champagne plaques

I found this story http://www.wineloverspage.com/wlp_archi ... 141212.php in the wine-lovers archive, but I did not see the name of the writer. I'm looking for champagne plaques for a project I'm working on, and I'm wondering who makes these things. Would I be best off going to individual wineries to try to obtain some of their plaques, or might there be a general distributor of them? Any info appreciated. Thanks.

[Robin Garr]

Hi, Carole! I wrote the article, but I don't have any idea who makes the plaques. I would guess that some US manufacturer does, because they're commonplace on US bubbly as well as French. I have a couple of big mugs full!

I'll bet that if you wrote to a US bubbly maker - Argyle in Oregon, maybe, or Gruet in New Mexico, or even the industrial-size Korbel in Sonoma County, they'd be happy to give you some samples, and perhaps refer you to the manufacturer.

[Robin Garr]

Or maybe our own Howie Hart, who makes some awesome wines at home, might know. Probably, though, home winemakers recycle the plaques from commercial bubbly.

[David M. Bueker]

My parents have an artist friend who has incorporated some of the plaques into a couple of artworks for them.

Or maybe our own Howie Hart, who makes some awesome wines at home, might know. Probably, though, home winemakers recycle the plaques from commercial bubbly.

For home wine makers, the wire hoods are sold with plain plaques, like these. I have saved a few of the decorated ones but have never re-used them. Most of the better commercial bubblies with decorated plaques also seem to have stronger wires.

We started collecting plaques possibly after seeing Robin's original articles. And for a bit of trivia to store away in the grey matter the name for a collector is 'placomusophile'.

[David M. Bueker]

They can be turned into very stylish refrigerator magnets.