I am pretty sure that many readers of this blog popped a Champagne cork or two over the festive season to toast the celebrations. Away from the holidays champagne is reserved for special events likes marriages, births, graduations, promotions, etc.
As Mike Steinberger writes for Slate, “Champagne is the ultimate celebratory tipple, yet this limited, somewhat frivolous role obscures a fundamental point—Champagne is a wine, one that happens to pair exceedingly well with all sorts of foods and that can offer year-round pleasure.”
This is the essence of an excellent article written by Mike about the beauty of and problems with treating Champagne like most other wines and pairing it with food. You can read the entire article here.
However, I would like to extract and share this great quote with you.
“The case for making Champagne a quotidian pleasure was memorably advanced by the late Lily Bollinger, matriarch of the eponymous Champagne house. Describing her personal Champagne consumption, she said, ‘I drink it when I’m happy and when I’m sad. Sometimes I drink it when I’m alone. When I have company I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I’m not hungry and drink it when I am. Otherwise, I never touch it, unless I’m thirsty.’”