Our Top Tips and Information

• Before you start
• Fizz
• Red, White & Rose Wines

Click here for some of our recommended and best-selling wines for your wedding or party.

Before you start…

It is impossible to choose wines for a large group of people that all will like! We would recommend something safe and middle of the road. Whilst a few of your guests may be impressed by well known wines (Sancerre, Chablis, Beaune etc) the overwhelming majority won’t notice. In fact trying too hard can work against you. The wine world is like everything else in life – you get what you pay for! Stretching your budget to buy cheaper Sancerre and Chablis will not pay off – the reputation and quality of these grand appellations is based on what they produce at the top level, not the entry level, and you will be paying a premium for an inferior quality wine.

When it comes to great deals and discounts, beware! If it sounds too good to be true it probably is, and you can be sure the product was overpriced to start with...

It’s a good idea get your caterer sorted first, to decide on the meal and work out timings (a long reception will hammer through the Fizz and cost you more). It is worth getting Wine Waiters to pour the wine both at the reception and during the meal – it prevents wastage and saves you money because you will not be left with a mountain of open unfinished bottles.

Fizz

If it has to be Champagne then our Champagne Gallimard is hard to beat on quality. It’s a sort of mini Bollinger. Otherwise why not consider Prosecco? It’s delicious in its own right and a much better bet than Cava/Cremant/New World Fizz. It’s less acidic, and lower in alcohol with an easy fruity style.

Be very wary of cheap Vintage Champagne. There are no laws governing the production of Vintage Champagne, other than it has to come from one single crop, and it is left to the individual house to stake their reputation on their declared years. Even the top champagne houses only declare 3 times a decade. The accepted best current years are 2002 and 1996. Avoid 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2003. Even basic champagne needs 3 years in bottle to soften the acidity (it’s not very sunny in Champagne) so be cautious of 2005, 2006, 2007 vintages as they simply need more time. Another thing you can easliy do is to find the date of “discourgement”* on the back of the bottle*: if it is more than 12-18 months previous then don’t buy it. If you are still tickled by a special offer then get a bottle and taste it blind against something else for a true comparison.

* Disgorgement is the process of rebottling the champagne for release. Up to this point the champagne has been sitting on its lees (the yeast added to it to make it ferment and become fizzy). The bottles are gradually tipped on their ends so that the yeast plug can be extracted from the neck, then the champagne is rebottled and smartened up. From the moment it is disgorged the Champagne begins to fade. It is at its peak for approximately a year but anything sitting around for much longer than this will be a shadow of its former self.

Red, White & Rose Wines

Since it is impossible to choose wines that everybody will like, go for middle of the road popluar styles: Sauvignon and Chardonnay for whites and Cabernet, Merlot, Syrah or similar styles for reds. We can help you choose wines that are appropriate to the food.