Royal British Legion launches centenary champagne

The RBL 100 range - a Brut, Rosé, and Blanc de Blanc - was unveiled during a tasting event for veterans at Heswall RBL Club on Saturday, in an event to mark Armed Forces Day.

Dave Wakelam, who joined the Army at 16 and served in Borneo, was among those taking part in the tasting.

He said: "We loved sampling the champagne, it tastes fantastic, but the fact that it is raising money for our armed forces community is brilliant and I hope people get hold of a bottle to support the RBL and raise a toast to our veterans."

Borneo veteran Dave Wakelam and brother John, ex-submarine during champagne range launch for Royal British Legion

The range has been launched in partnership with luxury bespoke wine and spirit makers Eminent Wines.

Ten percent from every sale will go to the charity, which celebrates its centenary in 2021 and provides life-long support to the Armed Forces community.

The label, designed by Eminent Wines, depicts wild poppies, the Royal British Legion Flower of Remembrance.

The trio of champagnes is:

• Reveille (Brut) - A name inspired by the music which follows The Last Post and Two Minute Silence at Remembrance services.
• Champs de Fleurs (Rose) - Translates from French to ‘fields of flowers’, in reference to the fields of poppies that flourished on the Western Front following the First World War, which lead to the red poppy becoming a symbol of Remembrance and hope for a peaceful future.
• Centurion (Blanc de Blanc) - A name, quite simply, in reference to 100 years of the Royal British Legion

The bottles are now available to buy at www.eminentwines.com to toast a century of support for the Armed Forces community.

Below: Raising a glass during champagne range launch for Royal British Legion

The Royal British Legion raised £50m at the Poppy Appeal two years ago, but in 2020, due to Covid-19, it was £24m. With no face-to-face fundraising in the past year, the RBL has switched to online donations, merchandise sales, and virtual Poppy Runs.

Petty Officer Hayley Shakeshaft raises a glass during Saturday's launch

Ben France, head of corporate partnerships at The Royal British Legion, said: "During the pandemic, charities have had to be ever more creative and innovative in the way they raise funds.

"The money raised from our RBL 100 Champagne sales will help us continue to provide life-long support to the Armed Forces community.

"We are delighted to be working in partnership with Eminent Wines and are grateful for their support.

"What better way to raise a toast to the Royal British Legion during our centenary year than with a bottle of our delicious champagne."

Jerome Jacober, Founder and chief executive of Eminent Wines, guided the veterans through the champagne tasting.

He said: "We are delighted to be celebrating such a huge milestone with the Royal British Legion and raising much-needed funds for such a worthy cause with this range of limited edition Champagnes. It is such an honour.

"The veterans thoroughly enjoyed sampling our trio of RBL 100 Champagnes."

The trio of champagnes are from Champagne Jacober, Épernay, France.

This famous Champagne town, is surrounded by beautiful terroir and vineyards ideal for Champagne wine-growing and is known affectionately as the heart of the Champagne region.

The grapes for the RBL 100 Celebration range are selected from vines grown on

the southern Grand Cru and Premier Cru hillsides of Épernay.

The art of blending required carefully selecting the wines from these different slopes and grape varieties, and even from other years, to create a wine that perfectly expresses the style and identity of Champagne Jacober.

Eminent Wines founder Jerome Jacober was part of the selection and blending process and he explained: "To ensure the range truly reflects this honour of the RBL 100 celebration, the Champagne rested in authentic 18th-century cellars for 24 months to allow for ‘quiet’ fermentation, to result in fine, delicate, celebratory bubbles!”