Snopes says it ain’t so, but some day someone is going to debunk Snopes itself.
It seems entirely logical, though perhaps not accurate, to follow yesterday’s musings on Helen of Troy with a note about champagne. Accuracy is not highly prized at the bar anyway.
There is truth in lore, even when the historical details are in disarray. I refer, of course, to the shape of the champagne coupe. The saucer-shaped glass has fallen out of favor in preference for the flute, which preserves the chill and bubbles for slow drinkers. But the coupe has a sensuous shape, and stories have sprung up about how it was modeled on (or actually molded from) the breast of some famed beauty: Marie Antoinette, Madame de Pompadour, Helen of Troy.
In all of the stories you simply have the cleaving desire to possess an unattainable historical siren—what could be more sexual than placing ones lips to [insert famous female name here]’s breast while drinking sparkling wine?
Discovering which individual, if any, served as the true model is a fools errand. Truth lies elsewhere. I like this historical anecdote from VodkaFreak:
As to be expected, the manufacturing wizard who gave the glass its birth was a Frenchmen. And it was the French royalty who realised its full potential.
At a brunch, or a high tea, while drinking their champagne, the ladies would pass the tort or the angel cake. ‘Oh, my dear,’ they would cry, ‘do try the sponge cake with the champagne. Have you ever tasted anything so delicious?’ And they would dip their cake or pastry into the bubbles before popping the champagne-impregnated morsel into their mouth. Lovers, in particular, loved to feed each other on this heavenly fare.
All was well, and life was good.
Then along came the wine buffs. With no romance in their souls, just their long noses and cultivated palates, they went into a scientific huddle. Taking a tape measure they first measured the perimeter of the saucer-shaped glass and then the tulip-shaped glass, and shook their heads in dismay.
And, being smugly confident in their scientific, function-over-form, scrupulously detailed, graceless and secular outlook on the world, they went on to form a company called Snopes.
So really, who would you rather have plop down on the barstool beside you? Marie Antoinette or the guy from Snopes?
Image by CoffeeGeek – Creative Commons
