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Champagne Blogger Marnie Nichols

How Does Someone Become A Champagne Blogger?

I get asked this question… a lot.

The simple answer is actually ridiculously simple … you build a website and start writing!

Of course if it was really that easy, everyone would be doing it.

Something has to really mean something to you to be prepared to invest all your spare time and money into learning about it obsessively, and sharing what you learn with anyone. And everyone. For free. Which is what I do.

Which leads to the second most commonly asked question… why do you write a blog that you don’t make any money on?

I started writing a champagne blog because it makes me happy and I want to make other people feel happy too. It’s about purpose. My purpose is connection – creating and deepening connections. And I feel connected when I’m working on my blog. I feel more connected to myself and others. 

Because I want to live in a world where happiness and joy and pleasure and fun and celebrating with family and friends is part of my everyday. I love connecting with family and friends and strangers through something that makes a lot of people smile and feel happy – and champagne does that.

Just the sound of a cork popping or glasses clinking can change the mood of an entire room.

We all see plenty of burnout and overwhelm and stress and guilt and we all know that’s not what life should be about. I get that it is a part of our reality, but if Bubble & Flute offers an escape from that, a place where you can feel happy indulging in something that is pure joy, even for a moment, that’s all I need to know. 

The longer answer is… two things happened for me to decide to write a champagne blog.

The first happened slowly over about ten years…

I don’t have a background in wine. I’m totally transparent about this… I’m self-taught and I’ve learnt everything I know about champagne as an everyday woman who discovered she loved champagne… and wanted to know why. I wanted to know more. I wanted to uncover what it was about champagne that had me totally hooked.

But when I first fell in love with champagne almost 15 years ago, there weren’t any blogs I could go to and learn about champagne.

So instead, I went to master classes and champagne dinners, I listened to the experts, I visited Champagne, talked to champagne makers, tasted and re-tasted champagnes, and read all the champagne books.

My champs-education was totally DIY and it was arduous because everything written about wine was (and largely still is) written by people in the wine industry for people in the wine industry… or serious wine connoisseurs with expertise and experience.

Which was incredibly frustrating and really quite boring!

My friends all enjoyed champagne and wanted to learn about champagne too but after hanging out at a few wine events with me, they stopped coming. They generally all said they’d rather wait for me to learn about it and then tell them all about because they “got it” when I talked about champagne.

So I started to think if my friends wanted help from someone who wasn’t a fancy wine-guru, maybe other champagne lovers would too.

And then there was a clear and memorable moment….

I was on a visit to the Champagne region with a group of friends a few years back. After we’d been in the region a few days and had tasted maybe 50 champagnes at six different houses I had a conversation with one of my friends that went like this…

Friend – “Marns, the biggest surprise from this trip for me has been how different champagnes can be. I thought all champagne tasted the same.”

Me – “Ummm… really? Like all red wine tastes the same? All beer or all whisky tastes the same?”

And it was at that moment right there that I realised maybe Champagne needed my help too. If people even close friends of mine could think all champagne tasted the same, the message was definitely not getting out enough.

So I started Bubble & Flute to…

Re-write the book (specifically as NOT a book) on learning about champagne.

Now I love a good book BUT it’s kinda hard to take a 400-page champagne guide with you every time you hit the wine shop or when you’re at dinner ordering a champagne and you wonder what the champagnes on the list are like.

But to whip out your phone and do a quick search and know you will get reliable FREE info about lots of different champagne brands in one place, that would be pretty cool!

Share simple and practical information – no Masters of Wine or Sommelier Diploma required!

But to help ANYONE else who wants to learn more about champagne.

People with fancy wine qualifications love marking wines out of ten and writing complex, lengthy tasting notes. I get it – they are very experienced and talented but as the everyday punter looking for a bottle of champagne, that has never really helped me much.

I could no sooner “grade” champagnes than I could rate my friends, family or lover out of ten. (OK… maybe I have been known to rate lovers out of ten…. but you get my drift.)

And when I taste champagne, I do it for enjoyment. And how much I enjoy anything (food, wine, movies, music, holidays, art) can completely depend on my mood, the weather, the occasion, and often even the lunar cycle!

Ditch the traditional tasting notes… because they are usually about as much fun as your first post-winter bikini wax!

And I say that because I’ve seen them make most ordinary champagne fans feel totally inadequate when they can’t detect “the butterscotch, brioche, wood smoke, and caramel popcorn”, or “the fresh-cut grass, sweet and earthy under the high-noon sun.”

I’m happy to admit, I don’t smell or taste all those flavours in champagne! I get it… for serious wine gurus and a very exclusive group of incredibly talented people those tasting notes matter.

But does it really matter or change how much you enjoy a champagne? It certainly doesn’t for me. And I’ll let you in on a secret… for so many champagne makers I’ve met and interviewed, it actually doesn’t matter to them either! They just want you to enjoy their champagne, the moment, and the memories you make. We’ll all smell and taste something different because that is our experience of the wine at the moment – your experience SHOULD be different to other people’s!

And that’s my story

Not much has changed for me since I started Bubble and Flute in 2016.

I am still spending all my free time learning and writing about champagne to share with you. Still for free and for fun.

Champagne Brimoncourt Australian Brand Ambassador, François Crémière, summed it up so well last year when I interviewed him about his favourite thing about champagne. He said…

“What I really like with champagne is that it is a joyful wine. And I love observing people reaction’s when they are poured a glass of champagne – smiling faces and millions of stars in the eyes. There is no doubt that champagne brings happiness.”

‘Nuff said really.

Marnie

xx

What makes you feel happy? Tell me about it below and if it is champagne, make sure you post a pic and tag @bubbleandflute #bubbleandflute #happychamper #champagnefan 

Bubble & Flute promotes the responsible consumption of alcohol for individuals of legal drinking age in their country.

Bubble & Flute promotes the responsible consumption of alcohol for individuals of legal drinking age in their country.

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