Our love affair with tiny bubbles
With the countdown to a new year measurable in hours, it is time for me to turn once more to my annual Champagne column. Many a cork will pop between now and 2007, and many more after that. Have you ever wondered where our love affair with bubbles comes from?
There is only so much practical information I can give you about sparkling wine and Champagne, and most of it I have already shared with you. So sit back and allow me to regale you with a character as sparkling and fun as Champagne itself.
Champagne Charlie rolls off the tongue so easily it has been the title of at least 3 movies (sorry Hugh Grant, we haven't forgotten your embarrassing potrayal), a song by Stephen Foster and one from the the legendary bluesman Blind Blake, not to mention the song and album from Leon Redbone. It has been the sobriquet for many a naer-do-well, but the original Champagne Charlie was bigger than all of this put together.
Charles-Camille Heidsieck believed in promoting Champagne the hands on way. So in 1857 he sought out a new and fresh set of hands to introduce his bubbly to, America.
Wine salespeople have from time immemorial taken their samples on the road. Filling orders on the spot when they could, and arranging for delivery when necessary. So too did Charlie join this august lineage, only he did it well, Really well.
He became a national celebrity, and his arrival was always anticipated not only for his flamboyant style, but for the wares he was peddling. America had fallen in love with Charlie, and with Champagne.
For the better part of a decade Charlie plied the trade routes of the US hawking bubbly far and wide. These were tempestuous times, but this didn't slow down our Charlie. Reviled by the domestic wine producers, and dodging the tides of politics, Charlie became so loved by the public, that his name rang through music halls across the continent.
Even the American Civil War couldn't slow down Champagne Charlie, at least not much.
Determined to enter New Orleans to collect debts, Charlie ended up on the wrong side of a Union prison. Some little discrepancy with a diplomatic pouch slated for the French Embassy to the Confederate States. Branded a spy, Charlie was none the less back to business a few short months later.
Charlie wanted Americans to discover the joy of bubbles, and he succeeded admirably. In the US we consume about 144 Million bottles of sparkling wine a year, and have done so for at least the last 20 years.
So the next time you take a sword to a bottle, er I mean, carefully open a bottle of sparkling wine, think of good old Champagne Charlie, and all the hard work he put in to get you to pop that cork.
There is only so much practical information I can give you about sparkling wine and Champagne, and most of it I have already shared with you. So sit back and allow me to regale you with a character as sparkling and fun as Champagne itself.
Champagne Charlie rolls off the tongue so easily it has been the title of at least 3 movies (sorry Hugh Grant, we haven't forgotten your embarrassing potrayal), a song by Stephen Foster and one from the the legendary bluesman Blind Blake, not to mention the song and album from Leon Redbone. It has been the sobriquet for many a naer-do-well, but the original Champagne Charlie was bigger than all of this put together.
Charles-Camille Heidsieck believed in promoting Champagne the hands on way. So in 1857 he sought out a new and fresh set of hands to introduce his bubbly to, America.
Wine salespeople have from time immemorial taken their samples on the road. Filling orders on the spot when they could, and arranging for delivery when necessary. So too did Charlie join this august lineage, only he did it well, Really well.
He became a national celebrity, and his arrival was always anticipated not only for his flamboyant style, but for the wares he was peddling. America had fallen in love with Charlie, and with Champagne.
For the better part of a decade Charlie plied the trade routes of the US hawking bubbly far and wide. These were tempestuous times, but this didn't slow down our Charlie. Reviled by the domestic wine producers, and dodging the tides of politics, Charlie became so loved by the public, that his name rang through music halls across the continent.
Even the American Civil War couldn't slow down Champagne Charlie, at least not much.
Determined to enter New Orleans to collect debts, Charlie ended up on the wrong side of a Union prison. Some little discrepancy with a diplomatic pouch slated for the French Embassy to the Confederate States. Branded a spy, Charlie was none the less back to business a few short months later.
Charlie wanted Americans to discover the joy of bubbles, and he succeeded admirably. In the US we consume about 144 Million bottles of sparkling wine a year, and have done so for at least the last 20 years.
So the next time you take a sword to a bottle, er I mean, carefully open a bottle of sparkling wine, think of good old Champagne Charlie, and all the hard work he put in to get you to pop that cork.
posted by Wineguy at 1:20 PM
1 Comments:
Thank you for the wonderful story of Champagne Charlie. Have you ever noticed that Champagne Charlie's story is similar to the Johnny Appleseed story? In any event, thanks again for the memorable story of Champagne Charlie :-)
Post a Comment
<< Home