Vintage Champagne and fine wine tastings on board your luxury yacht

Brett Turner, Chairman and co-founder of Cambridge Wine Merchants Ltd www.cambridgewine.com, a certified Wine and Spirit Education Trust course provider and Ben Steadman Director of Maison Jardin Mer Ltd www.maisonjardinmer.com and Riva Cannes www.rivacannes.com have created a joint venture BiBi Tastings, providing vintage champagne and wine tastings on board luxury motor yachts and specialisied champagne, wine and whisky tastings at select locations, hotels and villas on the Côte d’Azur between April and September each year.

Devised by Brett Turner, Chevalier in the Ordre des Coteaux de Champagne, author of ‘Champagne, an Imbiber’s Guide’ and Chairman of one of the UK’s top wine merchants, the Bibi tastings are 1-2 hour private sessions for 10 to 30 guests held on land and at sea.

Bibi Tastings offer delicious tasting options to savour on board your yacht or at one of several fine locations.

The Prestige Cuvée Masterclass.

Is Cristal worth five times the price of its baby brother Roederer Brut Premier? Is drinking Dom Perignon at eight years old (the wine, not you) a crime? Can you tell a $100+ bottle from a midweek-priced gem? Find out if they’re really worth the money. Pitting the best of Champagne’s rare and highly-prized Prestige editions against each other, against straight Vintage wines and supposedly “lesser” versions too. A VERY rare chance to sample these wines, the jewel in the crown of the Champagne industry, against each other.

Ancient and Rare Masterclass

We are in a profoundly favourable position in that as a fine wine dealer, we have access to some of the world’s most impressive wine collections – from Cambridge and Oxford College cellars to private collections. We trade young wines for the VERY old – wines which have lain undisturbed for decades in perfect conditions. Taste wine 100 years old or more and compare grand mature wines against their baby descendents. Not often in life will you have the chance to compare such wines at one tasting.

Wines of Provence

Winemaking in Provence pre-dates even the Roman occupation. Many of the best wines are sold in the Riviera’s restaurants and rarely make it abroad, but we’ve rounded up some favourites including of course the best of the regions very serious Rosé wines for which it’s justly famous.

New World vs. Old

A straightforward head to head contest pitting the Classics of Europe against the Upstarts from the New World. Also, a perfect opportunity to study factors affecting the flavours of wine: ripeness, acidity, alcohol content, oak ageing etc. Bibi Tastings is in a prime position to host such events as we stock wines from all over the world – from Argentina to Alsace; from Beaune to Barossa.

France vs. The Rest of the World

France remains the world’s most important producer of high quality wine. The grand structured dinner red – a wine worthy of extended ageing – as we know it was “invented” in Bordeaux. Sauvignon Blanc may fare well in New Zealand but the Loire Valley is its ancestral home. All over the globe talented winemakers use French wine styles as a goal – but can they compete? On quality? On price? Can Chilean Merlot undercut Claret?                                                                  Does Cava beat cheap Champagne?

The World Pinot Noir Contest

Every winemaker’s goal is to tame this haunting and capricious grape variety. Pinot’s ancestral home is in the rural beauty of Burgundy, once tended by Monks – but will a thousand years of experience triumph over modern know-how and verve?

Giro d’Italia

A good old root around the corners of Italy – the one country where every single province makes wine. From classsics such as Chianti to the rustic charm (and value) of the South.

Tour de France

More fun than that cycle race and easier on the seat, here we investigate some benchmarks and some hidden gems from lesser-known areas. Results are always surprising – France really holds up supremely well for overall quality, and some of these “lesser” wines are top buys.

Best Dinner Reds

Avoiding quaffers and gluggers we head straight for serious wines of structure destined to be deployed at table. Always a joy to pitch each region or country’s best dinner wines against each other.

Fortified Fest

A radical proposal: to consider and evaluate Port, Sherry, Madeira (and other such fortified wines) as members of one vinous family and thus to some extent interchangeable in deployment/enjoyment.

A Brit hosting wine tastings in France, why?

It may seem odd, but although Britain can’t claim any fame for creating fine wine, it certainly turns out some of the world’s finest wine experts and merchants. Most Masters of Wine – generally considered the top global qualification- are British. The Wine and Spirits Education Trust, the leading international wine educator, is based in London, as is the Court of Master Sommeliers, and many leading wine writers. Britain has a long history (the best part of a thousand years!) of trading and enjoying wine and currently boasts probably the widest selection of wines available from all over the world which are soon to be unleashed upon the Cote d’Azur.

Sharing this knowledge and range of champagnes and wines with travellers to the Cote d’Azur and offering them specialised sessions onboard a luxury motor yacht and in magical locations on land guarantees a memorable feast for the senses in the home of the finest wines and champagnes known to man.

Prices vary according to the tasting but generally between 60 and 100 Euros per head. Bibi Tastings provide the sommelier and all the necessary materials and pay a 10% Commission fee to the yacht, venue or location proprietor. Bibi Tastings are not only enjoyable they are economical and fun.

To book please contact Ben Steadman: [email protected]

After the privilege of visiting Little Jems, we found that with her light wood and minimalistic interior, she is designed to an impeccable standard and provides a modern and Zen feel to your charter.

Her 4 cabins accommodating up to 9 guests are airy, open and tranquil and it is evident from the flawless finishings that this 26m Leopard has been spared no attention.