Tour de Champagne This Saturday: 20 Different Kinds of Bubbles

Some Champagne bubbles race each other up and over the sides of the glass.

Some gurgle up like water just coming to a simmer.

Others, more subtle, sigh with the relief of smoldering lava.

Such is the mystery of Champagne.

So many variations, and textures, and reasons to keep experimenting.

Normally we drink Champagne to celebrate -- a birthday, a new year, an anniversary -- but Saturday night, at the Tour de Champagne Boston 2010 in the Charles Hotel, we're turning the tables.

Instead of using Champagne to celebrate, we'll be celebrating Champagne.

We'll be celebrating Champagne's variety by tasting samples from 20 different houses.

And we'll be celebrating its versatility, as chefs from all over Boston offer food samples to pair with Champagnes ranging in style from delicate to robust. (Click here to see the list of Featured Champagnes.)

All of which makes it unlikely that this event will resolve any of Champagne's mystery for you.

But that is a risk we think you're willing to take.


WHAT: Tour de Champagne Boston 2010
WHERE: Charles Hotel, One Bennett Street, Harvard Square, Cambridge
WHEN: Saturday, January 30 from 7 to 10 p.m. Fin de soirée afterward at Regatta Bar.
COST: $115 general admission, $150 VIP admission
PURCHASE TICKETS: Click here.


DAILY TIDBIT:

"Champagne! In victory one deserves it. In defeat one needs it." -- Napoleon Bonaparte

"Too much of anything is bad, but too much Champagne is just right." -- Mark Twain

"There comes a time in every woman's life when the only thing that helps is a glass of Champagne." -- Bette Davis

Remember Your Best Boston Summer Ever (with some Help from NZ and Oz Wines)

Last week -- in honor of BOKX 109's "It's Summer Somewhere Wine Dinner" coming up this Thursday night -- we asked you to tell us about the best summer you spent someplace other than Boston. (There's still time to submit your entry -- click here for details.)

Maybe it was at the beach. Maybe it was in the mountains. Maybe it was the four-foot swimming pool in your Uncle Dave's backyard in Cleveland.

Wherever it was, and whatever you were doing, just thinking about it eases the pain of the weather outside, even if it's just for a few minutes.

Why not take it a step further?

The Summer-Somewhere dinner at BOKX 109 highlights wines from places that are nice and warm right now -- western Australia, that is, and Marlborough, New Zealand -- whose white wines are sunny and bright and all but shimmer with nuances of flavor.

Which will be just the thing. For the beginning of the meal, anyway.

But sooner or later you will have to think about going back outside and braving the reality of our winter.

That's why the two main components of the Summer Somewhere meal feature heartier fare -- beef au poivre, to be exact, and Karma BBQ'd Poisson -- paired with wines that are meant to spread warmth through your veins.

Check out the full menu here, and then start thinking about the best summer you spent right here, right in Boston, right in the place we all call home.

Remember something good? Tell us about it. It could win you two tickets to BOKX 109's It's Summer Somewhere Wine Dinner on Thursday night.

100 words or less about your best summer experience in Boston. By 5 p.m. tomorrow. Winner only will be notified the morning of Wednesday, January 27.

Sometimes the best experiences happen elsewhere, like at Uncle Dave's in Cleveland. But sometimes they happen right in our own backyard, too.


WHAT: It's Summer Somewhere Wine Dinner
WHERE: BOKX 109 American Prime Restaurant, Inside Hotel Indigo, 399 Grove Street, Newton
WHEN: Thursday, January 28 at 6:30 p.m.
COST: Normally $75 per person excluding tax and gratuity
CONTEST: Submit your entry of 100 words or less before 5 p.m. on Tuesday, January 26 for a chance to win two tickets.


DAILY TIDBIT:

The wineries of Clare Valley in Australia, as a group, bottled their 2000 Rieslings under screwcap. In May 2001, wine companies of New Zealand formed the Screwcap Wine Seal Initiative, which lists the following advantages to using screwcaps: no cork taint, no more sporadic oxidation, recycling, and aging potential for both white and red wines.

Win Two Tickets to Tonight's Sold-Out Tasting: Red White Boston Contest Alert!

Red White Boston is co-sponsoring tonight's New Zealand wine tasting at the Boston Center for Adult Education.

There will be fifteen wines. All are very indicative of that lovely place. All will be presented in a casual, get-to-know-our-personality kind of way.

Tickets to the event have been sold out for days now.

