Gold Magazine December 2013 - January 2014, Issue 33 | Page 79

investing in champagne

I

In a hopeful parallel to the brutal economic
storms that worldwide economies have had
to weather this year, 2013 also bore witness to the ecological battering of France’s
famous Bordeaux wine-cultivating region,
to seemingly destructive ends. And yet a
sparkling opportunity lay in wait.
As hail and vicious winds ripped through
the appellations in August, uprooting
delicate vines and dashing dreams, wine
aficionados nervously wondered as to the
uncertain repercussions of this downfall.
Would the 2013 Bordeaux vintage possess
any quality? Would the fine-wine market
be able to recover following the poor performance of preceding years, with prices
having plateaued from 2010? How might
this crisis be metamorphosed into an opportunity?

And so it is that, on the brink of a New
Year, collectors and investors are sweeping away the old adage claiming that
the only bubble in the wine market is
in Champagne, and are, rather, toasting
the alternative possibilities that lie ahead,
embodied in this otherwise overlooked effervescent vino.
Named after the region in northeast
France where it was first cultivated, the title
‘Champagne’ is protected by international
treaty, meaning that the bearing of this
name on a sparkling wine’s label is reserved
exclusively for output from the Champagne
region.
With the exception of the United States,
which is not party to this treaty, other
countries have renamed their sparkling
wines accordingly: in Italy they serve
Spumante; Germany, meanwhile, serves
Sekt, and other areas of France produce Vin
Mousseux.
Once designated as being ‘the devil’s
wine’, Champagne came into being wholly
accidentally and unexpectedly in
the 1600s. While aspiring to create
quality wine, wine-makers in the
Champagne region were often plagued

Champagne Etiquette

T

he image
conjured
of opening
a bottle of
Champagne is all too
familiar: bursting forth
with brute force, the
cork shoots into the
air, releasing a waterfall
of crisp bubbles, to
the delight of gleeful
onlookers. Meanwhile,
the actuality of how
it should be done
(in keeping with
Champagne etiquette)
is very different.
Realists bemoan the
fact that in utilising
this method, precious
Champagne is
wastefully lost, whilst
pessimists fear the
strong possibility that

someone may just
lose an eye in the
endeavour to hear that
famous ‘pop’.
Instead, experts advise, one should seek
a soft ‘sigh’ from the
cork as it is slowly
released. Tilt the bottle at a slight angle.
Keeping one hand
firmly on the cork and
the other at the base
of the bottle, slowly rotate the bottle (not the
cork), until the stopper
is eased out.
When ready to pour,
Champagne glassware has very particular characteristics and
for very good reasons.
The long stem ensures
that drinkers’ hands

do not alter the chilled
temperature of the
wine, whilst the narrow
bowl and thin sides
enhance the flow of
bubbles and prevent
against over-oxygenating the sparkling
wine. The most discerning of glassware
also has an etched
bottom (replicating the
roughness of crystal),
which assists in invigorating the bubbles
even further.
Pouring gently while
tilting the glass is
considered the correct
method for distributing
Champagne; a direct
down pour will, in all
likelihood, result in
unnecessary froth and

potential overflow.
If complying with the
correct Champagne
etiquette, the bottle
must unequivocally be
chilled to 7-9 degrees
Celsius. Champagne
buckets have a larger
volume than standard
wine-cooling buckets
to accommodate
water and ice to
achieve the correct
temperature.
For those who wish
to store their Champagne, a cool, dark
place devoid of big
temperature fluctuations should be
sought, as, like its still
counterpart, sparkling
wine is sensitive to
temperature and light.

by particularly cold weather conditions,
forcing them to bottle their output before
the fundamental fermentation process had
been completed. Come springtime, denatured yeast would be roused, and the
fermentation process would begin
again from within the bottle, causing the
creation of bubbles and a build-up of carbon dioxide. Many bottles would succumb
to the inter