A Glass of Champagne at the Year's End

Sir, my lady. This is Butler Madame Red. This year, too, draws near at last to its close. Today, let me tell you a little about a field I especially love — the champagne no celebration can do without.

Champagne is not merely a sparkling wine. Only what is made in the Champagne region of France, under a strict method faithfully kept, is permitted to bear the name. Those fine, unbroken bubbles are born of a long second fermentation within the bottle. Simply watching the bubbles rise from the base of the glass, one's anticipation for the time about to begin quietly heightens.

How one chooses the glass for the toast — here, I believe, all one's feeling for the gathering shows itself. For an occasion to begin with a flourish, something rich in fruit. For a night of intimate talk, something deep and matured. Choosing a single bottle while picturing the faces of your companions — that very time is the true joy of the sommelier. To flaunt one's knowledge of labels is a graceless thing. What matters is quietly offering a glass that keeps company with a person's memory.

To look back on a year, and to greet a new one. On such a threshold night, a glass of fine champagne makes the hours shine all the brighter. Is not the sound of bursting bubbles, in itself, like a small celebration?

Life's toasts deserve the finest glass. To your year, everyone, I raise a heartfelt toast. And so, let us meet again in the next entry.