Last week we had the immense pleasure of being invited to ‘The Pink Party’, Taittinger Champagne’s celebration on the terrace of the Marina Beach Club in Valencia.

Taittinger, and their national distributors  ‘Perelada Chivite’ are not newcomers to Valencia and we have reported previously on events where their Champagnes and the wines of Chivite and exclusive jamón from Castro and Gonzalez have been presented.

The Champagne house of Taittinger is actually much older than the current name. Originally ‘Fourneux Forest et Successeurs’ dating to 1734, a young First World War Cavalry officer from Paris, Pierre Taittinger,  returned after the conflict and purchased what had been the HQ of General Joffre´s command in the Chateau de la Marquetterie in 1932. This site had some history already being the Palace of King Thibault IV, Count of Champagne and King of Navarre (1201-53).  They also have the site of the former Abbey of Saint Nicholas in Reims, today’s Offices, built to house his reliquaries and the 4th-century cellars still exist, although, by 1981 Hubrecht Duijker, the Dutch wine-writer was describing the modern technology used by the company.

Today the family still owns and actively runs this prestigious  Champagne House, expanding into new vineyards outside of France.

The party commenced with the Prestige Rosé champagne. This is a vibrant deep coloured rosé, almost strawberry  colour, darker than many from Champagne. It is not a pure Pinot Noir, only about 15% of the blend is from this variety, the rest being Chardonnay but the Pinot Noir is from the best still red wines from around the Montagne de Reims.  On the very expressive nose, it is very fruity, cherry, blackcurrant, and raspberry. On the palate, it is full-bodied with crisp, fresh red fruit flavours.

This was being served with plates of Bluefin Tuna loin and ‘ventresca’ from Balfegó, a Tarragona-based company fishing in the Western Mediterranean and feeding the Tuna, once caught, on blue fish. There were also plates of Jamon and Iberico products from Castro and Gonzalez.

We met and spoke with  Clovis Taittinger, current Director General and Export Director, during the event. His simple philosophy is that Champagne (and Taittinger in particular) is a vehicle for happiness and good moments. He related to us some of his early memories of tasting at family events and he believes passionately that Champagne has something ‘Universal about it that no other wine possesses’.

He also confirmed that Taittinger had been the first Champagne House to acquire land in England, for example. The chalk vineyard soils of Champagne dive under the English Channel emerging once again in Kent and Sussex.’ Domaine Evremond’  will release its first English Traditional Method wine this October with Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier, the traditional Champagne grapes being the protagonists.

The event continued for nearly four hours during which the champagne flowed and was accompanied by a superb selection of bite-sized ‘amuses bouches.’ It was a pleasure to spend time socializing with friends from the press, Valencia’s wine world, and their local distributors ‘Le Blosen’ from whose shop in Quart de Poblet you can acquire Taittinger’s range of Champagnes and the wines from the other parts of the group.

VIVID TEAM