Sixty Joyless De-Britished Uncrowned Commonpoor Years (1949-2009)

Elizabeth II Vice-Regal Saint: Remembering Paul Comtois (1895–1966), Lt.-Governor of Québec
Britannic Inheritance: Britain's proud legacy. What legacy will America leave?
English Debate: Daniel Hannan revels in making mince meat of Gordon Brown
Crazy Canucks: British MP banned from Canada on national security grounds
Happy St. Patrick's: Will Ireland ever return to the Commonwealth?
Voyage Through the Commonwealth: World cruise around the faded bits of pink.
No Queen for the Green: The Green Party of Canada votes to dispense with monarchy.
"Sir Edward Kennedy": The Queen has awarded the senator an honorary Knighthood.
President Obama: Hates Britain, but is keen to meet the Queen?
The Princess Royal: Princess Anne "outstanding" in Australia.
H.M.S. Victory: In 1744, 1000 sailors went down with a cargo of gold.
Queen's Commonwealth: Britain is letting the Commonwealth die.
Justice Kirby: His support for monarchy almost lost him appointment to High Court
Royal Military Academy: Sandhurst abolishes the Apostles' Creed.
Air Marshal Alec Maisner, R.I.P. Half Polish, half German and 100% British.
Cherie Blair: Not a vain, self regarding, shallow thinking viper after all.
Harry Potter: Celebrated rich kid thinks the Royals should not be celebrated
The Royal Jelly: A new king has been coronated, and his subjects are in a merry mood
Victoria Cross: Australian TROOPER MARK DONALDSON awarded the VC
Godless Buses: Royal Navy veteran, Ron Heather, refuses to drive his bus
Labour's Class War: To expunge those with the slightest pretensions to gentility
100 Top English Novels of All Time: The Essential Fictional Library
BIG BEN: Celebrating 150 Years of the Clock Tower

Tuesday 19 August 2008

A "Gentlemen's Champagne"

The Gentleman routinely imbibes himself with Pol Roger champagne, or any other prominent champagne that holds the royal warrant.

WINSTON CHURCHILL WAS A CIGAR-SMOKING PUFFBALL whose daily alcohol regime included sherry at breakfast, whisky at lunch, champagne at dinner and brandy before bed. Or so it has been reported. This may not be quite accurate for the official Churchill Centre states that he preferred beer at lunch and whisky during tea time, whilst before dinner there was sherry, then Champagne, brandy and port. He apparently enjoyed the occasional glass of hock at breakfast, and he would traditionally greet people in the morning with a sherry. Those close to him confide that he couldn't stand cocktails, apart from the "Papa Cocktail", a smidgen of Johnnie Walker covering the bottom of a tumbler, which was then filled with water and sipped throughout the morning according to his daughter. As one observer described it, it was more akin to mouthwash than a highball but that's how Winston liked his scotch and water. It was perhaps this very watered down concoction that gave the great man a seemingly bottomless capacity for drink-soaked endurance, and allowed him to fondly quip that "he had taken more out of alcohol than alcohol had taken out of him." In fact the contention that Churchill was in any way an "Alcohol Abuser" is pointedly debunked by the Churchill Centre as a myth, for no serious colleague had ever reported him the worse for drink. He was not an alcohol abuser per se, he was merely alcohol dependent.

As evidence of that dependency there was of course his famous declaration to the King of Saudi Arabia that his absolute rule of life required drinking before, during and after meals, though it was during mealtimes that Churchill did most of his heavy imbibing. There was also the observation that he drank two bottles of Pol Roger champagne a day, his favourite champagne house and the only sparkling wine that he would consume following the Second World War:

And, of course, there was Mme Odette Pol-Roger, a widow from 1963 until her death in 2000 aged 89, on whom - and on whose wines - Winston Churchill doted so much. Indeed, so smitten with her was Churchill that he named a racehorse after her and promised to visit her in Epernay: `Invite me during the vintage, and I'll press the grapes with my bare feet,' he declared. It is reckoned that in the last ten years of his life more than 500 cases of the stuff passed through his cellars.
So for those who cannot afford the silky smooth crispness of Dom Pérignon everyday, Pol Roger champagne is probably the next best thing. Its premium bottle, Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill, is named after the gentleman who would tolerate no other. As a testament to its fine quality, the prominent champagne house also holds a Royal Warrant to supply the British Royal Family with cases of its very best, further enhancing Pol Roger's reputation as a "gentlemen's champagne".

11 comments:

Palmerston said...

You can tell the quality of the champagne just by the effervescence of the site. Gorgeous.

As for drink quotes, wasn't it Churchill that summarised the navy as "rum, sodomy and the lash"? And if Churchill was not fond of cocktails, why are there so many named after him?

Anonymous said...

"Rum, sodomy and the lash."

Sounds like an evening out at Cambridge.

