Champagne for Breakfast

A bottle of ’92 Dom Perignon was causing our friend anxiety.  It had been dragged around California during multiple moves – always in an ice chest, he assured us – but he couldn’t decide which occasion was special enough to drink it.  How about just to celebrate being alive, happy and in good health, we suggested.  He thought for a minute and announced he would have it for breakfast the next day.  And he did!  He and his wife toasted life with their bacon and eggs and it was wonderful.

It is too bad we have this cultural sticking point that Champagne, or sparkling wine, is for special occasions.  Madame Bollinger from the famous Bollinger Champagne house said, “I drink it when I’m happy and when I’m sad.  Sometimes, I drink it when I’m alone.  When I have company I consider it obligatory.  I trifle with it if I’m not hungry and drink it if I am.  Otherwise, I never touch it – unless I’m thirsty.”

A glass of Champagne or sparkling wine turns the ordinary into the extraordinary.  As Dom Perignon, the French Benedictine monk who invented Champagne cried out to his fellow monks, “Come quickly!  I’m tasting the stars!”  Most of us grind our way through the week to a weekend of chores at home so why not carve out an evening – or a morning – to enjoy one of the elegant extras in life, as Charles Dickens put it.  Or to quote the German actress Marlena Dietrich, “It gives you the impression that every day is Sunday.”

We all need to be elevated from the mundane from time to time and yes, the good stuff from France is expensive but there are some excellent, reasonably priced sparkling wines being made in California, as well as Prosecco from Italy and Cava from Spain.

One more tip:  If a whole bottle is more than you can manage, there are excellent stoppers for Champagne bottles available that will keep what’s left in the bottle fresh and bubbly for a couple of days.