Cheers: Still the tops: champagne lounges offer something to celebrate

Champagne is festive, fun, celebratory, romantic. It's especially appealing to women, and is perhaps the most famous type of wine, with a colorful history and an international reputation for quality. It's hard to imagine a better concept for a bar or lounge than specializing in the bubbly. And starting in the 1980's, a handful of bar operators have done just that.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

"Wine bars were big in the early 80's," explains Tom Verhey, owner of Pops, a Chicago champagne bar that opened in 1982. "I thought, 'Why not champagne?'" Twenty-two years later, Pops, the oldest champagne bar in the U.S., is still going strong.

Swanky Bubbles, a champagne bar in Philadelphia, opened five years ago. "And we just keep getting busier and busier," says Vince Frankowski, partner and director of marketing. On weekends, a two- to four-hour wait for a table is not unusual. "It's New Year's Eve every day for us," Frankowski says.

Champagne is riding high on a cultural wave: increased interest in fine wines and high-end products have helped propel its popularity. Many on-premise establishments are paying more attention to champagne and other sparkling wines than they used to, and many operators have taken it upon themselves to educate their customers about sparklers.

EVERYDAY BUBBLES

The first step for bubbly operators is to convince people that they don't have to wait for a special occasion. "Nothing creates the feeling of good times more than champagne," notes Pops's Verhey, "but, as we say here, there is always something to celebrate, always a reason to crack a bottle."

The champagne-bar concept itself goes a long way toward doing this. By-the-glass programs, enormously popular at most champagne bars, also help. Swanky Bubbles offers about a dozen by the glass, with per-glass prices ranging from $6 to $13. "By-the-glass offerings are a huge plus for us," says Frankowski. "People can try something they would otherwise be intimidated by or unable to afford."

The Bubble Lounges in NYC and San Francisco see sparkling sales split fifty-fifty between bottle and glass. "Bottles are popular with large parties," notes co-owner Eric Benn, "while on the weekends, when we are more crowded and people are standing, we do more by-the-glass."

The popularity of tasting flights is, perhaps, an indication of customers' increased interest in trying different bubbly brands.

At Napoleon's, a bar/lounge at Paris Las Vegas, a casino resort owned by Caesars Entertainment, Inc., the samplers are known as "Flights of Fancy." "They are the focus of the room," says director of food and beverage Kevin Sterling. "We sell a tremendous amount of them, 50 to 60 a night."

The flights are served in stemless glasses--three champagnes and a Perrier water--held by a silver stand. Other bars and lounges use eye-catching miniature wine glasses for their flights.

The chance to try a number of brands or styles side-by-side or a vertical tasting of a vintage champagne appeals to people who are looking to learn more. "The champagne connoisseur jumps at these," says Paris's Sterling. At Pops, customers can pick any three champagnes and create their own flights.

BRAND RECOGNITION

Many operators try to expose their customers to new sparkling products. While they find many people are interested, they've also discovered that customers are often devoted to familiar names. "Most likely, people are going to order what they've had before or know or have heard of," says Ted Davidson, sommelier at Aujourd'hui, the Triple A, Five-Diamond restaurant at the Four Seasons in Boston. "With champagne, name recognition comes first. Fortunately, most of the best-known ones make good champagne. It's no accident they are famous."

For example, Four Season's Davidson has beefed up his champagne-by-the-glass program. "There are a hundred restaurants near us that do Veuve Clicquot by the glass," he explains. "We do a half-dozen champagnes by the glass, including a rose, a vintage champagne [currently Laurent Perrier at $28 per glass], plus a sparkling wine of high quality--and as far as I'm concerned, we always will."

From the day after Thanksgiving until New Year's, Four Seasons Boston also employed a champagne cart, offering 20 champagnes and sparkling wines by the glass during the holiday season. "We are offering the creme de la creme," says Davidson, including Dom Perignon, Cristal and Krug. By-the-glass prices will range from $15 to $50. All but three will be true champagnes; the exceptions are sparkling wines from Iron Horse in Sonoma.

Four Seasons Boston will also be offering a six-course tasting menu, developed by Jermone Legrasso, chef de cuisine. Davidson has paired each course with one of the featured champagnes. For example, one of the courses is a soft-shell crab dish made with lobster gelee and Osetra caviar paired with Bellefon's Brut Rose.

The featured champagnes will also be available in half-pour flights of three. "Talk about decadence: how about trying Dom Perignon, Krug and Cristal side by side?" says Davidson. People can do just that, with a one-ounce pour of each.

BIG, BUBBLY PARTIES

Indeed, the celebratory nature of champagne leads to a lively private-event business for many champagne bars. Engagement parties, bachelorette parties, bridal showers, receptions and wedding anniversaries are all popular events, as are any kind of celebration, such as a birthday or a promotion. And at Swanky Bubbles, more than half of the private events are corporate.

Of course, certain holidays, such as New Year's Eve and Valentine's Day, "are no brainers," says Pops's Verhey. "All you need to do is open the door." Verhey does more than that. For example, this year, during the week leading up to Valentine's Day, Pops will host a rose champagne festival, featuring 12 roses, ranging in price from $35 to $350 per bottle and $9.50 to $19 per glass. Brands will include Veuve Clicquot, Louis Roederer Cristal, Laurent Perrier and Perrier Jouet.

