CHAMPAGNE: TONIC FOR THE WEARY SOUL

~Doc Lawrence

“I drink Champagne 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 when I am. Otherwise, I never touch it -- unless I'm thirsty.” 

                       ― Lily Bollinger, House of Bollinger Champagne

Trying times test our resilience. How to endure yet another day of isolation and inactivity when our instincts urge being among others? History shows that food and wine are positive and welcoming, spiritually uplifting affirmations of continuity. Champagne has stood the test of time as a beverage that celebrates life, symbolizing determination and victory.

It is also versatile, pairing beautifully with almost every item on a dinner table and will take to staples like barbeque that few other beverages can equal. It’s a sparkling wine, albeit a regal one, and there are many affordable variations.

Champagne played a major role in defeating Hitler and Nazi Germany. Erik Larson’s magnificent best-seller, The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz, describes the constant bombing of London and Churchill’s sessions in the bunker beneath 10 Downing Street. Good food and Champagne were available alongside maps, typewriters, microphones and stationary. Churchill’s cabinet attended and worked tirelessly, all the while refreshing themselves. 

Churchill, no stranger to the risks of dark hours, once observed that “a single glass of champagne imparts a feeling of exhilaration. The nerves are braced, the imagination is agreeably stirred, the wits become more nimble.” His first of several monumental meetings with FDR were accompanied by cases of Pol Roger Champagne, his favorite, brought across the Atlantic along with the baggage on the HMS The Prince of Wales.

Champagne, in general, is bright and flavorful with that lively sparkle. The majority of champagnes are Brut, pleasingly dry with softness.

Beyond toasts and celebrations, Champagne and sparkling wines make outstanding and elegant aperitifs. They are natural accompaniments for everything from oysters on the half shell to baked or fried fish, smoked salmon, dim sum and chicken and other poultry. They add magic to Asian cuisine and spicy Indian fare. I’ve enjoyed Champagne with coconut cake and peach cobbler.

Good quality sparkling wines shouldn’t be a rare treat. Be adventurous and expand your palette beyond expensive Champagne and discover some astonishingly delicious and reasonably priced bubbly that will work magic at dinner.

Take, for example, Lucien Albrecht Cremant d'Alsace Brut. Crémant refers to French sparkling wines made outside of the Champagne region, like this Alsatian sparkler, sold at less than $20. Segura Viudas Brut Reserva is a Spanish sparkler that stands up to its Champagne region cousins at a fraction of the cost. 

From New Mexico, Gruet Brut-Rosé combines a lovely color with magic flavors for around $14.

Retail bottle stores are open. Most supermarkets have a good selection of sparkling wines. Whole Foods stocks several worthy selections and for those in the Atlanta region, the Dekalb Farmers Market sells a wide array of sparkling wines and Champagnes.

Champagne Pol Roger created their Prestige Cuvée in homage to Sir Winston Churchill mindful of the qualities that he sought in his Champagne: robustness, a full-bodied character and relative maturity. The exact blend is a closely guarded secret but it is undeniable that the composition would meet with the approval of the man to whom it is dedicated: "My tastes are simple, I am easily satisfied with the best"

Following Churchill’s example of determined resistance, we’ll see the end of these trying times and take time to salute each other with a well-earned Champagne toast.