Brilliant Bubbles

POP! Goes the celebration… There are few things in life as celebratory as sparkling wine. From a cork’s pop to the dancing bubbles in the glass, sparkling wine makes us feel joyful. It’s a sign of something worth celebrating.

This link between celebration and bubbles can be traced back to the late 1700s in France. At first, sparkling wine made its way into strictly religious rituals - like the christening of a ship using holy water, for example. This event was christened with bubbles as a sign of commemoration.

Today, this custom carries on. Around the world, bottle-popping highlights and punctuates a moment. At a Russian wedding, it’s customary to throw glasses of bubbly on the floor in jubilation. After a championship game, it’s tradition to spray the managers and star players with previously shaken bottles.

At all these occasions, sparkling wine is part of the story. Even its discovery and initial production is a colorful tale. A wine already in bottle underwent accidental fermentation, producing carbon dioxide and trapping the bubbles in the bottle. Back in the 1600s, this used to cause dangerous explosions in the cellar.

The explosively beautiful wine was called pétillant naturel, or “naturally sparkling” in French. It’s the oldest and one of the simplest ways to make bubbly. What’s particularly poetic about this happy accident is pétillant naturel requires very little human intervention. It’s beautiful all on its own.

Sparkling wine expresses accomplishment and festiveness. It’s a sign of something special. Something to observe and show gratitude for. Something that brings us closer.

The thrill that emanates from the sound of bubbles in a glass, or the sight of a bottle on ice, are themselves nostalgic. Sparkling wine engages our senses and reminds us to slow down, to honor the moments in our life — big or small — that we want to remember.