When it comes to choosing the champagnes and sparkling wines they carry, operators tend toward quality rather than quantity. "We don't go for show anymore," says Pops' Verhey. "We don't need to carry 7,000 different ones. A quality list is important to us." Pops lists 115 sparkling wines, the majority of which are champagnes.

The Champagne Bar at Napoleons carries approximately 100 champagnes and sparkling wines by the bottle, in sizes ranging from 375 ml to three-liters, and offers 22 by the glass.

The Bubble Lounges stock over 300 sparkling wines. Though they offer a full bar, like most champagne-themed establishments, Benn reports that the nearly 75 percent of their business comes from sparkling wines. "That encourages us in terms of our concept," he says.

UNCORKING THE NEW

Davidson's strategy with his holiday champagne cart is to offer 15 well-known champagnes and five "that people have never heard of," he explains, "and we are so happy to tell people about these new ones."

At Napoleon's, Sterling believes staff knowledge is key, "We sell a lot of Veuve Clicquot and Moet," he explains. "People recognize those. We do try to upsell. We encourage people to take a little risk, tell them that's what Vegas is all about."

Indeed, many champagne bars and lounges offer educational events. Pops held its first Efferfest, a sparkling wine festival, last October. For $32, customers received a tasting glass at the door and the chance to taste three dozen sparklers from 13 countries, sample sparkling-friendly food including cheese, pates and sausages, and listen to live music.

The Bubble Lounges, meanwhile, periodically offer Champagne 101, a weekly class that lasts three-to-four weeks. "At the first one, we like to pair champagnes with comfort foods," explains Benn, "things like pizza and Chinese food, things you wouldn't typically expect, to show how wonderfully and flexibly champagne goes with food." Other classes in the series feature champagne experts hosting that evening's tasting.

The champagne-bar concept is going strong. Bubble Lounge's Benn is contemplating opening more locations in the U.S. and even overseas, while Pops's Verhey sees no reason to tweak or go beyond the champagne concept.

"People come to us the same way they go to a special restaurant--for the experience," Verhey says. "They come here for the champagne experience. We live it, we breathe it and we love it."

"I drink Champagne when I'm happy and when I'm sad. Sometimes I drink it when I'm alone. When I have company, I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I'm not hungry and drink it when I am. Otherwise, I never touch it, unless I'm thirsty."

--MADAME LILY BOLLINGER,

DIRECTOR OF BOLLINGER CHAMPAGNE

RELATED ARTICLE: Champagne Methodology

The most successful champagne bars tend to be lounges, with an upscale and romantic atmosphere, That upscale atmosphere, however, is also a comfortable one. "Pops is very elegant," says owner Tom Verhey, "but that elegance is casually treated. Pops is approachable--which is why we've succeeded for so long."

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Swanky Bubbles' partner Vince Frankowski describes his lounge's look as a cross between Alice in Wonderland and The Flintstones. The bar's website says the design theme is from the dream sequence of The Nutcracker. Designer Kevin Hale created the one-of-a-kind bar and tabletops: mosaics of green glass encased in resin. The upholstery is blue velvet.

The two Bubble Lounges, in New York and San Francisco, are divided into salons, each taking a champagne brand for its theme. "This is not something promotional," says Eric Benn, one of the owners. Each lounge is decorated with posters, some of them antique, of the brand--such as Tattinger's and Laurent-Perrier. In some cases, the Bubble Lounge has original artwork featuring specific brands. Some of the lounges are candlelit, with satin or velvet couches and stuffed chairs. In San Francisco, the downstairs Krug Room resembles a champagne cellar and features a private bar and a pool table.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Most champagne bars feature live entertainment. Jazz is a particular favorite. "It's Ella Fitzgerald: "I get a kick out of champagne,'" says Verhey.

--CS

RELATED ARTICLE: You're Going To Do What With That Saber?

According to legend, when Napoleon's cavalry officers returned from battle, they would celebrate with champagne, opening the bottles with their short curved swords. They had discovered that, if they hit the neck of the bottle in the right spot, they could crack off the neck, with the cork still attached. A nifty trick, especially since the pressure released by breaking the bottle this way keeps any shards of glass from entering the champagne.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Eric Benn, partner at the Bubble Lounges, is bringing back this theatrical tradition. But he doesn't always use a saber. He has "sabered" champagne using a golf club (and was pictured doing it in Golf magazine). He has sabered while scuba diving. He has even sabered a bottle with a champagne glass.

It is not a matter of cutting with a blade, he explains, but rather hitting the bottle in the right spot. "You could do it with a butter knife," Benn says. The bottle does need to be chilled, he adds.

For safety's sake, the bottle should be pointed away from people or valuables during the process. For instance, Bubble Lounge staff will only pull out the official saber if the lounge is not crowded.

But they will teach customers how to do it. "We set up, explain the history and show them how [it's done]," says Benn. Customers who learn to do it successfully are recognized with a certificate displayed in the bar.

--CS