The Signet Library is one of Edinburgh’s most elegant wedding venues. Like the library in the Old Quad of the University of Edinburgh, it was partly designed by William Playfair, and its upstairs gallery was described by George IV as the most beautiful room he’d ever seen.

I’ve only once conducted a wedding there, so I was delighted to be invited by Heritage Portfolio to join them at one of their ‘Afficionados’ events, a tutored tasting of Pommery Champagne.

I conduct weddings at venues all over the country, and it hasn’t escaped my notice that Heritage Portfolio are the caterers to some of the most beautiful. Ian D’Annunzio-Green is one of the founding directors of the company, and I’ve been very impressed by the passion and dedication he and his staff  obviously feel about food and bring to their work.

Earlier this year, I was at another ‘Afficionados’ event where one of their chefs did a presentation about what he’d learned on a month-long stage at Noma, currently the hottest restaurant in the world. We spent a happy afternoon trying – and failing – to copy the skills he’d picked up, and the attention to detail he’d learned, and with luck I’ll get some photos of that too.

As you know if you’ve visited my blog before, I often blow my trumpet on behalf of photographers and musicians whose work I admire, but as I never stay for the meal, I’ve never been able to give my compliments to the chef.

Now having had two bites of their cherry, I’m happy to give Heritage Portfolio a full-blown trumpet voluntary – they really are in a class of their own.

The Pommery Champagne Bar is open throughout the festival. You can have anything from a cup of tea and a scone to a delicious, locally caught lobster and chips with of course, a glass of champagne. It’s just off Parliament Square, behind St Giles’s Kirk, so it’s well worth the detour, as the Guide Michelin would say. Enjoy!