Chalk caves at Veuve Clicquot( photo courtesy Veuve Clicquot)
all that sparkles is not
Champagne
By Mike Muirhead, Sommelier( ISG, CMS), CSW
The Champagne world is fascinating, and steeped in tradition and history. Where to begin with any great wine is always a struggle, so
“ let’ s dive right into the basics. Alcoholic fermentation is the process in which yeast turns sugar into alcohol, heat and carbon dioxide. Only two things can stop fermentation: sulphur, which kills the yeast, and cold temperatures, which stop yeasts from working. It is this small detail— remaining excess sugar and dormant yeasts— that gives us sparkling wine.
Legend has it that sparkling wine was discovered accidentally— and not in Champagne as everyone thinks. In the countryside around Limoux, in the South of France around 1561, the winemakers went to the cellar to check on the previous year’ s vintage after
Come quickly, I am tasting the stars!— Dom Perignon, at the moment he discovered Champagne
a long, bitterly cold winter. What they found was a cellar full of broken glass and spoiled wine. Just as spring awakens the spirits, warm weather awakens the yeasts. As the temperature rose, the yeasts started a second alcoholic fermentation creating carbon dioxide, which created more pressure than the weak, fire-blown bottles of the era could handle. The bottles that did survive were opened to reveal a fine bubble that, at that time, was considered a fault. It is this fine bubble we now seek in our sparking wines. Today, bottles have become stronger and the process has been perfected.
“
Making sparkling wine sounds complex but is quite simple. In Champagne, still wines are made first, then blended. The blend is bottled with additional sugar
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