Elevate your Picnic with Champagne

With the warmer weather set to return, many are seeking ways to make the most of time outdoors with friends and family. Picnics are the perfect way to soak up the sunshine, enhanced with the addition of Champagne to celebrate the start of the summer months.

The Champagne Bureau UK* shares a guide to elevate your picnic with a variety of Champagne styles to complement these summer dishes. From a fresh feta and peach salad enjoyed with a glass of Rosé Champagne, to buttery homemade biscuits paired with a Vintage Champagne, we have selected the Champagne styles to suit a range of picnic favourites.

Wild Garlic Tart

As spring is well and truly underway, a seasonal herb that defines the start of the warmer months is wild garlic. Perfect for a picnic, a wild garlic tart is an elegant recipe to kick off an alfresco dining experience, paired beautifully with a Champagne Blanc de Noirs. Made from black grape varieties alone, this style is known for its full-bodied nature, mirroring the vibrant flavours of wild garlic, and, when aged for longer, develops buttery aromas that complement the pastry.

Feta and Peach Salad

A sweet feta and peach salad is the perfect dish to contrast the bold flavours of the wild garlic tart, paired exquisitely with a Rosé Champagne. This style livens the taste buds with fruity aromas, complementing the tart flavour of the peach and the salty notes of the cheese. What’s more, the pink hue of this style is a welcome addition to a summer picnic spread.

Cucumber and Cream Cheese Sandwiches

Continuing the theme of fresh and light dishes, cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches are another delicate addition to a picnic, complemented beautifully by a Champagne Blanc de Blancs. This style is a blend of exclusively white grapes, featuring notes of white citrus and exotic fruits that enhances the sweet and crisp flavour of the cucumber and subtle tang of the cream cheese.

Pork Pie

As an essential picnic dish, the traditional English pork pie requires a pairing that highlights its iconic nature. Champagne Brut complements this classic perfectly; as the most popular Champagne style, it is a cuvée which can be a blend of several years. Each variety brings its own individual notes and aromas, offering a range of accompanying flavours to this dish, from the liveliness of Chardonnay to the red-fruit notes of Pinot Noir.

Buttery Homemade Shortbread

To wrap up a summer picnic, why not bake something sweet, such as a homemade shortbread, paired perfectly with a Vintage Champagne. Vintages are prestigious wines used to mark special occasions and are therefore the ideal style to toast the start of summer. Aged for at least 36 months in the cellar, a Vintage takes on pronounced aromas such as gingerbread, dried fruit and cocoa, making it the perfect pairing for a rich and buttery homemade biscuit.

 

Photo – ©Photo JP Baltel – Collection CIVC