Tasting champagne with Harper’s Bazaar

The rain poured down all day yesterday and the closer it got to 4 o'clock, the more nervous I became. Super fun, in a rather short bright yellow dress and having to bike through rain and wind in open strappy heels and then look a bit nice for the day. Because yesterday I got to Harper’s Bazaar taste champagne from Veuve Clicquot and that's something I usually prefer not to do with mascara on my knees and standing up with frizzy hair. But well, Bazaar is Bazaar is Bazaar so rain or shine, you go.

And with love, mind you. In restaurant Nacional at Amsterdam's Leidseplein, a small group of people gathered including Winonah de Jong, Hilmar Mulder, Anna Nooshin, Yara Michels and of course Bazaar friends Sander, Marlies and Cécile. The table is incredibly Pinterest-worthy set, with Veuve-orange menus, beautiful flowers from LM Flower Fashion and several gigantic wine glasses. Because, as we learn later, that's when the taste of the champagne comes into its own. Those flutes may feel very chic, but in terms of taste, such a large wine glass works much better.

We get five delicious courses that are each specially designed and made around the champagnes. The sommelier of the evening is Niek Beute, who has so much love for his work that we almost suspect an amorous relationship between him and the bottles. The highlight of the evening is the ‘Grande Dame’ from 2004, which you should drink with attention. “You taste the youthfulness and sensitivity, this champagne jumps in front of you like a ballerina, the acids are not somewhere but they are everywhere. While you could let the previous champagne sit at your table like a guest, this Grande Dame immediately demands every conversation.” So.

The personifications were abundant and I can't deny that we occasionally became a bit giggly at the table. When Niek takes the rosé champagne and first goes to ‘decant’ it (from the bottle into the decanter), we hear that “this champagne does not like that. It's like putting it under a cold shower immediately, but then it wakes up and is delightful.‘ And delightful it certainly was. All in all, the rain was more than worth it. And when I saw that in the goodie bag next to the new Bazaar issue there was also a bottle of Veuve, the party was completely complete. Pop!