# Celebratory Champagne **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 31, 2004, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebratory-champagne/272161 "2004-10-31T14:27:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebratory-champagne/272161/1 "2004-10-31T14:27:35Z")
This may conceivably be an IMHO question, but I suspect it has an actual answer, so I’m starting it in GQ, with a humble apology to the moderators if it actually does not. We’ve all seen the post-game celebrations when a team takes some sort of championship – baseball pennant, football league championship, etc., and the custom is to douse the players, or have them douse each other, in (presumably cheap) champagne. Great quantities of the bubbly are poured over people, sprayed at people, etc. My wife asked, and we discovered we had no answer: On average, how much if any of the celebratory champagne is actually drunk by the championship team, as opposed to being sprayed/poured/otherwise externally applied? TIA for any answers. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebratory-champagne/272161/2 "2004-10-31T18:34:19Z")
I don’t know \*how much \* of it gets drunk, but my guess is that at least \*some \* of it gets drunk, because I recall when the St Louis Cardinals won the World Series in 1982, catcher Darrell Porter, who was a recovering alcoholic, specifically requested that he be supplied with sparkling grape juice for the celebration. I would think that if it was just for spraying around, he really wouldn’t have cared. Maybe they buy cheap stuff for spraying, and good stuff for drinking? ---
**Author:** ![mitchythekid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c67d28/32.png) [@mitchythekid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mitchythekid)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebratory-champagne/272161/3 "2004-10-31T21:09:11Z")
All the stuff they buy is probably tax deductable anyhow,I guess it would’nt matter what kind it was,except for the managments,and or CEO’s opinion! Buy the cheap stuff,then just cook the books.Every little bit helps! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebratory-champagne/272161/4 "2004-10-31T22:19:13Z")
It’s not the cheap stuff. Most of time I see that it’s Veuve Clicquot. (the orange-yellow label). This is the original champagne. Check their website at [http://www.veuve-clicquot.com](http://www.veuve-clicquot.com) If you’re a careful observer, you’ll see the the VC label on champagne bottles in old movies too. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebratory-champagne/272161/5 "2004-10-31T23:38:58Z")
I doubt that they need to buy the champagne. I suspect that the champagne house provides it for free, just for the television exposure. ---
**Author:** ![Antonius\_Block](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Antonius\_Block](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antonius_Block)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebratory-champagne/272161/6 "2004-10-31T23:45:58Z")
As you say, **Polycarp** , the question is sailing rather close to IMHO territory, but here goes: _1) Is there always at least **some** Champagne imbibed?_ I’m pretty sure that I’ve seen celebrations where there were at most a couple of bottles on hand (which were sprayed), and no sign of drinking glasses anywhere. Champagne swigged from a bottle passed around would be messy and counterproductive, so there should be glasses available if any appreciable consumption is expected. I’d be prepared to bet that at many Champagne-spraying ceremonies, total human consumption is zero. Googling “Champagne for spraying” turns up a cached link for a London go-kart track that may be rented for corporate team-building events, and offers: > [@](#): > > Podium ceremony with **champagne for spraying** and trophies for winners. _(bolding mine)_. Perhaps it would be illegal at this location to _drink_ alcohol, but spraying it is OK? Or perhaps their “champagne for spraying” is non-alcoholic? _2) Do they use cheap Champagne for spraying?_ As **BwanaBob** says, it’s often a _fairly_ expensive label. [Veuve Clicquot Brut Yellow Label](http://www.bevmo.com/productinfo.asp?sku=00000002922&Dn=166+168&Ntt=veuve+clicquot&N=168+166+0&Nty=1&D=veuve+clicquot&Ntk=All) runs about $34 for a regular bottle (750ml). Not “[Dom Perignon](http://www.bevmo.com/productinfo.asp?sku=00000069873&Dn=166+168&Ntt=dom+perignon&N=168+166+0&Nty=1&D=dom+perignon&Ntk=All) expensive” (~$100 and up), but not [Cook’s](http://www.bevmo.com/productinfo.asp?sku=00000003630&Dn=166+168&Ntt=cook%27s&N=168+166+0&Nty=1&D=cook%27s&Ntk=All) ($4) either, although the latter would be just as good for spraying. It’s not easy to find on-line photos of the spraying “ceremony” with the label exposed, but [here’s one](http://www.paultracy.com/Paul_Tracy/01_st_pete/images/STP06.jpg). That’s a [Piper Heidsieck Extra Dry](http://www.bevmo.com/productinfo.asp?sku=00000002935&sasrc=HomeNav&No=130&N=168+166+39+4294956428&area=wine) ($25) that he’s holding. [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champagne_(beverage)) seems to agree that they often use the fairly expensive stuff: > [@](#): > > The deliberate spraying of champagne has become an integral part of the presentation of trophies to the top three placegetters in auto racing or the locker room celebrations in other sports, though many wine enthusiasts cringe at the wastage of usually very expensive champagne in such a manner. _3) Who pays for it all?_ As **mitchythekid** says, it’s a business expense anyway, but I suspect that in some cases it’s donated by the Champagne maker, perhaps with a requirement that the label be clearly exposed to the cameras. In [this photo](http://www2.helsinginsanomat.fi/kuvat/uutiset/2002/03/04/20020304for01i.jpg), the guy’s being doused by a magnum of [Mumm Cordon Rouge](http://www.bevmo.com/productinfo.asp?sku=00000003880&Dn=166+168&Ntt=mumm+cordon+rouge&N=168+166+0&Nty=1&D=mumm+cordon+rouge&Ntk=All) ($67), but if you notice the “celebration” bottle has extra “Mumm” labels in large letters. These extra labels are both “right-side-up” _and_ “inverted” with respect to the bottle. Now, unlike still wines dispensed behind some bars, Champagne is **never** served from a bottle that sits inverted, so there would be no reason for the label to be readable that way unless it’s a special “event” bottle provided by Mumm & Co for high visibility. Even if it’s full of real Cordon Rouge, it’s still not very expensive for a Champagne maker to donate and it’s potentially good advertising. _[And, on preview, I see that **Dewey Finn** has already proposed this.]_ _4) What about celebrations in Muslim countries?_ Thanks for asking! Champagne-spraying has been banned from the [Bahrain Grand Prix](http://in.news.yahoo.com/040331/139/2cb43.html) (Formula One Auto Racing). [Prices quoted are from [Beverages and More](http://www.bevmo.com). They are well-priced and have an extensive selection on-line. I am not in any way affiliated with this company.] ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebratory-champagne/272161/7 "2004-11-01T02:12:43Z")
> [@mitchythekid](#): > > Buy the cheap stuff,then just cook the books. For the third post, this seems to be rather far from the OP.