| EVENT REPORT 06.27.07 9:11 AM |
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| High Style |
| Ruinart employed a fleet of helicopters and a rolling Westchester estate to host a luxurious picnic for its Blanc de Blanc Champagne and limited-edition basket. |
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It's the rare event that includes instructions on how to exit a helicopter correctly to avoid injury. (For those who are curious: go straight out the door, and make a quick right angle away from the copter and into the landing field.) This was one of the more practical directives at Ruinart Champagne's picnic on Monday. (Another, delivered to a small group of guests via their boarding pass, was the dress code: "sunny yellow chic.")
A small group of fewer than 20 media folks and New York society types—including Valesca Guerrand-Hermes, Genevieve Jones, and Campion and Tatiana Platt—gathered at the 30th Street heliport to be transported slightly upstate to Westchester for an intimate luncheon in honor of Ruinart's Blanc de Blanc Champagne, made exclusively from chardonnay grapes.
The decadent yet personal event began with 10-minute helicopter ride, which ended on a perfectly groomed lawn of the Vanderbilt estate. The invite promised a scavenger hunt, and upon touching down, guests were approached by several golf carts adorned with yellow swaths of fabric and yellow roses. A scroll wrapped in yellow ribbon advised, "Follow the Yellow," initiating what you could call Amazing Race Lite: The hunt was far from challenging (stashes of the brand's deluxe Escapade picnic basket, also promoted by the event, were obviously planted on the journey up to the picnic spot), but the point of the afternoon was more to eat and drink than hunt. |
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PHOTO GALLERY |
 | Arrival by helicopter afforded attendees impressive views of their destination.
Photo: BizBash |
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 | Guests received boarding passes as invites.
Photo: BizBash |
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 | A fleet of golf carts met guests in the field where they landed.
Photo: BizBash |
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 | A scroll directed guests, "Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is: Hunt for the treasure—the Ruinart Picnic Case. Your clue: Follow the Yellow."
Photo: BizBash |
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 | A path of rose petals led invitees to the table where lunch was served.
Photo: BizBash |
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 | Ruinart's Stephanie Chassing welcomed guests and thanked them for coming.
Photo: BizBash |
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 | Ruinart's Stephanie Chassing described the picnic basket's design as a mix of modern and traditional sensibilities, with cross-hatching referencing the weave of a standard basket.
Photo: BizBash |
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 | Croquet mallets in the grass added another picnic touch.
Photo: BizBash |
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 | Lobster salad and lemon tart made up the lunch menu, provided by the in-house caterers at the Vanderbilt estate.
Photo: BizBash |
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 | The golden color of Ruinart's Blanc de Blanc, and the summer season, inspired the pallete of the event.
Photo: BizBash |
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The golf carts delivered attendees to the entrance of the Vanderbilt mansion, where glasses of Champagne awaited and a carpet of yellow and white rose petals led to a yellow and white deluxe picnic setup, complete with large linen umbrellas and floral arrangements in the event's signature colors. On prominent display was the Ruinart picnic basket, and nearby a cellist played Bach suites.
Ruinart marketing manager Stephanie Chassing explained that the company hoped to capture the spirit of a spontaneous getaway. "We have this beautiful picnic basket, and we wanted to take a small group of champagne aficionados to a place completely unexpected," she said. "Summer has arrived. You can take a picnic basket and go anywhere with friends. We wanted to host something to give that experience. Something very intimate, very convivial."
Susan Shin, president of marketing firm Shin Advisors, produced the event. Shin considered a variety of venues, including private spaces at the Central Park Conservancy and the New York Botanical Garden. A connection at the mansion enabled her to book the space for far less than the property's usual fee of $200,000.
Additional logistics included closing the estate's golf course for the duration of the event (to provide a pristine view for guests) and securing permits from both the mansion and the town police commissioner to allow four helicopters to land on the grounds. While the use of the copters did cause some fearful guests to decline Ruinart's invitation, they also stood by to provide a quick getaway, should anyone in attendance wish to leave. "We didn't want people to feel trapped," Shin said. "If someone wants to leave, they can leave."
—Mimi O'Connor
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