As if you needed an excuse, last Friday was World Champagne Day. Finally, a day that deserves a full 365th of your annual attention.
I celebrated with a bottle of Perrier-Jouët Grand Brut at Wellington’s QT Hotel (formerly the Museum Hotel). They’re well matched. PJ is noted for its floral flavours and branding – as well as its partnerships with artists and musicians. The QT’s walls are covered in bold paintings, has 25 Gallery Rooms, each with art created by a New Zealand artist and it plays host to weekly artsy collaborations.
Me, I’m more a sciency sort. I like my champagne flinty and fine. And the main reason for my visit was to meet my daughter and toast her recent success in stage-one chemistry. She’s a girl after my own heart.
But surrounded by the colourful art and the end-of-week bonhomie we found PJ the perfect way to acknowledge the momentous day and tip our glasses towards all those medieval chemists who deduced the method of champenoise – and gave us this magnificent drink.
Well done Wilhelmina and thanks QT. Here’s to happy pairings of art and science.
Picture: that’s not Vincent and Wilhelmina but you get the idea.
