NEW YEARS EVE Learn about champagne and NYE traditions

STORE & SERVE champagne

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No New Year’s Eve celebration would be complete without a champagne toast to ring in the new year. Champagne is a vital component of many special occasions, such as anniversaries, retirement parties and weddings.

Champagne is a sparkling wine from the Champagne region of France, though the term “champagne” is often mistakenly used in reference to any type of bubbly.

Champagne is a wine and, like merlot or pinot grigio, it has specific storage and serving temperatures to ensure top flavor. According to ThermoWorks, wines have specific layers of flavor that are most effectively enjoyed when they’re experienced at the proper temperature. In wine, temperature affects alcohol, acid and aromatics. ThermoWorks suggests a temperature of 45 F for champagne.

In addition to controlling temperature, there are other ways to help ensure champagne reaches the palate in optimal fashion. Grape Escapes, a wine tasting and touring company, says that champagne is already aged properly before being sold, so it does not necessarily benefit from extra aging in the bottle. When kept too long (beyond 10 years for vintage cuvées), some effervescence may be lost and the flavor will change.

Bottles of champagne should be stored horizontally in a well-chilled environment. They should be kept away from bright or artificial light. Chilling also will help reduce the “pop” and overflow of the bubbly. If you purchase champagne and need to chill it for serving, you can achieve this by either chilling it in the fridge for three hours before serving, or in a Champagne bucket in a mixture of ice and water for 30 minutes.

Etiquette experts say it is preferable to open a bottle of champagne with a hiss rather than a large pop. To achieve this, chill the champagne and also open the bottle very slowly and with a great deal of control.

When the champagne is opened, Daniel Brennan, PR and communications director at Champagne Laurent-Perrier, advises taking your time pouring a little champagne into each glass to allow the bubbles to settle. Then return to the first glass to pour more, helping to make the champagne less likely to froth. Do not tilt the glass like pouring a beer, rather pour the champagne gently down the inside of the glass.

The shape of the glass comes down to preference. Traditional coupes look the part, but tulip-shaped flutes will produce more bubbles and help capture the flavor and aromas of the champagne.

It’s ideal to drink all of the champagne in a bottle, as it will begin to lose its fizz immediately after opening, yet that isn’t always possible. A specialized champagne stopper will help keep the champagne fresh for up to two days after opening. Aftering the bottle has been opened, refrigerate it.

Do not wash champagne glasses in the dishwasher. Hand wash and allow to drip dry. Soap or fibers from towels can impede bubble formation in the glass during subsequent pourings.

THE ORIGINS OF NYE TRADITIONS

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Traditions are the glue that hold many celebrations together. Individuals and families embrace many customs that serve as the script for commemorating year-end holidays.

Some celebrants may adhere to traditions without really knowing how they began or why they continue. Here is a closer look at some of the most popular traditions tied to New Year’s Eve, both domestically and around the world.

Drinking champagne

The use of champagne for celebrations is rooted in the Christian ritual of consuming wine during the Eucharist. In the year 496, a wine from the Champagne region of France was offered during the baptism of the Frankish warrior Clovis, according to the Champagne Committee of France. It then became customary for champagne to be used at religious events like consecrations and at coronations or soirees. Eventually the tradition became associated with secular rituals, such as celebrating the new year.

Food

People of Japanese heritage might eat soba noodles on New Year’s Eve. The Toshikoshi Soba, which means “year crossing buckwheat noodle,” denotes the crossing from one year to the next. Nibbling the noodles represent traveling from one year to the next as well as letting go of the previous year’s regrets.

In Spain, people gobble grapes to bring good luck in the coming year. The goal is to eat 12 green grapes during the 12 remaining seconds until the New Year. Those able to do so will have 12 months of good fortune. Dropping the ball

Revelers have long watched the giant ball drop in New York City’s Times Square in person and on television. This tradition may be rooted in the custom of sailors using “time balls” to set their own timepieces while at sea. These chronometers were employed by using a spyglass to scan the harbor looking for balls that were dropped into the water at certain times, PBS reports. The first ball was installed in 1829 in Portsmouth, England. The Times Square ball was first used in 1907, according to the Times Square Alliance.