Except for two last-minute ones that we held back, just to give away to a RWB reader today.

Here's how to get your hands on them: tell us, in 150 words or less, what you think would be the most fun and helpful format for a wine tasting.

Think outside the box. There's got to be a better way than shuffling around a big room, glass outstretched, fumbling with papers and lists, with little connection between what you taste and what you really remember.

That's why we're experimenting with the "speed dating" format tonight. The idea is to spend a few minutes with each major New Zealand grape varietal, hearing their stories, tasting one by one, deciding which ones strike your fancy, and which ones you should definitely steer clear of.

Because if wine information -- fleeting as it sometimes seems to your memory -- means something to you personally, it's way more likely to stick in your head.

That's our idea. What's yours?

Before noon today, email us your best idea for a fun, helpful wine tasting. (Winner only will be notified by 1:30 p.m.)

It may well get you a free pass to tonight's event, plus a front-row seat to your idea made real.


WHAT: Win two tickets to "Speed Dating" with New Zealand Wines
WHEN: Tonight from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
WHERE: Boston Center for Adult Education, 122 Arlington Street, Boston
HOW: Tell us in 150 words or less what what you think would be the most fun and helpful format for a wine tasting. Deadline is noon (today, obviously), and winner will be notified by 1:30 p.m.
COST: $0


DAILY TIDBIT:

Your response to yesterday's contest -- to tell us your top three choices for new partners for Red White Boston -- was overwhelming, and humbling really. We have our marching orders, that's for sure! We'll be reaching out personally to each of your suggestions, and hope to offer you very soon a selection of new wine experiences from all over town. We can't thank you enough for your help and advice. Stay tuned to see how it all works out!

Win Two Tickets to the Boston Wine Expo: Red White Boston Contest Alert!

This one is completely self-serving.

We have two tickets to the Boston Wine Expo this week-end, and we want to give them away.

The question is how.

And, while we're at it, how we can also improve the service that Red White Boston offers to wine lovers all over Massachusetts.

Our answer?

Send us your list of top three restaurants, bars, wine shops, etc. that you'd like to see on Red White Boston. And send it before 5 p.m. today.

What businesses around town can we reach out to as a partner? Who's doing something with wine that's creative and fun and appealing?

We really want to know what you think. (That's the self-serving part.)

Winner, who will be chosen randomly from the entries, will be notified by 7 a.m. tomorrow. They will pick up their tickets at the will-call window. (That's the give-away part.)

Help us help you.

To drink better, the way you want.


WHAT: Win two tickets to the Boston Wine Expo
WHEN: Either Saturday, January 23 or Sunday, January 24 from 1 to 5 p.m.
HOW: Send us your list of three restaurants, bars, or wine shops you'd like to see on Red White Boston. Winner will be chosen randomly. Deadline is 5 p.m. today.
COST: $0


DAILY TIDBIT:

Heard about all the restaurants around town who are holding events to benefit the earthquake victims in Haiti? Some of our favorites: UpStairs on the Square, in association with Partners in Health, is hosting a day-long fundraiser on Monday, January 25 (complimentary community breakfast, prix fixe lunch, family meal for dinner); Stella Restaurant is hosting guest chefs (from Radius, Prezza, Pigalle, Dante) for a night of passed hors d'oeuvres and jazz on Tuesday evening, January 26; and for the next month Rialto will donate 100% of the proceeds from their vegetable side dishes to Partners in Health.

Relive Your Best Summer (with Some Help from NZ and Oz Wines) at BOKX 109

Average daytime temperature in Boston this week: 38 degrees.

Average daytime temperature in Australia this week: 86 degrees.

That northern hemisphere-southern hemisphere thing will get ya every time.

Just don't let it get you down.

Because, though Boston is in the throes of winter in New England, it's summer Down Under.

Catch a ray of their sunshine -- and maybe a little bit of their warmth -- on Thursday, January 28 at BOKX 109 as you taste wines from Cape Mentelle (along the coast of western Australia) and Cloudy Bay Vineyards (in Marlborough, New Zealand).

BOKX 109 calls it their "It's Summer Somewhere Wine Dinner."

We call it just in time.

Check out the full menu here. But if you actually need further incentive, consider this: in partnership with Red White Boston, BOKX 109 is giving away two free tickets to the person with the best story about their summer somewhere (other than Boston, that is).

Do it in 100 words or less and send it in before 5 p.m. on Tuesday, January 26. Winner only will be notified the morning of January 27.

