Personalise Your Plonk

By Author: John Smith
Total Articles: 184
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If you're thinking of throwing a classy party, whether that's a leaving-do, a wedding reception or even a milestone birthday such as someone's 21st or 40th, personalised champagne could really add a special sparkle to the evening!

It can be customary in the UK to go to a party with a bottle of wine, but going to one with a bottle of personalised champagne could really impress your hosts whatever the occasion. Because you can write whatever message you like on the label you could even thank them for having you or tell them what good friends that are!

Champagne is known as sparkling wine because of the twinkles you get in the glass as you sip it and those twinkles are actually upward-drifting bubbles. If you choose to give someone personalised champagne as a gift they'll probably be quite content to read (and re-read) the lovely message which you had printed on the label. However, what they probably won't realise is that the bubbles in the personalised champagne bottle are carbonic gas which is created during the fermentation process.

Double Fermentation

Unlike most wines, champagne is actually fermented ...
... twice, once to make a very thin, watery base wine and then again (often with a few additives) within the bottle. It's during the second fermentation phase in the bottle that gasses begin to build up and these gasses create the beautiful sparkles which have made champagne famous.

Although we love the bubbles in a bottle of personalised champagne these days, there was a time when those bubbles were treated with fearsome respect. A famous French monk named Dom Perignon was the man responsible for fine tuning the process used for making champagne and he was told by superior monks at his Abbey that he should try as hard as possible to get rid of the bubbles in it. The reason that his friends didn't like the bubbles was that they caused the bottles to explode!

The gases would build up until a bottle would literally blow up where it was laid and sometimes this would cause a chain reaction, setting off other equally fragile bottles like a string of frothy fireworks. It got so bad that throughout early champagne-making history, during the 1700s men who worked in the cellars with the wine would have to wear special masks made of iron to protect them from suddenly exploding champagne bottles.

Often cellars expected to lose between 20 and 90 of their bottles due to spontaneous explosions during the years that Dom Perignon worked on refining procedures. As a result of its excitingly volatile nature champagne earned the folk name of 'The Devil's Wine,' and the rest, as they say is history.

Champers for Champions

There are lots of traditions surrounding champagne and one of the ones we all think of is popping the cork. You've probably seen winning race car drivers shake a bottle of wine before releasing the wire cork stopper and letting the air in the bottle force out the cork in a stream of thrilling froth.

We don't recommend that you open a bottle of personalised champagne that way though because you'd probably waste most of the delectable French wine on the carpet! However, we do think it can be fun to experiment with some dazzling champagne cocktails such as a Bellini using peach puree, or a traditional Bucks Fizz using orange juice.

As well as giving out personalised champagne for birthdays, Christmas and weddings it can also be a great way to congratulate someone on the birth of a baby or say well done to someone for passing their driving test!

Really, just about any excuse is good enough to get in some bubbly and personalised champagne fulfils two purposes because it's great to drink but also carries a meaningful message on the label. You can put anything you like on there, from a personal joke to a heartfelt expression of gratitude or even a poem you've written.

A Lasting Reminder

As well as being fun to drink, personalised champagne can make a great memento too. Once the party has died down, the guests have gone home and all the fizz is gone it would be a shame to toss a beautifully labelled personalised champagne bottle in the recycle bin. So don't!

Empty personalised champagne bottles can be used as a very French looking single stemmed vase for a beautiful rose, stuffed with a candle and used as a rustic candle holder or even just kept as a pretty ornament and reminder of a good celebration that was enjoyed by all!

Getting Personal offer unique high quality gifts & personalised gifts at affordable prices, delivered quickly and guaranteed with a smile. To explore our range of personalised champagne further, please visit our website at http://www.gettingpersonal.co.uk.