Making resolutions

Historians trace the making of resolutions to the Ancient Babylonians. Citizens made spoken resolutions during their new year festival known as “Akitu.” This ritual required making an oath to the sitting or new king. Romans also swore oaths of loyalty to the emperor when the New Year started.

Fireworks and noisemakers

Fireworks are a big part of celebrations and are not to be outdone on New Year’s Eve. Fireworks were invented in the seventh century in China. According to Anthony Aveni, an astronomer and anthropologist at Colgate University, the fireworks were designed to ward off evil spirits. In cultures around the world, fireworks, banging drums and other efforts were used to chase away spooky creatures, especially during the transitional period that is the passing of the new year. Today fireworks and noisemakers are employed not for scaring away spirits, but rather to add to the revelry.

NEW YEAR’S EVE WILL BE “VIRTUALLY ENHANCED, VISUALLY COMPELLING AND VERY DIFFERENT” Organizers released that a virtually enhanced celebration will bring Times Square and the Ball to you digitally no matter where you are, scaled-back and socially-distanced live elements still to be determined, and an extremely limited group of in-person honorees, socially distanced, who will reflect the themes, challenges and inspirations of 2020.

?DID YOU KNOW: The first New Year’s Eve Ball, made of iron and wood and adorned with one hundred 25-watt light bulbs, was 5 feet in diameter and weighed 700 pounds.

Today’s ball is a geodesic sphere that is 12 feet in diameter and weighs nearly six tons. The 2,688 Waterford Crystal triangles are illuminated by 32,256 Philips Luxeon LEDs. This Big Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball is now a year-round attraction sparkling above Times Square in full public view January through December.

Unique ways to celebrate NYE

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New Year’s Eve is a highly anticipated day on many people’s calendars. Social schedules tend to be busy during the holiday season, and that typically culminates on December 31, when people across the globe gather to say goodbye to one year and welcome in a new one.

Much of the world is no doubt ready to put 2020 in its rearview mirror, but New Year’s Eve celebrations will almost certainly have to be scaled back this year. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the ways people gather socially, so traditional New Year’s Eve parties likely won’t be in the cards as the world turns the calendar from 2020 to 2021.

Raucous parties might not be on the docket this December 31, but that does not mean people cannot still celebrate the end of what’s proven to be a very challenging year.

Don’t wait until midnight

Many people love to be around friends and family as the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that the COVID-19 virus spreads more easily indoors than outdoors. So gathering around the television to watch the ball drop in Times Square as you count down to the new year may put celebrants’ health in jeopardy. If you want to gather with loved ones, do so earlier in the day and gather outdoors when the weather figures to be much warmer than it will be at midnight. A champagne toast around a backyard firepit can serve as a stand-in for midnight toasts.

Hit the road

Travel restrictions may dictate where people can safely celebrate New Year’s Eve, but if large gatherings with friends are prohibited this year, families can plan getaways. New Year’s Eve is on a Friday this year. That makes it an ideal weekend to get out of town. Many vacation rental services like VRBO and Airbnb have introduced guidelines to address health and safety concerns prospective travelers may have. Before booking a getaway, contact hosts to determine what they’re doing to make their rentals safe for renters.

Stay home

Another celebration at home may seem overrated at this point, but you can spruce up the day by bringing the fun through your own front door. Get fancy and setup a backdrop for a photobooth in a spare room or a garage (anyplace with great natural light.) Make sure you order foil balloons and confetti ahead of time, as well as any other fun props. Or get cozy by whipping up some goodluck foods and building a fort adorned with twinkle lights.

Celebrate over and over again

One unique way to see 2020 to the door and usher in 2021 is to celebrate throughout the day and night as various areas of the world officially close the book on 2020. The Pacific island nations of Tonga, Samoa and Kiribati are the first countries to ring in the new year, and they will do so at what will be 4:00 a.m. central on December 31. Many countries across the globe ring in the New Year before residents of North America, so North Americans can make a day of sending 2020 into the history books and celebrate each time a new country reaches 2021.