108-Year-Old Says Champagne Is the Secret to Her Longevity

Plenty of people like to toast a glass of sparkling wine to celebrate their birthday, but always finishing her bubbly may explain how one champagne-loving centenarian got there in the first place. Sure chalking up your longevity to a regular tipple is unconventional, but it's not necessarily uncommon: We've seen people credit crossing the century mark to whiskey, beer, and even a daily Guinness specifically. This 108-year-old Brit simply has a taste for the finer things in life.

Dorothy Flowers—who currently lives at the Bupa Southlands nursing home in Harrogate, a town in northern England—celebrated her 108th birthday on October 22, and many of the photos feature her posing with a bottle of Moet or glass of Champagne. Flower's Resident Experience Manager Helene Ballinger says that their oldest inhabitant can credit her longevity to the drink. "Dorothy loves company, so she'll sit with us at the reception desk each day," Ballinger began, according to the Metro. "Her real secret for longevity though has to be champagne. It's the only thing we ever see her finish a glass of. Needless to say, we've been toasting her birthday."

Meanwhile, drinking isn't the only vice that lured Flowers in. Both she and her husband—who passed away in 1981 after four decades of marriage—were in the horse racing industry. They worked for the Race Course Betting Control Board until they retired in—get this—1963, according to HuffPo UK. Flowers would have been 52 years old at the time. I'd be drinking plenty of champagne too if I'd been retired for over half of my life!

"I'm lucky to have made many happy memories during my life and—even at 108—I'm still making more," Flowers was quoted as saying, speaking with the help of her caretaker. In advance of the event, the care home put out a call for cards, and 654 arrived in all… as well as a few gifts of champagne, of course.