Apocryphally, today (Aug. 4) is the date that Dom Perignon (above) first invented champagne — in 1693. (Read a fuller story at Wired.) Now, I’ve never really been sure how you could pinpoint a day like this, since champagne takes a while to create. You harvest the grapes, you mash ‘em up, you add some yeast, presto-chango, put it in a bottle, secondary fermentation, and voila, champagne!
So when’s the date? The bottling date? The opening date? The grape harvest? Seems to me that Aug. 4 is a convenient excuse to drink champagne.
So that’s what I’m going to do tonight. Champagne is a delicious drink, and people should drink it more often than just at special occasions. But this is a special occasion, if we’re going to buy into the story — this is champagne’s 316th birthday.
And also, my friend Alawna’s 23rd. So she gets to celebrate a champagne birthday every year. Lucky!
Grant Hamilton
2 Responses to “Happy Birthday, Champagne”
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Love it! I think it has to be tradition now. Last night was fabulous…but today…a little less so if you know what I mean….I’m sure Amy does.
Grant! I’m just cleaning up now, and I re read your card…its says that I’m a star…after reading this…I think you should have wrote on the inside…”now lets drink to the stars” hehe.