5 Champagne Aficionados from Fiction
So, last week saw the world celebrate International Champagne Day (yep, it’s a thing), and today sees the release of SPECTRE, the latest in a line of films featuring a character who is famed for his love of that classic sparkling wine. And that got us thinking – who are the flag-bearers of Champers?
James Bond (The James Bond Novels/Films)
Bond’s presence on this list (which was inspired in the first place by today’s release of SPECTRE) is well-earned. Bond, never one to shy away from a life of style, is a frequent drinker of prestige cuvées from Champagne. In the films, the character has ordered or drank Champagne 35 times – 17 of which were Bollinger and 7 of which were Dom Pérignon. Bolly, in particular, has shown up in 14 of the 24 Bond films, including SPECTRE, which sees him indulging in a 2002 Bollinger R.D. You can’t fault the man’s taste.
Holly Golightly (Breakfast at Tiffany’s)
Holly Golightly, the protagonist of the 1958 novella Breakfast at Tiffany’s (and of the 1961 film of the same name, in which she was portrayed by Audrey Hepburn), is, thanks to her new life in New York, used to the finer things. Her love of Champagne prompts “Fred” to deliver one of cinema’s most famous alcohol-related lines: “I don’t think I’ve ever drunk champagne before breakfast before. With breakfast on several occasions, but never before, before.”
Jay Gatsby (The Great Gatsby)
The Great Gatsby may be set in Prohibition-era America, but that doesn’t (as anyone who knows anything about Prohibition-era America should know) mean that the booze isn’t flowing. Champagne is everywhere in the novel – obviously, considering the titutal character’s propensity for holding only the most extravagant parties – and is a physical embodiment of the luxury in which Gatsby lives. Indulge.
Bruce Wayne (Batman)
Champagne isn’t exactly a crucial part of Bruce Wayne’s character (that’ll be all of the bat stuff) but it’s one little piece of the visage he creates for himself in his public form. Check out The Dark Knight for a couple of wonderful moment in which Wayne pours out his Champagne at a party – only moments before, in a nice little parallel, the Joker does the same.
Marsha Klein (Spaced)
Spaced, the 90s sitcom created by Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Jessica Hynes, is one of the UK’s greatest ever television shows. Unsettlingly predatory landlady Marsha is a stand-out character in a series populated, somehow, solely by stand-out characters, and is almost entirely defined by her love of wine – all wines. So why stick her on this list? Because of this spectacular demonstration of both the allure of a good bottle of Champagne and perfect comic timing.
