The Champagne Aria

Finch’han dal vino calda la testa,
una gran festa fa preparar!
Se trovi in piazza qualche ragazza,
teco ancor quella cerca menar.
Senza alcun ordine la danza sia,
ch’il minuetto, chi la follia,
chi l’alemanna farai ballar, ecc.
Ed io frattanto dall’altro canto,
con questa e quella vo’ amoreggiar!
Ah, la mia lista doman mattina
d’una decina devi aumentar!

The above quote is from Act 1 Scene 2 of Mozart's opera Don Giovanni. Although widely known as the Champagne aria, the Don never mentions the bubbly (or indeed any wine) by name here, unlike later (in the final Act) when he praises a good Marzemino (see earlier blog). The action at this point concerns his instruction to his servant Leporello to go and bring out the wine and start a good party, so that everyone gets tipsy. He also asks Leporello to invite all the young ladies he meets, so that with the aid of alcohol and his crafty seduction he can add ten more conquests that night. All this against the backdrop of trying to seduce Zerlina, who was getting married to Masseto that day, and for which celebration the party was thrown. I suppose Champagne would be as appropriate a choice as any other wine, and by this time, champagne has started to evolve from a pale pink still wine to a white bubbly, though the production of the former still accounted for the vast majority of the wine production in Champagne. But however hard I look, there is still no proper account of why the above aria is named the Champagne aria.