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“Too much of anything
is bad, but toomuch
champagneisjust right”
Mark Twain
Today,there are more than 100 champagnehouses and 15,000
smaller vigneronsinthe Champagne region.Between them,they
manage 32,000 hectares of vineyards, providing employmentfor
around10,000. Annual sales by all producers total more than
300 million bottles and there is no indication that sales are in
any danger of fallingflat. Champagne is at the heartofmost
things joyousinour lives, so sales couldbesaid to be something
of abarometer of the nation’s happinessand prosperity.After all,
without it how could babies be properly christened or nuptials
ever celebrated?
Everyone fromFrench
generals to literary greats
have celebratedthe heady
elixir.The diminutive, butno
less formidable, Napoleon
Bonaparte had ahuge thirst
for champagne declaring:
“In victory,you deserve
champagne; in defeat you need
it”.Cole Porter may have got
“nokick from champagne”, but
as far as the celebrated author
Mark Twain was concerned:
“Too much of anythingisbad,
buttoo much champagneis
justright”.
Formany,the pop of the cork is all partofchampagne’s
attraction; however,contrarytowhat television and filmswould
have us believe, a‘pop’ is actually regarded as agrand fauxpas
in polite society.Corks should be turned slowly and carefully for
removal withbarely ahiss.
The young widow, Madame Clicquot, allegedlyentertained
Napoleon’sfabled Hussars in her vineyard in the early 1800s
admiring the spectacle of the dashing young cavalryofficers’
attempts to perform ‘sabrage’ -that tricky butimpressive
technique whereby the corkand neck can be severedbyasabre,
leavingthe bottle and its contents intact.Swashbuckling as this
sounds, it is not recommended thatyou trythis at home!
Adrink for all seasons,there’s intoxication to be had simply from
watchingthe veil of condensation form aroundthe outsideofa
freshly-poured glass and in recognising thateverytiny bubble
whichrises from the bottom to burst in asparkle of dropletson
the surface carries with it something of the fine airand soilofits
origins, atouchperhaps of the historyofthe drinkand an
indefinable quality of romance.
Is it any wonder that we have fallen,head over heels, for its
considerable charms?
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