Why is it that normally we drink champagne only on happy ocassions?

skysmom65

Wines from the Champagne region were already known before medieval times. Churches owned vineyards, and monks produced wine for use in the sacrament of Eucharist. French kings were traditionally anointed in Reims. Champagne wine flowed as part of coronation festivities. Kings appreciated the still, light, and crisp wine, and offered it as an homage to other monarchs in Europe. In the 17th century, still wines of Champagne were the chosen wines for celebration in European countries. English people were the biggest consumers of Champagne wines, and drank a lot of sparkling wines. The first commercial sparkling wine was produced in the Limoux area of Languedoc about 1535. They did not invent it; nobody knows who first made it, although the British make a reasonably good claim. Contrary to legend and popular belief, the French monk Dom Perignon did not invent champagne, although it is almost certainly true that he developed many advances in the production of this beverage. Some people believe that champagne was created quite by accident, but no one has been able to prove that this is the case. Some others believe that the first champagne was made with rhubarb but was changed due to the high cost. Somewhere in the end of the 17th century, the sparkling method was imported to the Champagne region, associated with specific procedures for production (including smooth pressing and dosage), and stronger bottles (invented in England) that could hold the added pressure. Around 1700, sparkling Champagne was born. MORE: http://www.answers.com/Champagne Feb 06 07, 1:59 PM

Baloo55th

Interesting, but doesn't really answer the question. Why do we drink champagne on happy occasions? Because it's expensive and brought out on special occasions only, and because the fizz gives a rather mediocre wine a lift, and lifts the spirits of the drinker - especially if someone else is paying. The presence of the bubbles makes the alcohol easier to absorb quickly, so a glass of champagne seems more intoxicating than a flat wine. Just what you need when celebrating. The British buy their champagne in the Brut form, which is horrendously dry. This is purely down to fashion. The French, I believe, prefer Demi-Sec or even Doux. A lot of people here actually prefer the taste of Asti Spumante or the German Sekt wines - largely because they are sweeter and possibly better wine to start with. Champagne is overpriced and over-rated - and often wasted altogether when idiots shake the bottles and spray it around. Give me a good Sekt any day and you can keep your Brut champagne. By the way, serving it in a flute (tall and thin) glass makes the fizz last longer. Those rounded wide glasses supposedly modelled on a certain queen's anatomy lose all the fizz quickly and leave you with something flat and hardly worth drinking. Feb 06 07, 2:49 PM