Whether it is Champagne from France, Prosecco from Italy, Sekt from Germany, Cava from Spain or my go to bubbly Sparkling Wines from California, I always feel like it is a party when the cork is popped and the bubbles tingle the tip of my nose. Most people wait for a reason to celebrate with champagne but if you start with champagne, life then turns into a party. Each day can have a reason to celebrate.

 

My girlfriend Nancy and I used to work in the restaurant business and had our days of during the week. We would often pop open a bottle of sparkling wine, sit face to face in the hallway of our apartment, with our backs against opposite walls, catching up with each other’s week over a glass or two of champagne. Her mother would ask us what we were celebrating and we’d say, “It’s Tuesday and we don’t have to work!” Some more famous people than ourselves had their own ideas about why champagne is the essential drink to celebrate life. Cheers!

 

“I drink Champagne when I win, to celebrate…and I drink Champagne when I lose, to console myself.” – Napoleon Bonaparte

 

“Burgundy makes you think of silly things; Bordeaux makes you talk about them, and Champagne makes you do them.” – Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

 

“I drink champagne when I’m happy and when I’m sad. Sometimes I drink it when I’m alone. When I have company I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I’m not hungry and drink it when I am. Otherwise I never touch it – unless I’m thirsty.” – Madame Lily Bollinger

 

“Too much of anything is bad, but too much Champagne is just right.” – Mark Twain

“Champagne is the only wine that leaves a woman beautiful after drinking it.” – Madame De Pompadour

 

“Champagne offers a minimum of alcohol and a maximum of companionship.” – David Niven

 

“Pleasure without champagne is purely artificial.” – Oscar Wilde

 

“There comes a time in every woman’s life when the only thing that helps is a glass of champagne.” – Bette Davis in ‘Old Acquaintance’

 

“Champagne makes you feel like it’s Sunday and better days are around the corner.” – Marlene Dietrich

 

“My only regret in life is that I did not drink more Champagne.” – John Maynard Keynes

Limoncello Prosecco Cocktail

 

Prosecco is an Italian, dry sparkling wine that is crisp and clean with notes of citrus. Its zesty effervescence and transformative, yet subtle, flavor profile lends well to cocktails. As such, Prosecco cocktails are delightful social drinks and perfect “aperitivi.”

Ingredients:

Pallini Limoncello (my personal favorite)

Prosecco

Creme de Cassis

Raspberries

 

 

Soak as many raspberries as you wish in creme de cassis for 2 hours, then freeze for 4 hours.

 

After the raspberries are frozen, drop a raspberry in the bottom of a champagne flute. Fill 1/4 of the flute with limoncello (can add more or less, based on your preferences). Fill the remainder of the flute with Prosecco and serve.

 

Happy New Year 2011!