There is a running joke in my family that the Pollas have champagne running through our veins instead of blood. That would be something we inherited from my mother’s side of the family. Indeed, since I can remember as a little girl, champagne has always been her drink of choice, in the non-traditional form of a “piscine” (literally, “swimming pool”), meaning champagne served in a large cabernet wineglass with lots of ice cubes.
I, personally, prefer champagne served the traditional way, without ice, in a long flute. To many, in particular here in the US, champagne is something to reserve for very special occasions, such as a wedding, New Year’s Eve, maybe Valentine’s day. In the Polla household (in Geneva, growing up, and now in Georgetown and New Orleans), champagne is something to have as frequently as others might have wine. Indeed, Mom always said “don’t wait to have something special to celebrate to drink champagne, or indeed you might not ever drink it!”
The sound of the cork, the beautiful bubbles, the golden (or pink) color, even the glasses used to drink it, everything about champagne makes me happy. I collect champagne flutes (I only like to have two of the same; I am not one to have a set of 12). I collect champagne corks (with the date and occasion written on them when a special occasion is to be remembered). I once started collecting “special occasion” champagne bottles, until my husband suggested that collection was taking up too much space.
While my very favorite champagne is Champagne Drappier, from a boutique French vineyard, still relatively hard to find stateside, my go-to is Veuve Cliquot Yellow Label, and my favorite pink champagne is Veuve Cliquot Rosé. I love everything about this brand – the history, that Madame Cliquot (the widow) took over the running of the business in 1805, that the company is now owned by LVMH, that its former CEO Mireille Guiliano wrote “French Women Don’t Get Fat,” and that Veuve Cliquot every year honors a woman in business with the “Business Woman Award.”
Not that I need an excuse to pop open a bottle of bubbly, but Le Figaro Magazine (a French publication, of course) this past November did a story on the health benefits of champagne, recognized as early as the 18th century to help with digestion, have anti-aging benefits, have antiseptic properties, and, most importantly, “cure black thoughts” (Le Figaro Magazine, November 30, 2012, pages 118-120).
On that note, it is almost time to have a mimosa to celebrate the end of 2012, and the impending start of a New Year. After all, the NPR team had champagne earlier this morning on air while doing a story on this very topic… so it must be 5 o’clock somewhere!