No love without a sparkle: why we should all drink more champagne - and that's not elitist

"Life's hard enough as it is," a colleague said to me last week, placing an order for 67 bottles of champagne with the click of a button.

No love without a sparkle: why we should all drink more champagne - and that's not elitist

"Life's hard enough as it is," a colleague said to me last week, placing an order for 67 bottles of champagne with the click of a button. A pretty selfless act: he wanted to make sure the champagne kept flowing. And he's absolutely right, we should all drink more champagne.

I used to think champagne was only for the elite. Pretentious and pretentious. Somehow only good in combination with caviar and oysters, just a drink for Porsche 911 drivers and Prada handbag wearers in the little black dress. I was so wrong.

The price tag that dangles around the cork is by no means important. Whether the champagne comes from a well-endowed house like Veuve Clicquot or Piper-Heidsieck, or from Edeka - completely irrelevant. It is important that it tastes, flows and works.

The other day the question came up whether one should drink champagne on a Tuesday night. For moral reasons, it's only the beginning of the week after all. Maybe the weekend was still in the bones for some. But why do without champagne? When it comes to champagne, the answer should always be: definitely, especially on a Tuesday night.

Dominique Cima-Sander would also agree. She is international brand ambassador for Piper-Heidsieck, a renowned champagne house based in Reims - in the heart of Champagne. There are worse jobs. When she speaks, the beautiful French accent rings out in her German. She has been a champagne representative for many years and she loves the liquid gold. Why should you drink champagne? Because he is unique. When she talks about the perlage (that's what the formation of pearls in sparkling wine is called), about the cuveés and the taste of champagne, her eyes light up.

To understand the love of champagne, one must be aware of its importance. In the former Soviet Union, EVERY sparkling wine was called "Schampanskoye", although since 1927 it has been precisely defined in which area grapes for champagne may be grown, the Champagne. It covers around 33,500 hectares, so it is about the size of North Rhine-Westphalia. Almost exclusively three grape varieties are grown here for the sparkling wine: the red grape varieties Pinot Noir (Pinot Noir), Pinot Meunier (Black Riesling) and the white Chardonnay grapes. Champagne must mature for at least 15 months. Three years if given a vintage. When there is so much love in a product, it should be drunk.

However, the boxes have arrived. Anyone who now complains that this is completely snobby has not understood champagne. Because we take away the elitism from the drink by not keeping it for special moments, but celebrating everyday life with it. It's Thursday evening. The tingle is cold, we open the first bottle. The "pop" when the cork escapes from the champagne is a sound we really like. cheers Life is hard enough as it is.