Memories of Dom Perignon

It is something that I never did before to order Dom Perignon with my low salary, but I have drunk it. The president of the company I used to work for was the same age as me. I don’t think he was making that much money, but he seemed to have a good time and I often heard stories of him drinking every weekend. At the end of the year, when I had just joined the company, there was a year-end party, and by the time the first party was over, the female president was completely drunk. “Alright! Let’s go to the second party!” she ordered, and we split up into several taxis and moved to a town that was three stations away by train.
And where we arrived was an okama bar…
It was too stimulating for me, who had just finished raising my children, and of course it was my first experience. There was a big difference between the beautiful okama I often see on TV and the ones here, who looked like mid-aged men dressed as women. They (male) were… well, they (female) were… I don’t know how to express it, but their voices were men’s voices, and I didn’t know if I should talk to them as women or what topics to bring up. I think I remember talking about it when I was a truck driver.
Back to the story, when the female president at the time got excited, she raised her cheerful voice and said, “I’m going to open it!” and the okama got excited and brought out “Dom Perignon”.
It costs tens of thousands of yen per bottle! My colleagues whispered, and I wondered if it was okay to be treated with such expensive liquor. As I drank it, it had a strong taste of alcohol and I thought, “Wow, this is real”. I felt lucky to be working for such a generous female president while sipping Dom Perignon.
“Come on! One more bottle!” said the female president in a loud voice. No way… Really?
Dom Perignon kept coming one after another.
I heard later that she spent about 500,000 yen at that time, and the female president laughed out loud.
I wished she had given me one bottle of Dom Perignon and the rest as a bonus.

Dom Perignon that I drank for the first time

The first time I drank Dom Perignon (short for champagne Dom Perignon) was white, I remember.
I went to a bistro with a friend for dinner on my birthday, and he treated me to it as a birthday present.
Until then, Dom Perignon was a drink for the rich, or something that was extravagantly opened at cabarets or host clubs, a so-called flashy drink.
Of course, I knew that Dom Perignon itself had a venerable history and was a masterpiece made by champagne craftsmen with great care, but it was also true that I had a bit of prejudice because of the aforementioned image.
With mixed feelings of expectation and anxiety, I tasted the Dom Perigno, and it had a very glamorous taste.
It had a sparkling wine-like mouthfeel, but with a complex mix of aromas.
I felt not only white grapes, but also a orange-like bitterness, a refreshing mint-like freshness, and an ethnic sweetness like almond.
I was happy that my friend gave me such a present, but I was also excited to be able to taste the drink I had longed for.
Since then, I have been using it as a handy drink for celebrations and other occasions.
It is an expensive drink, so I can’t drink it often, but it is a wonderful drink for important occasions.
I think I will drink it at every milestone in my life.

Dom Perignon at the ski resort

This is a story from before the corona pandemic, so it’s about 4 or 5 years ago. I went skiing with a friend in Hakuba at the end of the year.
My friend came from Tokyo and I came from Kyoto by bullet train, met up in Nagoya and headed to Matsumoto by express train, and then rented a car in Matsumoto and headed for Hakuba.
We are both drinkers and if it was a usual case, we would buy a lot of wine and check into the hotel, but this time we had a plan without meals, so we basically planned to drink when we ate out, and only prepared a few bottles of wine and Dom Perignon and checked into the hotel.
We planned to drink Dom Perignon on the 31st.
The hotel we stayed at was Hakuba Royal Hotel near Hakuba Station.

http://www.hakuba-royal.com/

It was a big hotel, but it felt a bit old-fashioned.
Since it was near Hakuba Station, I thought there would be plenty of places to eat dinner, but surprisingly there were few places open at night, and the choices were either to go to the Happo ski resort or search restaurants along the national highway.
However, the former was too far to walk, and the latter meant we couldn’t drink alcohol, so we decided to find one within walking distance.
I checked and it seems that it no longer exists now, but I found a restaurant at that time that served Shinshu pork shabu-shabu and made a reservation for the 31st.
Both my friend and I believed that “if we pay a corkage fee, they will let us drink at the restaurant”, and we walked to the restaurant with Dom Perignon in the snow.
I think it was about 15 minutes away from the hotel.
The restaurant was quite busy and the food was delicious, but they refused to let us bring our own drinks.
The sake and Shinshu pork we had were very delicious and we were very satisfied.
For us who are relatively small eaters, I think we ate quite a lot.
However, we ended up carrying Dom Perignon back and forth on the snowy road for nothing.
When we got back to our room, we decided to drink Dom Perignon since we had it anyway.
Of course, there was no preparation for champagne glasses, so we used the glasses that we had in the room.
It was the most casual glass I ever drank Dom Perignon with in my life while I was full.
Usually you drink champagne before meals, right?
I felt a little sorry for the producer, but of course it was delicious.
We drank sake and Dom Perignon and fell asleep without waiting for the countdown.
If you want to pay respect to Dom Perignon, you should prepare properly and drink it.

