Champagne is not everybody’s favorite drink but it is close to it. Not all sparkling wine is champagne. That name is reserved for the bubbly that comes from...
Champagne is not everybody’s favorite drink but it is close to it. Not all sparkling wine is champagne. That name is reserved for the bubbly that comes from the Champagne region of France even though almost every other wine growing county in the world has tried to imitate it. Over 19,000 growers in the Champagne region create the grapes that go into this famous wine. Over eight times that many grow them in the rest of the world. It is not the bubbles that make champagne so famous but they lead to what does make champagne famous, the fact that the bubbles help the alcohol be absorbed into the body faster which in turn lets people get into a festive mood faster. Unfortunately the bubbles do not help you metabolize the alcohol faster so one remains intoxicated just as long as with regular wine.
Still most people want to know about the bubbles. How do they get there? Believe it or not most wines can develop bubbles if you get the wine to ferment further while it is still in the bottle. Put the wine in a warm place, 85 degrees will usually do fine. Not too hot because too much heat can destroy any semblance of flavor. As the wine ferments further, the pressure of the bottle forces the alcohol and the accompanying gas to be absorbed into the liquid and when the wine is opened the decrease in pressure will let the gas escape as bubbles. Most people who try this experiment do not like the resulting taste because it is so sharp and aggravating that the one time is enough. So why try to do it yourself; keep your wine cool and let the experts make bubbles that taste good.
The climate for growing good champagne producing grapes is not found everywhere. The best grapes are early-ripening varieties. Surprisingly most of them are Pinots Noir and Meunier red grapes. They are pressed very gently so that a pale white juice is extracted. The small amount of juice that results is part of the reason sparkling wine is more expensive than regular wine. Yes, you can get sparkling wine that is fairly inexpensive but it usually lacks smoothness and flavor. Another crucial ingredient in champagne quality (and its cost) is the length of time the vintner leaves the wine in contact with the remnants of the grapes that are squeezed in the pressing (fifteen months or longer). Those remnants (called lees) allow for more fermentation in the bottle. The bottle is stored upside down then the lees are removed before the bottle is topped off, resealed and sent to the consumer. The best bubbling wines are relatively young and very subtle in flavor. Try not to let the wine fizz to overflowing when the bottle is opened. Quick release of the bubbles can also degrade the flavor.
