Use this fact to impress your friends…

There’s something about period dramas like Bridgerton that’s just so addictive, isn’t there? From glamorous gowns and dishy dukes (yep, we know who comes to mind from the Netflix show) to society balls and champagne toasts… it certainly provides the escapism we all need right now. But while we live vicariously through small-screen parties, have you wondered why champagne became synonymous with luxury? Turns out, there’s an interesting history, and the British set a certain trend…

Francoise Peretti, UK spokesperson for the Champagne industry, explained: “French Kings were coronated in Reims Cathedral, in Champagne. Champagne wines are said to have flowed freely at the coronation banquets and it became the practice to any royal visitors to the region. As such, it became the coronation drink in France and subsequently fashionable throughout the royal courts of Europe.”

The royals love a glass of bubbles – and it’s not surprising…

By the 19th Century, champagne was at royal weddings and events of the traditional Season, as portrayed in Bridgerton, the annual period where members of a social elite of society resided in London for the summer. In 1806, the Prince Regent ordered 2,000 bottles of vintage champagne – now that’s a party we’d like to be invited to – making it a firm favourite of the English court under the Regency. So from the French royal courts to our favourite Netflix show two centuries on – what a journey!

So how did the British embrace the bubbles? Francoise has shared a fact for your first post-lockdown party, when someone asks why ‘Brut’ is usually written on the bottle: “Before the 19th century Champagne was a very sweet wine and the British were the first to request a drier style of wine. The “goût anglais” (British taste), which is similar to that drunk nowadays as a Brut, had 0.5% measure of sugar, whereas the French measure was much higher at 8%.” Well, there you have it!

(Courtesy Hello Magazine)