 years. Before they produced only 27 000 bottles selling the rest to the Champagne Houses whereas today no grapes are sold outside. Janisson-Baradon’s champagnes are particularly interesting because 9 out of their 9,5 hectares are located within the boundaries of Épernay. It is rare to get to taste 100% Epernay champagnes, which is the center point of Champagne’s core regions Montagne de Reims, Vallée de la Marne and Côte des Blancs. Cyril Janisson will introduce us his champagne repertoire in this Master Class, including two vintages of his best single-vineyard cuvée Toulette.
Champagnes:
Janisson-Baradon Non-dosé
Janisson-Baradon Grande Réserve NV
Janisson-Baradon Toulette 2008
Janisson-Baradon Toulette 2004