In one of my recent seminars, an audience member asked me when is the best time to drink Champagne. I responded unapologetically, “Always.” Laughter ensued, and I then found myself leading an unplanned call-and-repeat chant:
“Champagne when?” I hollered.
“Always!” they answered.
We went back and forth several times as if we were cheering on our favorite football team to the brink of victory.
And in a way, we were. In the sport of happiness, there is no greater franchise than Team Champagne. What other beverage is universally used for celebrating victory, christening boats, or even baptizing newborns (chapter 96)?
Beyond its formidable celebratory powers, Champagne (and other sparkling wine) is among world’s the most versatile beverages, so much so that I have devoted a chapter to why you should drink it throughout a meal and even why it also deserves to be a meal ender (chapter 28). Its crackly acidity harmonizes with the salty, contrasts with the creamy, provides lift to anything fried, and cools off the spicy. Its often-yeasty character makes fast friends with mushrooms, eggs, and other earthy flavors. There is nothing better with the seafood and soy sauce of Japanese food. You can dress it up with caviar, truffles, or foie gras, or go casual with popcorn or Cheez Doodles. If there is ever doubt, remember that Champagne’s versatility makes it wine’s equivalent of “green eggs and ham”: you can drink it on a plane, you can drink it in the rain.
I can hear wine’s brooding Betties ask: what about heavier foods such as steak or stew? As rock legend Robert Plant might answer, the song remains the same: “Always Champagne.” While such pairings run the risk of eclipsing bubbly’s relatively delicate taste, it nevertheless has a built-in get-out-of-jail-free card: its bubbles. Not only is such effervescence scientifically proven to get you buzzed faster, their inescapably uplifting effect spur you to disregard the rules.