New Year’s Resolutions??? Dry January? Go on a diet? Do exercise? Eat healthier? Do more cooking? Close my rings? (If you have an Apple Watch you will know what this means) be kind, be patient, just be. Read more books … the list is endless. But for now New Year’s Day is not dry. It has involved alcohol.

New Year’s Eve was probably the dryest (very little alcohol consumed) in a long while. Martin and I hit bed around 1am and Eleanor … well about 3:30am we are told. It was an excellent night.

This morning Martin and I got up, one of us had been for a run, and then we went for a sit down breakfast at Tritons. I had fruit and French toast before I walked at least 4 times round the ship so at least 1 and a bit miles. I then went Champagne tasting while Martin went to watch a newly released film, Next Goal Wins (I watched that in the afternoon).

Unlike the wine tasting, the Champagnes were poured gradually as the tasting progressed.

It is probably the most informative champagne tasting session I have been on, or maybe I took more interest because I knew I would blog about it!

The first one to be tasted was Moët et Chandon. The label of the black crosses with gold edging is a nod to the lapels of a soldier’s livery. Napoleon is said to have had a close connection with the grandson of the founder of the Moët Champagne House. Napoleon wisely said… “Champagne! In victory one deserves it, in defeat one needs it.”

This champagne is stored for 3 years, is blended with 3 types of grapes, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay blending from different years too which is why there is no date on a bottle. The blend and the type of yeast used is a secret. Master Blenders are employed for life by Champagne Houses and commonly their heirs too for it really is a family business as the secret of the blend is passed down through generations.

The Moët et Chandon house is truly a global brand and the brand owns many of the Champagne Houses in the Champagne region of France including the Dom Perignon brand. Dom Perignon is actually stored for more than 10 years hence its price! Moët was the champagne of choice for Charles and Diana’s wedding in 1981 which helped its popularity. One of the last champagnes to be tasted was also a Moët and Chandon, but it was my least favourite. Ice Impérial was created specifically to be poured over ice. In a white bottle it is well prepared to be a poolside drink in the summer months but I did not like it.

Interestingly the length of time a champagne is stored for will depend upon the length of storage. Moët is has larger bubbles than a Veuve Clicquot for example as Veuve is stored for four years. And as for storing it if you don’t drink the bottle at once… a champagne can last up to three days – a bottle of Prosecco can be flat within 30 minutes – and that is also down to the size of the bubbles. And if you are fortunate to have savoured the champagne to have some left in the bottle – leaving a spoon or similar in it – doesn’t work!

The Veuve is named after Widow Clicquot. In the days of operation, it was actually her husband who owned the business having been founded by his father. But on his death, aged 27 she was able to carry on the business. The business flourished largely due to the Russians!

When the Napoleonic Wars were nearly over and her money was nearly gone, Madame Clicquot defied French trade blockades to bring her Champagne to Russia.

In 1814, she loaded the last of her Champagne in secret onto a Russia-bound ship. If the ship was caught, or sank, or the journey ruined the bottles, she would’ve been bankrupt and possibly imprisoned.

Fortunately, none of that happened, and her Champagne arrived in Königsberg (modern-day Kaliningrad) safely. (https://www.wineenthusiast.com/culture/wine/tsarine-russia-champagne-history/). The Sommelier this morning said that apparently the ship carrying the bottles arrived shortly after the war ended and so happy were the Russians at having the champagne, they opened the bottles with a saber (something which I did when in South Africa in 2008). Now how true that story is – I don’t know – but it is nice to have a bit of Disney romance about the business! (Veuve is also now under the umbrella of the powerhouse LVMH – Moët Hennessey Louis Vuitton) Veuve is an excellent pairing with seafood.

Pol Géssé was a fine champagne, though there wasn’t any particular history about it. But as an aside, Champagne is a protected name for the sparkling wine produced within the Champagne region of France. It is out of respect that Chandon in China, Australia, California or any other producer of sparkling wine using the Traditional Method can say they use the method but they don’t call the product “Champagne”. So in 2021 when Putin insisted the sparkling produced in Russia was champagne and that champagne from France should be re-labelled the champagne houses of France were in uproar.

The final offering was a Ruinart. And this champagne’s namesake was a monk, like Dom Perignon. Now, if Atilla, the sommelier is to be believed, he told the story that Dom Perignon gave all his notes to Dom Ruinart who then perfected his champagne based on Perignon’s experience.

Delightfully, it was told that Dom Perignon, who hadn’t realised what was happening with his wines said to his brother monks to “come quickly as [he was] drinking stars”. Apparently this is why there is a star on the label.

It was a lovely way to spend an hour on ship, and at no time did I feel rushed – unlike our 6 wine tasting session.

From the tasting I met Martin and we had a sit down lunch in Tiana’s. I had a clam chowder followed by steak frites (frites were overdone) followed by a lemon meringue pie. After lunch, Martin and I went up onto deck 10. He slept and I had a picture taken with Minnie. Martin then left, and was replaced by Eleanor. At 3:15pm ish the clouds descended and I got cold.

I went back to the stateroom and got changed for my cinema viewing. Next Goal Wins is based on the woeful American Somoan Football team. They lost in 2001 to Australia 31-0 in trying to qualify for the World Cup. A failed coach, Thomas Rongen is despatched to make them good. It is a worthwhile film to go and see but it appears my experience of seeing the film was different to Martin’s. My fellow audience clapped at the goals scored when American Samoa overcome Tonga. Laughter wasn’t quiet – there were a few belly laughs and when there was a plot twist the gasps and ohs were audible. It was endearing actually.

From the cinema it was straight to dinner, where it was just us again. Breaded deep fried Brie, a French Onion soup and rack of lamb was my order. Ricky and Joe gave us some puzzles to solve which involved lateral thinking and a bit of googling. I think I would still be there… there are 10 horses but only 9 gates… how do they all fit into the gates.

After dinner was the magic show of Andrew Lee. The theatre wasn’t as packed as it had been the night before, and Martin and I had 5 seats between us and the next people. It was a good show which included us all ripping into two four pictures (given to us) and then at random shuffling these pieces of paper, discarding bits, keeping safe a bit and then at the end finding that the two pieces of paper that were left, actually matched up. Martin reckons that for about 1/8 of the audience it didn’t work. But for Martin and I it did and it was clever.

The night drew to a close for Martin but not before he turned the lights off and took in the night sky.

Meanwhile while Sleeping Beauty slept, Eleanor had gone out and I followed for tonight was Heroes Night. In any other voyage, there would be only one set of fireworks, but as this cruise was over New Year, we were lucky in having back to back firework nights!

Eleanor and Martin are definitely the Marvel superhero aficionados but I went along to see what was going on. The good guys which included Spiderman, Captain Marvel, Captain America and Thor took on Loki and some guy with a red mask. Now Loki – is Thor’s brother and for some reason unknown to me Loki and Thor aren’t best mates. (I have no doubt there may be some readers who will have followed this and understood that I know very little, and there will be others who know even less than I do (my parents for starters). But whatever you do or don’t know, this open air show drew a crowd and the combat fighting, aerial work, timing and pyrotechnics were excellent.

Anyway, it was very well done and the show culminated in fireworks.

Tomorrow is our last day at sea and we have nothing planned except to see the show in the evening, Disney Dreams: An Enchanted Classic.