Saturday, January 28, 2006
French people are just more stylish
What one drinks champagne out of has often been dictated by fashion. The champagne coupe or saucer-shaped glass, while very popular, was never designed for drinking champagne. It is unstable and does not allow you to fully appreciate the benefits of the wine. There is a legend that it was modelled from the bosom of Marie-Antoinette. Hugh Johnson states that this is not entirely without foundation. "The Sèvres porcelain factory did take a cast from this august model and produced four detailed white bowels that were mounted on elaborate bases of three goat's heads to adorn the Queen's Dairy Temple at the Château de Rambouillet near Versailles. The dairy still exists; as does one of the four coupes."
