Champagne Pommery named as this year’s Champagne Academy Presidential House

Champagne Pommery has been named as the Presidential House for the 2017 Champagne Academy.

Incoming chairman Kevin Skeet with Philip Amps

The Champagne Academy, which was founded in 1956 to provide in-depth education about Champagne, has a different Presidential House each year, as the presidency rotates between each of the sixteen Grande Marques Champagne Houses that have collaborated on the programme for more than sixty years. Champagne Pommery is being supported by in-coming and out-going Vice Presidential Houses of Louis Roederer and Pol Roger.

Sara Hicks, UK director of Champagne Pommery said the house was looking forward to its presidency.  “Our first task, along with representatives of the Academy and other Houses, is the selection of this year’s sixteen candidates, all of whom have been personally nominated or have applied via the Academy website.”

The Champagne Academy was founded to educate a selection of UK-based off-trade, on-trade and hospitality sector candidates in all aspects of Champagne. The week-long diploma course includes visits to the different Houses, extensive tasting, classes, daily tests and a final exam. Candidates who pass are awarded the prestigious Champagne Academy Diploma and invited to join The Champagne Academy, while the candidate with the best score will also be awarded a magnum from each of the Academy Houses.

“I would encourage any young champagne enthusiasts from the wine or hospitality trades to seize this extraordinary opportunity to immerse themselves in all things Champagne, as well as build networks and friendships that will last a lifetime,” Hicks said.

In February the organisation appointed a new chairman, Kevin Skeet, who is group operations director for Legacy Hotels & Resorts. Skeet took over the one-year tenure chairmanship from Philip Amps of Amps Fine Wines and is keen to raise awareness of the organisation across the UK on- and off-trade and encourage a wide range of potential candidates to apply.

He said he was delighted that the quality and quantity of applications received so far this year, which was at an all-time high, but said that he wanted to raise the bar “even higher and to ensure the future stars of the wine and hospitality industries all aspire to put themselves forward as candidates.”

The sixteen of Grandes Marques Champagne Houses who make up the Champagne Academy comprise Bollinger, Charles Heidsieck, Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin, Heidsieck Monopole, Krug, Lanson, Laurent Perrier, Moët & Chandon, GH Mumm & Co, Perrier-Jouët, Piper Heidsieck, Pommery, Pol Roger, Louis Roederer, Ruinart and Taittinger.