Surely if one recalls fully, did not dear Winston suffer (some would say benefit) from "the black dog". In more every day "common" parlance the black dog is known as "depression". Perhaps Winston was using this alcohol quite subconsciously for medicinal purposes - rather like today's youths. Remember, back in Winston's day knowledge, understandings and treatments of certain maladies was not as profound as it is today. As somone who went out of his mind years ago, I can confidently assert I would do almost anything, including consuming large quantities of alcohol, never to end up back inside.

Oh for the days when people accepted their lot in life, their place in a natural social order and read The Good Book. For the big black dog is merely a malady, perhaps a mere symptom, of human life, existence and living (i.e. suffering). As our Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus say - if ye do have the Faith, ye move the mountains.

Indeed, as the great man Churchill saith - when you are going through hell, just keep on going. I agree. Amen.

Anonymous said...

www.HarrietHarmanSucks.Com

Lewis Holden said...

Pol Roger is awful. I much prefer Lindauer - it's also New Zealand made, which is a plus.

Anonymous said...

Reminds me of another Churchill quote:

"I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly."

Aeneas the Younger said...

SWC's drinking has been overstated. He enjoyed a light whisky & soda and made it last most of the day. Champagne at supper to be sure, but the PM was not a drunkard. He was ... a man.

Aeneas the Younger said...

SWC's drinking has been overstated. He enjoyed a light whisky & soda and made it last most of the day. Champagne at supper to be sure, but the PM was not a drunkard. He was ... a man.

Lewis Holden said...

Don't worry Beaverbrook, I've pointed it out more than once to a cousin of mine who works for New Zealand Trade & Enterprise that "our" Royal family endorses French products over New Zealand ones.

Anonymous said...

So Lewis, New Zealand's leading republican, is nothing more than a narrow nationalist who joyfully believes in protectionism, closed markets and the cutting off of valued international ties - for no other reason than cheap politics, perceived political advantage and a hatred of "his" Queen. This is no way to lead a proud and great country like New Zealand. However, it is quite a good way to lead a complete basket case of a nation that looks backwards but not forwards - that puts petty prejudice before our common humanity.

He also appears to believe in placing, for purely political reasons, inferior products before superior products. Is this why he is a republican? Surely all this has come as a shock for all those republicans being led by this man - for only someone who is completely blotto is ever likely to be convinced by any of his arguments.

God Save Our Queen!

Lord Best said...

It is an interesting debate, local produce vs quality. I am lucky in that a great many excellent comestibles are produced locally, but for certain things the quality is just not there (cheese, do not bother with Australian cheese, cheese from any other country than enforced absolute pasteurisation). Thins like fois gras and caviar are notoriously difficult to find in Australia as well, even when my students budget allows their consumption.

Lewis Holden said...

"So Lewis, New Zealand's leading republican is nothing more than a narrow nationalist"

Wrong Neil. I simply said I prefer Lindauer to Pol Roger. I said the fact Lindauer is New Zealand made is a "plus".

"..who joyfully believes in protectionism, closed markets and the cutting off of valued international ties"

Wrong again. I'm actually economically neo-liberal, I support free markets, free enterprise, and expanding New Zealand's international ties. In fact, New Zealand has a much better record on all those counts than, say, Britain and France. Hence we're entitled to be annoyed when Prince Charles goes to a French academy and endorses EU subsidies which harm Australian and New Zealand farmers, and we're entitled to be annoyed when "our" Royal family continues to offer patronage to a wine made in a country that spends more on subsidizing its cows than aid for Africa.

"...for no other reason than cheap politics, perceived political advantage and a hatred of "his" Queen."

Umm, no. I was merely commenting that I don't like Pol Roger and prefer Lindauer. You're simply reading what you want to into my statements.

On the same basis I could say your simple acceptance that the Royal family's endorsement of Pol Roger for the fact that it was endorsed by the Royal family harks back to a certain pre-capitalist economic system, feudalism. You only see Pol Roger as being a superior product because it carries the Royal crest. But that would be unfair of me.

"This is no way to lead a proud and great country like New Zealand."

Agreed. That won't make me prefer Pol Roger though.

"However, it is quite a good way to lead a complete basket case of a nation that looks backwards but not forwards - that puts petty prejudice before our common humanity."

Again, I'm not prejudiced against any other wine making country. I just happen to prefer the wine made in my own.

"He also appears to believe in placing, for purely political reasons, inferior products before superior products."

That's a matter of taste. I've consumed two bottles of Pol Roger in my life time and enjoyed neither. Lindauer, on the other hand, I could drink all the time...

"Is this why he is a republican?"

No. I'm a republican because I believe New Zealand needs an effective and democratic check on the Prime Minister and Cabinet, which we currently lack under the status quo.

"Surely all this has come as a shock for all those republicans being led by this man - for only someone who is completely blotto is ever likely to be convinced by any of his arguments."

I'm not going to dignify such a silly remark with a response.