New Year’s Eve has been celebrated since the time of the ancient Babylonians. Champagne has been traditionally used as a beverage for celebrations, even used as THE beverage for the coronation of French Kings. Our society toasts the New Year with champagne and not any other beverage.

How did this Champagne Celebration Tradition Begin?

During a coronation in Reim, France, the nobility would linger in the Champagne region and indulge in the local wines. During the Middle Ages, wine was consumed within the year it was produced, shipped in barrels and was “still”, lacking effervescence.

The wine trade grew over the centuries. When new barrels weren’t opened until spring, the wine would become fizzy because the yeast of the wine began consuming the grape sugars during the warmer weather. The Champagne region, with its navigational rivers, supplied wine to France, England and Holland. Dom Perignon, a famous monk at the end of the 17th century, is responsible for improving the quality of the wine and began packaging the wine in bottles with corks, maintaining the wine’s sparkle. In 1728, King Louis XV proclaimed that only Champagne’s wines could be shipped in bottles. This packaging ensured a reliable product delivered to the French court.

Producers wanted expansion and introduced Champagne to other major cities. It sold easily as the nobility imbibed the wine. During the 19th century, Industrialization opened up new markets. Champagne sold as an aspirational beverage to the wealthy new merchant class. It was expensive and used only on special occasions.

Champagne has maintained its popularity with an intentional association with luxury. The Rolls Royce of the wine world enjoys the benefits of persistent marketing and continues as the beverage of choice to ring in the New Year.

With the air beginning to chill and the holidays rapidly approaching, winter is officially on its way. While nothing beats a cool glass of wine on a hot summer evening, wine goes great with the cold weather, too! Here’s three perfect ways to enjoy your wine this winter:

Mulled Wine

Instead of hot chocolate, consider making mulled wine next time you’re in the mood for a hot beverage! Mulled wine is simple to make: all you have to do is find your favorite bottle of red or white wine, and heat it in a crock pot for an hour or so with some spices. You can find a great kit for the mulled wine spices to make a hot wine tardy.

The longer you let the mead simmer, the better it will taste! For even better mead, consider adding a cinnamon  stick or two while it simmers.

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Fine wine aficionados are raving about the fantastic designs of wine glasses without stems. Stemless wine glasses are fun way to serve wine that is both easy to hold and attractive.  Sales for glasses without stems are far higher than the traditional stemmed wine glass. Try a set and see why!

Once You Try Stemless, You Won’t Go Back!

GoVino makes a wonderful shatterproof champagne flute and a go anywhere wine tumbler. Both are unbreakable. They look like crystal, yet instead of glass, they are high-impact resistant pharmaceutical-grade polymer that is 100% BPA-free. They are perfect for picnics and for use around swimming pools or anywhere that broken glass is a potential hazard. Wineries, companies, and associations like them because they are customizable with messages and company logos. They are terrific for weddings, conferences, and corporate events. Guests love to take them home as a souvenir.

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When it comes time for harvesting, wine grapes selected for ripeness are still picked by hand. Nowadays, the grapes are loaded into plastic cartons and the cartons go on trailers pulled by tractors. In olden times in Europe, the picked grapes went into vineyard carts. Those wooden carts were loaded onto narrow wagons pulled by horses.

Beautiful wine furniture, made by 2-Day Designs, captures the look and feel of those vintage vineyard carts. This wine country furniture now has two exciting new finishes, vineyard and caramel, as well as the old favorite pine as optional choices for the different furniture pieces in this extraordinary collection.

Guide to Selecting 2 Day Designs Best Selling Finishes

Vineyard Finish on Oak Wood

The vineyard finish is unique compared to the other 2 Day Designs finishes.  It reacts with the chemical composition of the wood. On pine we get an almost cedar or heart pine look. On oak, in most cases, the vineyard finish turns black. Look at the oak stave legs on the round table in the photo above compared to the table top in this same photo which is made of pine. The entire table, legs and top, are all stained with Vineyard!  You’ll notice the same wood type finish differences for the stave leg lazy susan that’s on the top of this table as well.

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Most everyone accepts the idea that an aged red wine has to “breathe,” which means it needs exposure to air for some time in order to achieve the best drinkable quality. Before the advent of the modern wine aeration systems, this time for the wine to “breathe” was to open the bottle and wait about twenty to thirty minutes.

The Science of Wine Aeration

It is easy to understand why traditional methods are lacking. By simply opening a bottle of wine and allowing a small bit of air to enter the bottle, there is little contact between the liquid inside the bottle and the air. This is a traditional method, but the results are less than desired. The reason for this is, the surface area of the wine exposed to air is so small, and the rest of the wine in the bottle remains unchanged.

Aeration Improvements

Newer methods have advanced the aeration effects. Decanting is very popular. Decanting achieves two things: 1) the wine mixes with air by the process of pouring it and 2) decanting achieves the removal of any sediment that could interfere with the perfect flavor. Decanting is a beautiful process. Not only does the flavor of the wine improve, there are many accessories to make the experience as delightful as possible. Read more »