As I mentioned on Wednesday, we take into account three criteria when choosing a bottle of Champagne: the brand, the price and … the colour or design of the small metal cap on top of the cork. This last criterion may seem a bit peculiar, but there is a very specific reason for it.
In 1985, during our first trip to the Champagne region, the wine waiter of the hotel asked whether we wanted to keep the metal cap of the bottle he had just opened for us. Although we had no use for it, we accepted the cap and decided to keep it as a souvenir of our stay.
Top row, Champagne caps: Lanson and Castellane
Bottom row: cap of sparkling Vouvray wine
Bottom row: cap of sparkling Vouvray wine
The following day, we had another bottle of Champagne of a different brand. Once again the waiter separated the cap from the rest of the cork, and put it on the table for us to take. This ritual repeated itself every evening at dinner, until by the end of our stay we had collected 5 or 6 caps.
It was only when we got back home that we had a closer look at them. We noticed that some of them were just plain white metal, while others where full of colour with different designs. And this was the beginning of something that over the years has become an obsession. Over the last 25 years my friend has collected over 4,000 of these metal caps, all different in colour and design. Don’t worry – or should I say ‘unfortunately’? – we didn’t drink all those bottles ourselves.
Most of the caps come from friends, relatives and colleagues who know about my friend’s collection. He also exchanges a lot of caps with other collectors. And each time we go to a restaurant he asks the waiter whether there are no caps just lying around, waiting to be thrown away.
Over the last ten years he has extended his collection to caps from other sparkling wines, such as Crémant d’Alsace, Crémant de Bourgogne, Crémant de la Loire, Prosecco (from Italy) and Cava (from Spain) and of course … the sparkling Vouvray from the Loire Valley.
Collecting Champagne caps has become very popular in France as well as in Belgium. There’s even a catalogue listing the different types and their value. This trend also caught the attention of the Champagne producers who cleverly use it as a new marketing tool, by regularly changing the colour and design of their caps.
There even is a French word to design a person who collects Champagne caps. Do you know it? And no, it isn’t a ‘capitalist’! … Although …
P.S. So, if you have some caps lying around ...
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7 comments:
wow! 4000 caps! So you're a real "placomusophile" ;-)
Bonne année !
As a young American student of French I used to know years ago in Paris would say in French: "J'ai un plumeau." What he meant was 'I have one more word.' My "plumeau", today, thanks to Thib, is Placomusophile. Better late than never. It is so much better than capitalist, which sounds like an insult and, even, like a "gros mot."
Thank you, Thib. And "Bonne année!"
Hi Thib, You are quite right ... my friend is a real 'placomusophile'.
Bonne Année to you too!
Chm, The word 'plumeau' must have made a great impression on him for using it as a 'reference' whenever he learned a new word :).
Hi Martine,
What I should have said is that we understood "plumeau" when, in fact, he said "un plus mot" or translated literally "one more word." LOL
Chm, My mistake ... but even funnier :))
We have a large champagne tin (a fancy tin that a bottle of champagne came in) full of caps. I am absolutely delighted to say that we drank the bottle from every one !!
Does anyone know what the official name is for the boards you can put them on once you collect them?
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