“Special Club” champagne. Special Club, or Club Trésors de Champagne, was originally founded in 1971 comprised of artisan wine makers, selected from the finest areas of the Champagne region that are recognized for the quality of their work. Originally started with 12 of the oldest families of the Champagne region. The Club now has 28 members. Special […]
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Learn to Speak “Champagnese:” A is for “Assemblage”
In today’s global society, it’s a super valuable skill to be multilingual or speak more than one language, right? Well I, my bubbly lovers, am here to help you do just that…in my own special way, of course. So are you ready to learn another language? Good: it’s time to learn “Champagnese!” So you may […]
The Cocktail Aesthetic: Sole di Limone Champagne Cocktail
Not much more quintessentially says “summer” like a glass of cold, sweet-tart, cooling, refreshing lemonade. You can go to a picnic, barbecue, or social gathering anywhere this time of year and you’re sure to see a pitcher beckoning you to sip. We keep lemonade in our fridge year-round in my household. In fact, if you were to look in […]
What In the World Is The Bubbleista Drinking (WITWITBD): The “French 73” an Original Champagne Cocktail Recipe
Here’s what you should definitively know about The Bubbleista: I love a good champagne cocktail in general “status quo” anything is not where I reside my cocktail vibe is distinctive, layered flavors that surprise, enchant, and delight That said, I absolutely adore the classic French 75. Upon doing some cocktail research on it, however, I discovered that […]
How to Pair It: 4 Tips for Perfectly Pairing Champagne + Sushi
As a general edict, champagne is often touted as the wine that pairs with almost everything. While that’s certainly true, the real flex is the realization that certain champagnes pair better with some foods than others, depending on that bubbly’s style. Those in the champagne know realize that by exploring and leveraging this concept they can elevate their […]
How to Pair It: Champagne + French Fries for National French Fry Day
Time for another edition of #HowToPairIt–and, in honor of National French Fry Day on July 13th, today we’re talking fab Champagne + Fries pairings! I’m one of those people who L-O-V-E-S fries of ALL kinds and varieties: steak fries, crinkle cut fries, frites/skinny fries, poutine fries, sweet potato fries, virtually whatever kind of *French fry* it may […]
What To Pair With It: the Champagne Snack Board
Y’all, when I posted my #champagnesnackboard last week, I had NO IDEA that it was going to be so well received! Thank you, my spectacular bubbly lovers, for All the comments, shares, and saves, and showing my post ALL the love! As a show of appreciation, I just had to circle back with some great […]
5 Great Lessons Learned from a Less Than Optimal Champagne Sipping Experience
After quite a bit of a hiatus, look who’s back at the helm of her blog, y’all! I’m finally circling back with the review I promised from an IG post from a couple of weeks ago about my recent less than optimal experience with the 2008 Le Brun de Neuville Grand Vintage! So, first things first: this […]
The Ultimate Champagne Lovers Holiday Gift Guide 2021: Volume VI
It’s the most wonderful time of the year–gift giving season!–and that means your favorite champagne lover’s MOST favorite champagne lover is B-A-C-K! That’s right, The Bubbleista is back with what you’ve been waiting for: Volume no. 6 of “The Ultimate Champagne Lovers Holiday Gift Guide!” This year’s list has 30+ items ringing at a total minimum value […]
It’s National Oyster Day: The Best Wine + Oyster Pairings Ideas
Awww, shucks, y’all—it’s National Oyster Day! {You see what I did there?} Better still is that it was also National White Wine Day a couple of days ago, and that got me to thinking about wine and oyster pairings, and one of the oft-purported, traditional, quintessential pairings for freshly shucked, briny, raw oysters is, of […]
Chard So Hard: Celebrate International Chardonnay Day Blanc de Blancs Champagne Style
Just when you sobered up from International Wine Day a couple of days ago, here comes International Chardonnay Day! One of the things I love most about Chardonnay is the many expressions the grape can exhibit depending on the area the grape was grown (the soil), the gr0wing conditions (the weather), and, of course, the skillful hands of […]
Champagne Valentin Leflaive Rosé review
“It was a meeting of the minds that was bound to produce something extraordinary: a friendship between two hedonists, two men steeped in the Art of Wine making, two men with a profound attachment to their vineyards. Between them, they created Champagne Valentin Leflaive.” After an introduction like that, do I really even need to […]
Âme Restaurant Dallas: French “Soul” Meets Chic Indian Cuisine
FACT: I had THE best Indian food and meal of my life at a small, family-owned restaurant in London, England in 2004. FACT: part of that meal included a ceramic pot of tandoori fish curry that was so incredible that my brother and I STILL wax poetically about it to this day. FACT: I think I […]
Bubbleista Effervescent Education: The Art of Pairing Champagne and Foods
Hey bubbly lovers, it’s time to dive into another lesson from the Bubbleista’s Effervescent Education series! For today’s #ChampagneTedTalk we going to have a mini lesson with tips on how to *best* pair champagne with food! You ready? Let’s go! I’m sure you guys have heard this pairing advice before: “Champagne goes with everything!“ While […]
Five for Ten: 5 Tasty Sparkling Roses for $10.00 to Celebrate National Rosé Day
It’s National Rosé Day! Honestly though, it might as well be called “Rosé Day 365” because the meteoric rise in rosé’s popularity over the last several years has made it widely “acceptable” for year-round drinking. I placed an emphasis on the word acceptable because, as a “dance to the beat of my own drum” kind of girl, […]
Get Yourself Barred: Air’s Champagne Parlor in NYC
If you follow me on Instagram then you know that back in October I was invited by my girl Kachet Jackson-Henderson {as part of a graciously hosted Alaska Airlines trip for influencers and bloggers} on a trip to New York for the official grand opening of the flagship Nordstrom NYC. Well, while we had plenty of fun […]
Pol Roger Portfolio Champagne Tasting & Bubbleista Wine Review
I absolutely love this time of year: in November and December there is always a huge uptick in champagne tasting event hosted by producers, distributors, restaurants, and retailers due to the upcoming holidays–and, they also hope, a resulting huge uptick in increased wine sales. So far be it from me to not avail myself of as many of these […]
The Ultimate Champagne Lovers Holiday Gift Guide: Volume V
In typing this title for this year’s annual post it just hit me: I’ve been doing “The Ultimate Gift Guide for Champagne Lovers” for 5 years…FIVE. WHOLE. YEARS! For the last 5 consecutive years, I have searched high and low to find twelve (in a nod to the 12 Days of Christmas) exciting, exquisite, enchantingly effervescent champagne-oriented […]
Get Yourself Canned: The 10 Best Sparkling Wines in a Can
Having been looked at with curiosity, side-eyes, and a bit of dubiousness in the past, wines in a can are really having a moment right now. No longer just for beer and sodas, wine of all sorts are “popping up” all over the place housed in metal cans. I remember the first time I encountered wine […]
Wine Travel Fabulous: JCB Tasting Lounge in Napa
As a bubbly and wine lover, going to “wine country” anywhere always feels like home for both my heart and palate. And since jaunting to Napa (and Sonoma) several years ago was my very first foray into wine travel, each and every time I visit it’s feel like I’m right where I belong. The sheer number of exquisite wineries, […]