The Secret Meaning Behind Megan Rapinoe's Champagne Of Choice

Today, the U.S. women's soccer team was honored with a parade through downtown Manhattan. The morning's events were held in celebration of the team's recent historic World Cup win, and of course, no celebration is complete without champagne. As seen from many of the team member's Instagram stories, the women enjoyed cup after cup of bubbly and even took to spraying whole bottles from their float as it made its way down Broadway. One such video of their celebratory champers stood out among the rest, and for good reason.

A few hours ago, Ashlyn Harris captured a clip of teammate Megan Rapinoe wearing red sunglasses and holding a bottle of Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame in one hand and her World Cup trophy in the other. Rapinoe looks into the camera and screams "I deserve this." The video quickly circulated around social media and was dubbed "a mood." However, one Twitter user that pointed out that this moment was even more iconic than fans may have initially realized.

Accompanying two screenshots of Rapinoe's "I deserve this" video, Josh Billinson tweeted "Megan Rapinoe is drinking La Grande Dame, a brand of Veuve honoring the woman who took over her late husband’s wine business and built it into one of the most iconic champagne houses in the world. Iconic." Since being posted four hours ago, the tweet has been liked over 1,700 times. Billinson told Refinery29, that he made the connection after Googling the champagne when he first saw the now-famous video.

According to Veuve Clicquot's website, La Grande Dame is indeed named after Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin, or Madame Clicquot, whom the brand calls "one of the first businesswomen of modern times." "Credited as the inventor of the riddling technique and the only woman to hold such a significant role in the industry, she was known as the Grande Dame of Champagne," a 2018 Forbes article reports.

In March, long before their World Cup victory, every single member of the U.S. women's team filed a lawsuit against the soccer federation for gender discrimination. Female soccer players reportedly earn 38% of what their male counterparts make, despite being the most-decorated team in international women's soccer. Given their current fight for equal, the players may very well have made a conscious decision to chose this champagne named after a ground-breaking woman. The Grande Dame was in very good company today among a group of women who are very much at the top of their field.