A high school student won the Dom Pérignon by chance without even knowing it

It was when I was in my third year of high school.
The Workers’ Mutual Aid Center in the city where I lived holds a Christmas party and year-end party every year before Christmas.
My best friend Y’s father was a member of this mutual aid association, so Y and his parents, me, and another friend M participated in the event.
We enjoyed delicious food and various games, such as a drinking contest (adults drank beer, minors drank cola), a quiz contest, a bingo game, and a Japanese drum performance by elementary school students. There was a lot of fun.

The three of us high school students participated in the cola drinking contest, but I couldn’t drink it fast💦
However, M drank it super fast and won the contest☆彡 There were prizes for the top three, and M got a 3000 yen voucher!!! I was very envious, but I also respected his skill of drinking cola fast. Now that I’m an adult, I love beer, so I feel like I could join the beer drinking contest if I had the chance.

The main event at the end was a lottery with luxurious prizes provided by various companies, and all the participants looked forward to it every year♪ Y’s parents, who were enjoying their beer, were also very enthusiastic about it. I remember that very well. The female host was also very good at livening up the party♪ She repeated “This is 〇〇 from 〇〇 company”, but it was for enhancing awareness and business matching among the local companies, and I think this Christmas party and year-end party before Christmas was a great opportunity to have fun in the community.

Some of the prizes that I remembered were “a one-night stay for two at a hot spring”, “quail egg pudding”, “salmon roe marinated in soy sauce”, “herring roe from Hokkaido”, “blizzard flower”, “a 100,000 yen voucher of AEON”, “a 100,000 yen travel voucher”, “a Dyson vacuum cleaner”, “a TV”, “a laptop” and so on. There were quite a few things that were perfect for this season or expensive, and I was excited♪ I felt like I would win something!

I heard from Y’s mother later that about half of the participants would win something because there were so many prizes prepared. I was nervous every time the host drew a number from the box…

Y’s father won "a set of oil from Nissin"☆ M won "a cake from Fujiya"☆ The moment when your number was called and the joy of winning in the same group and the applause from the surroundings. I was also waiting for this moment to come. Then I heard the host say “Number 51, you won a pink Dom Pérignon!” The moment I thought “Oh, that’s me” There were voices of “Wow! Amazing!!!” around me. I didn’t know what that “Dom Pérignon” was, so I was disappointed and said “Oh, I wanted to win a one-night stay at a hot spring…” Y’s mother said “That champagne is very expensive. I’ve never had it before~” and she envied me. There was no way I could understand its value as a high school student at that time…

When I got home, I handed it to my mother and said “This is a souvenir. I won it in the lottery.” She stopped and said “What??? Is this that Dom Pérignon?” In our humble family, we had only seen it on TV and never had the chance to buy or drink it. It was a Christmas present that I didn’t know its value and won it and brought it to my humble parents.

New Year’s countdown. After watching the NHK Red and White Song Contest, my parents were in a good mood and said “Happy New Year!” and toasted with a very happy smile. I couldn’t drink and could only watch, but I was very happy to welcome a very fun and bright new year.

Now I’m getting closer to the age of my parents at that time, but I’ve only seen Dom Pérignon on dramas and celebrities’ blogs. I’m looking forward to the day when my son will somehow get Dom Pérignon and spend every day with joy.

Episode of Dom Perignon

I have a boyfriend who I’ve been dating for about three years, but we haven’t made any progress and we’ve been busy with our daily lives.

Last New Year’s Day, I visited the Izumo Saitama Taisha Shrine, a branch of the Izumo Taisha Shrine.

The Izumo Taisha shrine is famous for matchmaking.

I heard that matchmaking shrines have the benefit of connecting good relationships, but also cutting off bad ones, and I was a little worried because there was no progress between us.

However, on my birthday at the end of last year, he surprised me with an unexpected marriage proposal and the first Dom Perignon in my life.

The year has changed and I visited the Izumo Saitama Shrine again to thank them.