There is a photograph, dated 1911, of the explorer Robert Falcon Scott and his team. En route to the South Pole, the men are seated around a table, looking rather the worse for wear after a celebratory midwinter meal of seal soup, roast beef, plum pudding, minced pies and an “unstinted” supply of Champagne Charles Heidsieck. Had the Champagne label’s founder still been alive, he would have been thrilled to see that his brand had made it to Antarctica.
