Friday, May 21, 2010
@103 West, 7-10PM
103 West Paces Ferry Rd.
Atlanta, GA 30305
Tour de Champagne features tastes from prestigious Champagne houses combined with samples from Atlanta's finest restaurants and chefs. This year's special silent auction will benefit Angel Flight of Georgia. The evening ends with a fin de soirée (after party) at Bluepointe where VIP guests will continue to mingle and enjoy live music and additional complimentary champagne and cognac. Guests may then head across the street for a nightcap at the St. Regis hotel which is offering special overnight and weekend packages to enhance the total experience.
Did you ever wonder who invented Champagne?
Well, here's a brief history of what some call "culture in a glass":
French monks were the first to bottle a sparkling form of wine called Champagne, named after the Champagne region of France. The method of making "mousse" (another name for bubbles) in a bottle was invented by the efforts of Frère Jean Oudart (1654 - 1742) and Dom Pierre Pérignon (1639 - 1715), Benedictine monks and cellarmasters at the respective abbeys of Saint-Pierre aux Monts de Châlons and Saint-Pierre d'Hautvillers.
The region of Champagne has a colder and shorter growing season. Champagne grapes had to be picked late in the year, with less time available for fermentation. During fermentation yeasts are used to convert the sugars of the grape juice into alcohol and cold winter temperatures stopped the process. The monks developed a method of making Champagne wine by using a second fermentation process that took place in the bottle during the following spring. The second fermentation created carbon-dioxide bubbles that are the sparkle of Champagne.
TICKETS: Click here for more information or visit www.tourdechampagne.com.
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