New Year’s Traditions
The New Year is celebrated around the world, but not always on January 1st.  And the eve and day of the turnover of one year to the next come with a wide variety of traditions and celebrations.

In Denmark, for example, it’s a good sign to find your door heaped with a pile of broken dishes on New Year’s Day.  Old dishes are saved up all year in order to be thrown at friends’ and families’ homes on New Year’s Eve...which is entirely frowned upon in Canada!  In Denmark however, the more dishes piled up, the more friends you have.

The Portuguese pick and eat twelve grapes from a bunch as the clock strikes twelve on New Year’s Eve, to ensure twelve happy months in the coming year.  The Thai New Year festival is called Songkran and lasts for three days from April 13th to 15th.  The Thai people throw water over one another, to help bring about good rains in the coming year and all the Buddha statues and images are washed as well.

In North America, our traditions involve celebrating with friends and family, noise makers and counting down the seconds to midnight on New Year’s Eve, usually with a glass of Champagne at the ready to celebrate that first second of the New Year.

The story of champagne actually dates back to the 17th century.  Monks in the French region of Champagne struggled with a relatively short growing season for grapes and had a problem with excess carbon dioxide trapped in their wine.  Far from the luxury that champagne is considered today, back then it was called mad wine and was definitely something to be prevented as opposed to enjoyed.

In 1688, the monks appointed Pierre Perignon to oversee their wine making and cellars.  It was his job to offer the French royal court an alternative to the heavy red burgundy wines that were so common in that day.  He wasn’t successful in ridding the champagne of the fizz, but did manage to create a certain type of white wine that stood up well to the bubbles, much to the enjoyment of the French royalty.

The rest is history and today Champagne is enjoyed all over the world.  It is commonly recognized as the wine of celebration.  Here are some tips for enjoying and serving your Champagne:

• Serve Champagne chilled , but only slightly – colder temperatures will kill the subtle taste of the wine
  
•  Experts recommend placing the unopened bottle in an ice bucket containing ½ ice and ½ water for 20 – 30 minutes
  
• Champagne can be chilled in the refrigerator for three to four hours, but should never be chilled in the freezer
  
• Serve in tall flute glasses (never chilled) that allow for the flow of bubbles and the aroma
  
• A Champagne cork should never be popped, but instead eased off to avoid losing any of the precious bubbles
  
• Leftover Champagne can be stored for several days with a proper stopper in place

To this day, by law only producers in the Champagne region of France are allowed to call their product Champagne.  Bubbly wine produced anywhere else in the world must be called Sparkling Wine.

If Champagne isn’t on your list for this New Year’s, try some of the excellent Sparkling Wines produced here in Canada, in the United States and in other parts of the world. Click HERE to find out what Sparkling Wines and Champagnes are available for your next celebration.