Teaching an old dog new tricks

There is always something new to learn. Always. One of the things I love most about champagne is that with somewhere in the vicinity of 2000 independent growers, I will probably in my lifetime never taste them all. And with each new one I taste, I learn something new,...

Cutting Edge – Veuve Clicquot

A voice over on the ABC news on Tuesday night showed footage of me sabering champagne and stated “It was not only the fashion that was cutting edge”. And it was probably all thanks to Veuve Clicquot. In fact, if I think about it enough, a lot of what I am...

Turning the tables

When I was a little girl all I wanted to do was play cricket (or any form of sport) with the neighbourhood boys. This was partly due to the fact that there were only neighbourhood boys. No girls. Not one Barbie tea party. Which is a good thing, because I wasn’t...
I sabered alone

I sabered alone

I did it, and I didn’t even feel guilty. I felt empowered! I sabered a bottle of champagne alone. No crowd, no occasion, no fanfare and no witnesses except the slightly surprised kookaburra in the tree to my left. Sabering a bottle of champagne, like drinking...

Bitten by a bottle of Bollinger

This is very hard to admit, but a few days ago I was bitten by a bottle of Bollinger. Bitten. By an old friend. That’s right, after  a perfectly admirable sabering attempt. You see, after you decapitate a bottle, the rim is very sharp. I know that. I am usually...