What Made Champagne Famous!

 Sparkling wine was invented in 1535 in the Limoux area of Languedoc. Champagne was first produced in the area around 1700. For centuries sparkling wine from this region had been served as part of coronation festivities throughout Europe.  The French aristocracy had offered it in tribute to foreign kings. When the methode champenoise was intDom Perignon, it already was associated with luxury and power. A campaign was launched to create a history and identity for their Champagne, associating it with prestige, luxury, and festivities.
 
In 1866 the Champagne maker Moet commissioned the famous entertainer, George Leybourne to write and perform songs about the vultures of Champagne as a reflection of taste and affluence. Leybourne was seen as highly sophisticated and agreed to drink nothing but Champagne in public. The marketing success in export markets was remarked upon in 1882 by the British author, Henry Vizetelly, "Champagne has become mandatory at all launchings, inaugurations and celebrations." 

Successful marketing during the Industrial Revolution firmly established Champagne among the middle class as a part of special occasions and rites of passages. Champagne became a symbol of the "good life." Mark Twain once commented, "Too much of anything is bad, but too much Champagne is just right".

Over centuries the story of Champagne was re-told, effectively suppressing outdated and unfashionable ideas and images, and promoting more desirable ones. By the First World War, Champagne had become a prominent symbol of France's status as a producer of quality goods and vanguard of style and culture world wide. During the Second World War, Winston Churchill once motivated the British forces with the claim "Remember, gentlemen, it's not just France we are fighting for, it's Champagne"!

So, what has made Champagne so popular is not it's bubbles, but cenutries of consistent marketing through endorsements and product placement. (As an avid Champagne drinker that thought kind of takes the "pop out of my cork." )