I read a recent article that I found somewhat disturbing, "Canned beer is the new Champange" and despite the current rather bleak economic outlook, I thought Marlena Dietrich perspective was more aprospos "Champagne makes you feel like it’s Sunday and better days are just around the corner."
A fitting tribute to Champagne was penned by poet Alan Seeger, who died in combat in WWI, who wrote in part (excerpted)...
In the glad revels, in the happy
fetes,
When cheeks are flushed, and glasses gilt and pearled
With the
sweet wine of France that concentrates
The sunshine and the beauty of the
world,
Drink sometimes, you whose footsteps yet may tread
The
undisturbed, delightful paths of Earth,
To those whose blood, in pious duty
shed,
Hallows the soil where that same wine had birth.
Here, by devoted comrades laid away,
Along our lines they
slumber where they fell,
Beside the crater at the Ferme d'Alger
And up
the bloody slopes of La Pompelle,
And round the city whose cathedral towers
The enemies of
Beauty dared profane,
And in the mat of multicolored flowers
That clothe
the sunny chalk-fields of Champagne...
... I love to think that if my blood should be
So privileged to sink where his has
sunk,
I shall not pass from Earth entirely,
But when the banquet rings,
when healths are drunk,
And faces that the joys of living fill
Glow radiant with
laughter and good cheer,
In beaming cups some spark of me shall still
Brim toward the lips that once I held so dear...
... Drink to them -- - amorous of dear Earth as well,
They asked
no tribute lovelier than this -- -
And in the wine that ripened where they
fell,
Oh, frame your lips as though it were a kiss.
See the full poem, Champagne 1914-15. Read it and be moved... Almost a century later and this incredible liquid still captivates.
Accordingly, our fourth annual wine club holiday party is drawing near. Our previous years are documented at: Champagne for the Holidays, Sparkling and Effervescent, and a Champagne Brunch.
Hamish and Joanna are hosting at their lovely home and we apparently have two sabers for the evening festivities!
RSVPs so far:
- Hamish & Joanna - Piper Heidseck Brut Cuvee Reserve and a Spanish Cuvee paired with raw Oysters and grilled Salmon
- Annie - Piper Heidseck & food pairing TBD
- Lori & Mike - Lanson Rose Label, plus a sparkling (possibly Prosecco) and food pairing is probably a chocolate torte
- Ruth & Darren - Lanson Black Label paired with asparagus with truffled goat cheese sabayon
- Tannis - 2000 Paul Bara champagne and food TBD
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