Close your eyes. Think about the summer sun. Imagine the sand between your toes. Say, "And then there was the time...."

Send us the rest. And get ready to relive your best summer somewhere.


WHAT: It's Summer Somewhere Wine Dinner
WHERE: BOKX 109 American Prime Restaurant, Inside Hotel Indigo, 399 Grove Street, Newton
WHEN: Thursday, January 28 at 6:30 p.m.
COST: $75 per person excluding tax and gratuity
CONTEST: Submit your entry of 100 words or less before 5 p.m. on Tuesday, January 26 for a chance to win two tickets.


DAILY TIDBIT:

Regions like Australia's Hunter Valley are witnessing direct effects of climate change. Not long ago, the main challenge in Hunter at vintage was what they call "humidity" or general wetness and rainfall during the growing season and harvest, but vintners haven't seen those conditions for at least four years. Which means grapes are harvested at different ripeness levels than they used to be, which will of course affect the flavor and quality of the wine.

Wine the Strategic Way at the BCAE

Maybe you know a little bit about wine.

As in, you know you like it, you know there's a lot to know, and you know you want to know more.

It's just that it's all so overwhelming, you have no real idea where to start, and you hate looking stupid.

What to do? What to DO??

Here's what:

Sign up for the class that starts this Thursday at the Boston Center for Adult Education.

And here's why:

It's designed for people with no previous knowledge and a limited understanding of wine. (Which means stupid questions are welcome.)

It's broken down into five sessions, three hours each. (That's not so overwhelming, is it?)

And the instructor tells you exactly where to start. (How to taste wine, how to read labels, how to select wine, and which grapes and regions to definitely know.)

Rumor is that you take this course and you start actually feeling confident about choosing and drinking wine. Just imagine.

Better decide quick though. First class is this Thursday, and those 40 samples of wine you'd be tasting only go so far.

WHAT: Wine and Spirits Education Trust Intermediate Certificate Course

WHERE: Boston Center for Adult Education, 122 Arlington Street, Boston

WHEN: Five Thursday nights beginning January 21, from 6 to 9 p.m.

MORE INFO AND RSVP: Click here.

DAILY TIDBIT:

Check out the 3-minute wine school organized by WSET, or Wine and Spirits Education Trust (the folks who sponsor the tasting course described in this email). You'll find 12 short films on different wines styles and regions. For free. Think of it like a pre-tasting for the course!

RWB Contest: Ravenswood Winemaker Dinner Plus a Lot of Something Extra

The Boston Wine Festival is well underway over at the Boston Harbor Hotel and, though we yearn for the wines and salivate over the menus, there's one tiny little catch.

The winemaker dinners there are awful pricey.

Yes, the Festival goes on for three months and yes, somewhere in there we should be able to find a dinner that's a little more doable.

Still, if you're going to go that far, wouldn't it be nice to get a little more than you bargained for?

"A little more" is exactly what Ravenswood is offering as part of their winemaker dinner on Wednesday, January 20.

Except "a little more" is a major understatement.

Consider the agenda for the night:

• Show up a little bit early.

• Meet Joel Peterson, who's been making wine in Sonoma since 1976.

• Say, "I'm one of those people."

• Joel, who's been expecting you, will personally sign a 3-liter bottle of his Cab.

• Sit down for dinner. Savor four courses of Chef Bruce's legendary food, including duck breast, osso bucco, shredded prosciutto, lemon custard.....
  

• Sip an elaborate lineup of Ravenswood wines, from Chard to Zin to Syrah to Gewurz.

• Walk away, bellies full, with your jeroboam of Cab.

(Bonus: Imagine the party you can throw with a bottle of wine like that.)

The fine print... This offer is open only to the first five people who respond to this email and reserve their seats.

To be clear on the process: Let us know you'd like to participate. We help you purchase your seat. Your name goes on Joel's list. You get a seat at the wine dinner. Plus that jeroboam of Cab.

Definitely a little more than you bargained for.


WHAT: Ravenswood Winemaker Dinner Plus "A Little More"
WHERE: Boston Harbor Hotel, 70 Rowes Wharf, Boston
WHEN: Wednesday, January 20 at 7 p.m.
COST: $145. 3-liter bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon available to first five people who sign up.
RSVP: Contact us.


DAILY TIDBIT:

Word of the Day: Jeroboam

Jeroboam = three liters = six regular bottles of wine