Cover photo by Alexander Naglestad on Unsplash.

Let me start by saying, I am far from an expert on champagne, and I'm not about to argue that everyone can or should go out and splurge on luxury wine. On the contrary, there's a compelling argument to be made that, for many people, champagne is emblematic of the ultra rich, with popping corks on super yachts representing the worst of our era's wealth inequality.

I'm not going to argue against any of that. What I am going to argue, though, is that champagne is the result of passion and craftsmanship, and those are values that stand in stark contrast to today's fast and cheap trend economy.

The value of external validation

With many modern fads, the value of the item comes from the external validation the owner receives from other people. Whether it's a new phone, a limited edition pair of sneakers, or something as trivial as a trading card, it's the reaction you get that makes you feel good about your purchase.

When you're buying for the purpose of impressing others or just keeping up with the crowd, it's the appearance that matters, and that renders authenticity irrelevant. A fake Rolex or Supreme t-shirt is going to give you that same hit of external validation, so why not buy some "dupes" instead?

The complexity of the process

Champagne is incredibly complicated, fiddly and time-consuming to make, as I learned myself on a recent trip to Reims. The soil, the climate, the type of grape, the amount of sun and the amount of rain, there's a whole bunch of unpredictable natural factors that go into it, even before you get to the laborious process of actually making the wine (which, believe me, sounds like an absolute ordeal in itself).

The result? I wine that I quite like. It's not my favourite, but it's good, and there are plenty of people for whom it's the pinnacle of its industry.

Photo by Sue Winston on Unsplash.

Why does any of that matter?

My point (yes, we're coming to it at last!) is that champagne has value because it's the result of multiple rarities: ideal climatic conditions, the work of passionate and talented people, and centuries of trial, error and improvement.

It has a natural rarity that far outweighs the artificial scarcity that defines many modern luxury goods.

There are, undeniably, some who buy it just for the "wow" reaction it gets at the dinner table, in the same way that a knock-off purse might get a "wow" at a friend's wedding.

But if you look deeper, there's something behind a good bottle of champagne, a value that goes far beyond what you feel when your guests cheer the pop of a cork. If you look into the supply chain and labour conditions between a lot of dupes, meanwhile, you probably won't like what you see.

Find your champagne

As I said at the outside of this article, I'm not here to tell you to buy champagne. I'm here to tell you to find your champagne.

Maybe your champagne is a nice pair of shoes, or a Japanese kitchen knife, or an artwork, or an antique sofa, or even something as practical as a coffee machine. It doesn't have to be expensive, it just has to matter to you.

Take the time to find something that has a deeper value in your eyes, that has a story that resonates with you. Something that you'll enjoy over and over, even when nobody else is looking.

Photo by Linda Gerbec on Unsplash.