April 2010: The Champagne Ambassador’s Award is now open for applications from wine educators in the UK. This year the Champagne Bureau wants to know your approach to teaching students about the diversity of Champagne wines.

Champagne is unique – unique by its appellation, its terroir, its history, by its reputation and by how it has adapted through the centuries. However it also hides an unexpected diversity of wines – not just vintage and non vintage, but rosé, zero dosage, blanc de blancs, blanc de noirs, sec and many more. This diversity will be the theme of this year’s awards and The Champagne Bureau wants it to be explored by the entrants in their applications.

The competition is open to all wine educators (teachers, stewards, enologists and wine aficionados) who share their knowledge and passion for wine in a school, club or association, on a freelance basis, or by lecturing. There will be a UK final at The Dorchester Hotel, and the winner will go on to win a trip to Champagne. The trip will include exclusive visits to producers, meeting key figures in the industry, and expanding their knowledge of the wine. The week is finished off by competing in the European final, followed by a Gala Dinner when the winner of the European Champagne Ambassador’s Award will be announced.

If you are passionate about Champagne and would like to learn more or renew your acquaintance with the unique cellars and history of this special region by spending an exceptional week with seven other wine educators, send an application to Champagne Ambassador’s Awards 2010.

Wine educators from eight countries are eligible for the competition: Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland. Participants are free to make presentations in the language of their choice.

With winners in three of the last five years, the UK has a history of success at the Awards. Last year’s overall winner was Richard Bampfield MW – the UK entrant. Richard went to Epernay for the European Final – “The four days in Champagne for all the national winners are a real treat… The highlight is clearly the Gala Dinner at the end, when the winners are announced in front of an audience of senior figures from the Champagne world, invited guests, judges and, of course, the candidates. I have been delighted at the number of Champagne tastings that I am now invited to present, as a result of the award.  These, after all, give me even more opportunities to indulge in one of my favourite activities, tasting and drinking Champagne!”