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1 week ago | 
civilianglobal.com | Karen Krizanovich
I don’t have arguments with people online. I really don’t. But on a recent Threads discussion of what condiment to serve on fries my feathers were well and truly ruffled by someone who suggested “sriracha or another spicy sauce, but always with champagne”. Having made some terrible early decisions, I snorted, “never with champagne!” As one of the most rarefied of beverages, it always seems such a delicate, fragile thing (although isn’t always).
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Mar 7, 2025 | 
civilianglobal.com | Karen Krizanovich
Bottomless champagne is rarely seen this side of one’s first wedding when daddy is paying. But a unicorn exists at the Intercontinental Park Lane. Inside the brutalist beauty of 145 Piccadilly – the site of Queen Elizabeth II’s former childhood home – you can find the finest afternoon tea known to humanity.
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Dec 20, 2024 | 
civilianglobal.com | Karen Krizanovich
Whether you drink it or not, the transformation of a grape into something more is aligned with the very best of human endeavour. This is why wine is celebratory and associated with fine things. For example, Beronia Rioja made such an elegant partnership with Curzon Cinemas for the 2024 Ivory Christmas film season.
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Dec 8, 2024 | 
dailymail.co.uk | Karen Krizanovich
A lot can change in a lifetime – marriage, divorce, our health – and along with this, our sex life alters, too. I'm 54 and the one thing I didn't predict was that at this stage of life I'd have a partner ten years younger than me. That's a libido boost in itself, of course, but it doesn't hurt to shore things up with proper sleep, exercise and a healthy diet too. These all give you the best chance of a thriving sex life post-menopause, after all. Sex has always been important to me.
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Oct 28, 2024 | 
civilianglobal.com | Karen Krizanovich
It’s not just champagne, you know. Every country has at least one sparkling wine it can call its own and these wines are universally used for celebrations. As resilience is again fashionable, sparkling wine is also drunk to staying power.
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Jun 5, 2024 | 
civilianglobal.com | Karen Krizanovich
Strains of a harp float through the gloaming, revealing fire pits and white marquees in a woodland clearing. This is what a Bollinger Bacchanalia looks like: It is the launch of La Grand Année 2015 and La Grand Année rosé, two of the brand’s most delicious bottles I’ve ever experienced. Bollinger makes La Grand Année only in the best harvest years and only with grapes from the best sites.
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May 12, 2024 | 
dailymail.co.uk | Karen Krizanovich
First, you should know that I have a thing about straight noses. And that's where it started, seeing his attractive classical profile as he walked in front of his desk. It was a summer afternoon in London and I was interviewing for a job in an office still simmering from the day's heat. The interview wasn't going that well. The whole day seemed a washout except maybe for this handsome guy. On my way out after the interview, I stopped at his desk to say hello.
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Mar 7, 2024 | 
civilianglobal.com | Karen Krizanovich
While studying for an MBA in film finance, we were told of a film investor who only wanted to fund hit films. That still makes me laugh. There is no recipe for a hit film. You can try your best with market conditions but whatever works now will rarely work again or if it does, it will be years later. Filmmakers are naturally concerned about a hit because the percentage those who get to make their second feature is astonishingly low. So, they’re not money-grubbing fiends.
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Feb 19, 2024 | 
civilianglobal.com | Karen Krizanovich
“You can’t tell what a grape is until you know what it’s been through,” says Alfie (Samuel L Jackson) of his pinot noir grapes in the spy comedy Argylle (above). Terroir as metaphor for life and love: you can’t tell what kind of love you’ve got until it’s been through a few things. With that awkward segue it’s time to celebrate that fragile thing which is, they say, stronger than death. Love can be celebrated with the roses and the chocolates, the lingerie and those boring bedframe manacles.
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Dec 1, 2023 | 
civilianglobal.com | Karen Krizanovich
Choosing a sparkling wine is complicated. May I present Exhibit one, Margaret Rand’s wonderful Decanter piece from 2010: “Champagne used to be so simple. There was nonvintage, which was what you drank. There was vintage, which was special…” Modern complications continue with her satirical creation, “rosé prestige saignée blanc de noirs zero dosage aged in futs de chêne”. This is why so many people trot up to parties with the same bottle as always. Why not try something else?
