A lot of people enjoy a lovely chilled glass of champagne, whether to celebrate a special occasion or just treat themselves on a night out. Champagne is a symbol of luxury and extravagance, and has a fun, frivolous image. As it has become more affordable it can be enjoyed by even more people. When something needs to be celebrated, glasses are being raised in a toast or a party needs to get started, nothing but the bubbles will do.
The drink originated in the Champagne region of France, which was known for its quality still wines up until the second half of the seventeenth century. At this point wine producers grew tired of competing with the wine producers in Burgundy, and decided to create a different kind of white wine. What was originally known as “Vin Gris” became popular with British drinkers in particular; this is believed to be because during the transportation to Britain from France, the warm temperatures kicked off a further stage of fermentation – making the fizz even fizzier.
One champagne bottle contains around 58 million bubbles! A lot of champagne drinkers do not know that the quality of what they are drinking is determined by what is called the “mousse” of the champagne. This is the fizz; the softer the fizz, and the smaller the bubbles, the better it is. “Brut” champagne is dry or very dry; “Extra Brut” is bone dry.
There is no doubt that champagne tastes better in beautiful, elegant champagne flutes. The original champagne drinking vessel was called a “coupe” (a saucer-shaped glass said to have been created using a mold taken of Marie Antoinette’s breast, although there is no proof of this!). Nowadays the champagne flute is the most common shape of champagne drinking glass – a stem glass with a tall, narrow bowl – and it comes in many different styles. The bowl itself could look similar to a narrow wine glass, or it may be very narrow and straight-sided, or shaped like a trumpet. The narrow surface area at the top of the bowl (compared to regular red wine glasses or even the white wine ones with far wider bowls) is designed to maintain the fizz (carbonation) in the champagne for as long as possible, and is why the flute has largely replaced the original coupe.
Champagne coupes, also known as saucers, are still used to create champagne towers, often at parties and wedding receptions. They are stacked in layers to make an impressive focal point. Champagne is poured into one glass at the very the top of the tower and, done carefully, it will trickle down into the lower glasses until every one is filled.
Champagne flutes may be clear glass, crystal, pewter, silver or wooden, and there are even plastic champagne flutes for those camping trips! If you like to present your champagne in flutes to match the elegance of the drink itself, crystal stemware is a natural choice. Crystal is so fine that it will not interfere with the pleasure of your drinking experience, and the transparency of crystal allows you to admire the bubbles rising to the rim of the flute. Connoisseurs of champagne and fine wine generally favor crystal stemware over any other material for these reasons. Crystal has an expensive look and feel that ordinary glass and other materials just do not live up to.
The Internet is an excellent place to start looking for your perfect champagne glasses; there are hundreds of designs available across all price ranges. Take time to do your research and compare prices to get the best value for money. Then all you have to do is find an excuse to pop open the cork of a delicious bottle of bubbly and raise your new flutes in a toast!
