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Win NYE with these Champagne and playlist pairings

Read time 5 Mins

Posted 15 Dec 2022

By
Alexandra Whiting

Various bottles of Champagne on a table at a New Year's Eve party

Whether you’re planning a laissez faire soirée, a dinner party planned to perfection or a night of dancing, we have the bottle, and music, for you.

Champagne is essential on New Year's Eve. You’re commemorating the year gone by, its ups, downs and roundabouts, and celebrating the shiny new year ahead. Only the best bubbles will do. Whether you’re planning to celebrate by doing the most, or least, two things shall be key to your night: Champagne and music. But can the right bottle with the right music bring something a little more to the party? This is the year to find out. Ahead, luxe bubbles and soundtracks to drinking them.
Nicholas Feuillatte

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Nicholas Feuillatte and a Nancy Meyers’ Kitchen playlist

Whether your NYE dinner party is a staple in the calendar year after year, or this is the first time you’re playing host, trust us, Champagne and chic music will make everything look calm, organised and sophisticated, even if your kitchen is an explosion of chaos. You want to channel Meryl Streep in It’s Complicated or Diane Keaton in Something’s Gotta Give: yes, coastal grandma chic. Big kitchens, great cooking and big glasses of wine. You might not have Martin Short as your planner, à la Father or the Bride, but baby, you got this. A Nancy Meyers playlist (you’ll find a lot on Spotify) is a mix of Eartha Kitt, Nat King Cole and Nina Simone with some French jazz moments, a bit of Sinatra and, all in all, fancy, comforting music to wear your pearls to. Now for the wine. Nicolas Feuillatte Selection Brut NV Champagne is one of the most beautiful bottles, at a really good price. It’s often noted as one of the best-value Champagnes, delivering well above the expectations of a bottle under $55. Perfect for when you’re catering for more. It has a warming honey edge, biscuity balance to the white fruit moments and a refreshing aftertaste that often converts the Mumm or Veuve Clicquot drinkers to Feuillatte stans.

Philipponnat Champagne Royal Reserve and French house music

So yes, Champagne is French, by definition, but I promise I’m not being lazy with the French house pairing. House music is all about a beat that can keep you on the dance floor for hours, and if you’re planning an open house, laissez faire-style soirée that starts in the afternoon and kicks on 'til the early hours of Jan 1, there’s nothing better. French house is a little more chill than the English-speaking style, and you’re not getting caught up in the lyrics, so it’s easy to chat over. And, you know, it’s just cooler. It will give your party an edge. Your Champagne is equally as cool. The kind of thing Emily in Paris’ cool colleagues would drink at a lunch they didn’t invite her to. Philipponnat Champagne Royal Reserve is a family-run Champagne house. This particular family has been making wine since the 16th century. They famously supplied Louis XIV, aka the Sun King (considered the French King with the most amount of swagger, he made the monarch absolute and a divine right so no one could argue, had a lot of lovers, and built Versaille). It’s a historic, lively, fruity and toasty drop. It doesn’t need a lot of food, so chips, dips, a cheese platter and a late-night Uber Eats cheeseburger run is actually the ideal pairing menu.
Philipponnat Champagne Royal Reserve

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Lanson Le Rosé Champagne and your Disney favourites

Boo, it’s New Year’s freaking Eve. You. Do. You. If that means unabashedly pumping out 'Let It Go' with your BFFs like you’re on an episode of Glee, do it. Let Elsa’s ballad roll into Simba and Nala’s love song, into 'The Family Madrigal' and a perfectly choreographed 'We Don’t Talk About Bruno', into the underwater band’s hits like you’re part of Ariel's world. What a freeing night of sheer delight. Lanson Le Rosé Champagne NV fits the scene perfectly. Having made the Rosé Champagne style for over 50 years, Lanson knows what they’re doing. Made with pinot noir and chardonnay grapes, it’s delicate and soft with strawberry and Red Delicious apple notes. Snow White, anyone?

Joseph Perrier and pop queens

Joseph Perrier Champagnes were favoured by Queen Victoria, which is why a royal seal still adorns every bottle. As such, your playlist should be full of queens, queens of pop that is. Queens of the '80s, '90s, '00s and now. Madonna, Beyonce, Gaga, Miley, Taylor, Christina, Britney, Rihanna, Nicki, Katy and Shakira to bring the hits. Joseph Perrier Cuvee Royale Vintage to bring the flavour. Nutty, toasty, dry and rich, it’s mature and honeyed with some intense lemon notes that give it some extra ‘pop’. Is it too much to suggest a dress-up theme to this NYE event? We don’t think so. Let the music be your guide, plus, no one has ever had a bad time in a blonde wig, head mic and a gold cone bra.
Joseph Perrier

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AR Lenoble

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AR Lenoble and romantic ballads

This is a sexy Champagne. Why? Because it’s fancy. A jewel of the Champagne region. Not the kind of thing you want to share around, so tonight is just for the two of you. AR Lenoble Champagne Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Vintage is made with only chardonnay grapes from a picturesque village. A quarter of the blend is vinified in oak while the ageing happens in magnums. The 2012 vintage has a surprisingly fresh palate. It’s smooth, persistent, dry, complex and balance. It’s the kind of Champagne that makes you think you’re tasting the stars. For such a romantic drink, and notion, the music should match. Depending on what you and your beau consider romantic, you could be playing some Barry White, Sam Smith and Adele, or Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros. Relationships are nuanced, we won’t dictate what turns you on, just find it and play it before you pop the bottle. 
Authour image
Alexandra WhitingWriter, mum and afternoon spritz enthusiast. Thinks most gatherings should be celebrated with Champagne.
Tags
Hit ListWineChampagneSparklingFun pairingsEntertainingWhite WineNew Year's Eve
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