New Years, Old Tradition
HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHY IT’S A NEW YEARS TRADITION TO TOAST CHAMPAGNE AT MIDNIGHT?
Before we can talk about when and why it became a New years tradition, let's talk about where champagne came from and how it gained it popularity. The champagne we think of now is not at all how it originated. Originating in or before the 5th century, when Romans planted the first vineyard in the Champagne region in France. The King of France at the time made it a celebrated tradition to drink this wine at coronation ceremonies and banquets, but then the wine was a pale, pinkish color made from Pinot Noir grapes.
The bubbly essence we associate with champagne was originally considered a fault by winemakers. Extreme climate winters halted fermentation processes, leaving yeast cells frozen and resumed once spring climate arose. This release of carbon dioxide once spring came around, caused extreme pressure build up inside the bottle and it would often explode in cellars, causing an uproar in the wine community.
Even in the 17th century and wine makers were still trying to get rid of bubbles inside their wine. Although, the French were trying to find a way to do away with bubbly wines, the English were developing quite a taste for it, especially the wealthy and royal. It was the death of King Louis XIV which marked a turning point for sparkling champagne popularity among the French nobles. This led to winemakers now attempting to make their wine sparkling, but it took them quite some time to figure out how to make the bottles strong enough to last the pressure and avoid the accidental explosion.
In the 19th century they finally overcame the obstacles that stood in their way of successfully developing and producing a product that is synonymous with celebrations. Since 1950, the sales of champagne has quadrupled and the region produces over 200 million bottles internationally. However, leading up to the 1950 surge in champagne popularity, it was typically only drank by European aristocrats and royalty because it was so expensive. This brought on the mindset that Champagne is to be used almost exclusively for celebrations and holidays. In fact, it's such a large part of the tradition that 25 percent of all champagne is sold between Christmas and New Year's Eve.
In one account from 1852, it is noted that the New Year's drink of choice was actually something called Arrack Punch, which is noted as a "villainous mixture" consisting of a rum-like liquor exported out of Asia. Arrack is distilled from palm tree sap, but doesn't have an appealing look and quite resembles soy sauce. When champagne came around it was bright, fun, bubbly, and clear, which sent its popularity sky rocketing passed Arrack.
I think the Prohibition's banned motion against alcohol is also what caused champagne to be so sought after. During the years of Prohibition, champagne was still being exported to the United States, but just using more discreet routes instead. It was a rarity, that Americans were told they were not allowed to drink. If we know anything about anyone, it's that if you tell someone not to do something, they are going to want to do it increasingly more. This led to the United States actually tampering with and poisoning alcohol, in hopes of getting rid of those resistant to the law. Its estimated that over 10,000 people were killed during the Prohibition, due to alcohol being poisoned. Champagne was harder to poison as it was exported and securely sealed prior to shipping. Although, there is no way to know exactly when champagne took over as the New Years drink of choice, we do know it was around the 1900's. It's lasted all the way until today and I don't see it fading out anytime soon. Here's to a great year ahead of all of us, Cheers!