Birthdays, new jobs and New Year’s Eve: IMAGE relive their fondest champagne memories

Ahead of our exclusive summer tasting menu experience at WILDE Restaurant on August 1st, IMAGE HQ started to chat about our favourite ever glasses of champagne. If you haven’t got your tickets yet to join IMAGE Digital Editor Dominique McMullan for a summer –inspired menu matched with Perrier-Jouët champagne, call WILDE at +353 1 6463352 and remember to quote IMAGE for your discount. 

What comes to mind when you think of champagne? The luxurious drink has become a tradition all over the world when it comes to celebration. Weddings, graduations, birthdays, promotions; the image of a champagne glass always conjures up joy and extravagance. We asked our IMAGE staffers about their fondest champagne memories – the times in their lives that were filled with love, laughter and plenty of bubbly. What was yours?

The birthday

“I can’t remember a single birthday where I didn’t have a glass of champagne. In fact, I don’t even think there are photos from any of my birthdays growing up without glasses of champagne around me. It might seem a little strange, but I grew up in Lyon in France and there’s a very big distinction in French culture between ‘drinking’ and celebrating. Instead of sitting down for a cup of tea when family members visited from Ireland, my parents brought a bottle of champagne to mark the occasion. I don’t have just one champagne memory. Every occasion from birthdays to christenings started and ended with champagne. For me, champagne is celebration in a glass.” – Sophie Teyssier, social media manager

The Debs

 “I remember my first taste of champagne; it was at my first Debs when I had just turned 18. I remember walking into the entrance hall of the hotel and being served a glass of bubbly from a silver tray. With me in my new gown and hair and makeup done, I’d never felt so classy. Suffice to say, things got distinctly less classy as the night went on, but the champagne went just as well with the food fight at breakfast as it did at that first magic moment” – Erin Lindsay, staff writer, IMAGE.ie

The new job

“Christmas Eve 2016: I’m driving back to Dublin from Cork and I get a phone call. It’s Lucy White (editor of Cara Magazine) to tell me that I got the job I had applied for in Cara, which was pretty much a dream come true. Needless to say, there were plenty of tears. My parents had the champagne ready for when I got back to Dublin, and to top it all off, I found out I was going to be an aunty for the first time too. There was plenty to celebrate that day!” – Melanie Mullan, assistant editor, Cara magazine

The wedding

“My favourite champagne memory is from the morning of my sister’s wedding. We woke up early for our hair and make-up appointments; poured a glass of bubbly each and toasted to the day ahead. As cheesy as it sounds, it was the happiest and love-filled morning. I’ll never forget it.” – Grace McGettigan, staff writer, IMAGE.ie

New Year’s Eve

“I can tell you the exact date, and in fact time of day, I drank my first glass of champagne. The year was 1999 and the time was five to midnight on January 31st. I was fourteen (do the maths) and my Dad said I could have a glass to celebrate the millennium. I was also allowed to wear high, red platform shoes that night. And so two love affairs were born; champagne and shoes. What a cliché. It’s been pretty much downhill from there, but for that one night at 14-years-old I was the most glamorous young woman in the world.  With my red shoes, my bubbling glass and my dad by my side. Life doesn’t get much better.” – Dominique McMullan, digital editor, IMAGE.ie

The French dream

“I remember going on a language exchange to Paris when I was sixteen. Upon telling the lovely old woman who was hosting me that I had never tasted champagne, she was nothing short of horrified. The next day when I came back from my language school, Madame was sitting at the kitchen table and there was a baby bottle of champagne at my place. She popped it for me and together we each enjoyed half a glass. It was a moment I’ve cherished ever since” – Geraldine Carton, staff writer, IMAGE.ie

Want to create your own champagne memories? IMAGE Magazine and Perrier-Jouët are hosting a very special summer-tasting event in WILDE on August 1st.