Today, August 4 is said to be the day Dom Perignon invented champagne back in 1693. Now, I have no idea if this is true. Not sure anyone can confirm this as all parties involved are long gone and record-keeping was a bit spotty back then what with no iPhones, laptops or even a PC around ;-)
The funny thing is naturally occurring bubbles were seen as a problem at the time in wine-making so this was more of a problem than an invention but I’ll take it :) And from what I have read, what was invented back then as a sparkling wine/champagne bears no resemblance to what we love to toast with now.
The Dom :) Looks like its bubbling over to me :)
Now, if you know me, you know I call all bubbly ‘champagne’ (or just bubbly) because that whole “it can’t be called champagne if the grapes aren’t from that region” is phooey to me. But I’ve ranted about that before so won’t re-hash :) So if you are offended if I call a delicious Gloria Ferrar Carneros Cuvee or a Schramsberg Brut “champagne” – you should hang up right now because I simply don’t care if I offended your delicate sensibilities about that.
Champagne is a happy drink. It can be served, and goes well, with any food – from fanciful 6 course dinners to pizza. A long-standing holiday tradition for me is when trimming my Christmas tree I order pizza and drink champagne. Love this! Another of my favorites treats is, when my husband is out of town and I don’t need to make dinner and feel like being bad, a glass of dry Brut with a McDonald’s cheeseburger and fries. The salty food and sweet but not really that sweet Brut mixture is fantastic! I *highly* recommend you try it!
But whatever the truth is about the true origins of champagne, we do owe the Dom (not to be confused with the Don!) a big THANK YOU anyway! And I see this as a good enough reason to toast him this evening with a glass of bubbly – although likely not opening one of my bottles of Dom to do it since I can’t drink the entire thing by myself and it is school night after all :)
If you love champagne like I do, I highly recommend reading “The Widow Clicquot”:
I really liked this book. A good amount of reading on champagne making history in general plus about the Widow’s life. Fun read for sure. Starts off a bit slow so keep with it :)
And if you really want to try a “fancier” bottle of bubbly but find the prices out of reach, look around for a newly released vintage and just hold onto it for a few years. They are still pricey but much less so and it’s a great way to enjoy a really nice bottle on a special occasion later. Champagne should be enjoyed within 10 or so years of its vintage year (on bottle.) Although I had a bottle of Cristal that was given to me as a gift (2 bottles actually) about 13-15 years ago. I finally just opened 1 of them last year and it was GREAT! I need to enjoy the other one soon because if it were to go bad – I would definitely cry over the needless waste of a $400+ bottle of anything!!
And get yourself a champagne stopper so you don’t have to drink it all in 1 night (this is for the less expensive bottles – finish your good ones!) Or *horrors* waste it….this was the best buy ever! I love mine from Beverages & More. I think it cost like $5.00 or something. I had one from Bed, Bath & Beyond – not as good.
Hope you enjoy some soon!
