This year like every year, millions of people all across the globe will raise their glasses in a joyous toast to the coming of the New Year, and most of those glasses will be filled with a certain alcoholic drink that has stood the test of time and remains today among the world’s most sought after tipples!
Of course, we are talking about champagne, a beverage originally brewed for the crowned heads of Europe that is now enjoyed by people from all walks of life! The royal families of yore drank this delicious sparkling wine from France’s Champagne province instead of water because the alcohol made it safe from germs, but there was more to it than that, champagne has something special about it that sets it apart from all other wines and liquours, a sense of quality and refinement that makes it a symbol of style and good living to this day.
Champagne is a requirement for a great many Western celebrations beyond New Year’s Eve, you will always find it at posh parties and wedding celebrations. Whatever the special occasion you are bound to hear that happy “pop!” sound that signals its time to raise a toast, the ancient tradition of wishing good health and prosperity to your comrades. In ancient Rome it was customary to drink a toast to the emperor whenever there was a public gathering, and a wise practice not to forego considering their infamously foul temperaments! Throughout European history, people would show their respect and support for their rulers by offering up their glasses to be filled from their lord’s cup, then toasting him with it- after all, he was buying that round!
The very first historically documented case of a toast to a ruler was in 1796 when the French people saluted Emperor Napoleon with alcoholic beverages to praise him for his victories. Even after he fell out of favour and they socked him away on a lonely little island, the tradition carried on, cementing the place of raising toasts and giving cheers in almost any public or private celebration. Even before the practice became essential to New Year’s Eve parties, it was customary to drink a toast at the midnight bell, not a minute sooner or later, since that was the hour in which one’s old habits died and new ones could be born, also a harbinger of the (in)famous New Year’s resolutions ignored by millions every year!
Champagne gained its close association with celebrations back in the 17th century when free French citizens of wealth and good standing would drink champagne, formerly the nearly exclusive province of royalty, as a symbol of their newfound prosperity. The royalty couldn’t say much about it, since they no longer had their heads about them! The French dearly loved their New Year celebrations, so naturally champagne was on hand to help them raise those midnight toasts, and so the tradition that has lasted centuries began. Now, all around the world you can hear the corks popping as the midnight hour grows nigh and the heart-tugging strains of Auld Lang Syne fill the night air with good cheer, and maybe just a bit of longing for those halcyon days gone by. -“Cheers!”
