Everything you need to know about champagne
Prosecco, cava, cremant, champagne. It's time again for the tastiest bubbles. But what do we really know about bubbles? Wine expert Nico McGough updates you.
DATE
03 December 2022
TEXT
Nico McGough
IMAGE
PR
Everything you need to know about champagne
Prosecco, cava, cremant, champagne. It's time again for the tastiest bubbles. But what do we really know about bubbles? Wine expert Nico McGough updates you.
Bmurmuring wines always bring an extra dimension to the glass. But how do those bubbles actually get into the wine, and why the high price?
How do those bubbles actually get into the wine?
According to tradition, it all came about by chance: a spontaneous, second fermentation occurred in an already sealed bottle. Since carbon dioxide released in the process had nowhere to go, the wine absorbed it, only to release it later in the form of millions of bubbles in the glass. People from the Champagne region claim they had this scoop.
Champagne was not sparkling at all until the 18th century!
Winemakers from other wine regions, such as Limoux, know better and argue against it. The problem with this technique (second fermentation in the bottle) is that the dead yeast cells linger in the wine, so it looks cloudy and can be a bit 'fudgy' in taste. Exactly what you don't want as a winemaker. That was addressed by the widow Clicquot in the early 1800s. But first some useful background.
The famous Benedictine monk Dom Pérignon (1639-1715) did pioneering work that would lead to the growth of champagne.
Dom Pérignon
Champagne producers insist against their better judgement that they are the 'discoverers' of sparkling wine and of champagne in particular. But that is unfortunately nonsense, because sparkling wine has been made in Limoux in the south of France for a very long time. It is true that the famous Benedictine monk Dom Pérignon (1639-1715) did pioneering work that would lead to the growth of champagne. For instance, he discovered how to make a white wine (a Blanc de Noirs) from blue grapes and was the spiritual father of assembling different wines into one homogeneous final product. In this context, it is nice to know that champagne was not sparkling at all until the 18th century!
The harvest at Deux Lunes in Alsace.
Veuve
So people knew that young wine bottled in autumn had to go through the cold winter period first. The living yeast cells still in the wine kept quiet. But as soon as spring sunshine arrived, things got turbulent in the bottles, which either lost their cork due to the CO₂ pressure in the bottle or exploded. Working in the wine cellar was seriously precarious.
So the yeast cells were against the cork. But then they still had to come out!
It was only in 1805 that 27-year-old widow Nicole Berbe Clicquot (born Ponsardin) designed a method to remove the yeast clot from the bottle so that the bubbles remained in it but the wine was sparkling clear. She designed the 'pupitres' in which the bottles went from a horizontal position slowly rotating to a vertical position. This is called 'rémuage' and gave work to hundreds of 'rémueurs', each of whom rotated thousands of bottles each day one turn at a time while positioning them increasingly with the cork down. So the yeast cells were against the cork. But then they still had to get out!
Binet
It was then customary to remove that gag manually. One would hold the bottle upside down, carefully remove the cork and spray away the yeast cells. Quickly bottle upright, refill with some old wine and a pinch of sugar (liqueur d'expédition) and immediately insert the new cork. A lot of fuss and time stress, which was also not without (explosion) danger. Winemaker Binet figured out that if you froze the neck of the bottle with yeast plug in a bath of salt and ice (minus 28 degrees Celsius) you had much less stress and the final result improved. It also drastically increased the working speed.
Wine estate of Leclerc Briant: superbe champagne from small-scale production
Crown cork à la beer
To this day, that technique is in use, although sometimes the salty brain is replaced by liquid nitrogen. The cork has also now been replaced everywhere by a small plastic cap called a 'bidule', which translates freely to 'the thingy'. The bidule possesses a hollow bottom, fits exactly into the bottle neck and catches the yeast cells. The whole thing is sealed with a real crown cap à la beer.
Abstain
The technique for removing the (crown) cork is called 'dégorgement', or degorging. Are the French good at it, just think. Everything to do with the technique described above is called the 'Méthode Champenoise' in Champagne and the 'Méthode Traditionelle' outside. The work of the rémueurs is largely over, as almost all producers worldwide now use specially designed pallet boxes in which hundreds of bottles are simultaneously guided from horizontal to vertical.
Other techniques
Of course, the wine industry does not stand still and other preparation techniques are being tried, for example adding CO₂ gas to still wine. Personally, I have never seen a wine with added carbon dioxide gas that meets my quality requirements.
Spotty champagne is the 'groundswell'
It is different with the 'Methode Charmat', in which bottle fermentation is imitated very large in a pressure tank. That this technique can lead to more than charming wines is proven by Manlio Collavini, among others in north-east Italy. The fact that the price of a bottle of champagne is higher than that of many other sparkling wines is partly due to the amount of work involved in production.
Maturing thousands of bottles of cava
Ultra-cheap champagne is available, but you would really do better to choose a different wine filling. Spot-cheap champagne is the 'ground-soil' of the region and not really worth looking at. Rather spend the money on a cava or a spumante, then you do have something festive in the glass.
Vincent Edouard Poirier Brut N.V. Louis de Grenelle
Originating from the Loire and made by an expert in sparkling wines. To make this stylish wine, they use chardonnay, chenin-blanc, ugni-blanc and sauvignon blanc grapes. Lesson learned: méthode traditionnelle and an assemblage from multiple grape varieties.
Cava Brut especial 2018 Oriol Rossell
From nearby Barcelona. Composed of xarel-lo, macabeo & parellada. Organic production. Hand-turned bottles. Lesson learned: very affordable, handcrafted wine from organic production.
Pinot Grigio Spumante extra dry 2020 Giol
Rare, monocépage spumante from 100% pinot grigio grapes. The vineyards are located near Venice on a thick slab of clay that regulates moisture during the hot summer. Mechanical re-muage with pallet boxes, organic, vegetarian and vegan certified. Just not bitingly dry, beautiful, almost 'creamy' mousse. Teaching moment: just not quite dry, made from one grape variety, organic and vegan.
Prosecco Rosado 2020 Giol
The very first production of this wine. Butterfly light, pale pink. Made from 95% glera (prosecco grapes) and 5% pinot noir. Butterfly Light, super-elegant. Certified organic, vegetarian and vegan. Lesson learned: white prosecco grapes complemented by red pinot noir, organic and vegan.
Crémant d'Alsace Brut Zéro 2013 Vignobles des Deux Lunes
Unprecedentedly successful, powerfully effervescent wine from Alsace. Vintage 2013, Brut Zéro (so zero sugar added), mouth-filling, impressive. Biodynamic. A Blanc de Noirs, so from 100% blue grapes, in this case pinot noir. Lesson learned: white wine from blue grapes, very ripe and zero sugar added, biodynamic, ultra-low sulphite.
Champagne Brut Réserve 2016 Leclerc Briant
Superb champagne from small-scale production. All vineyards here are biodynamic. The wine is from 2016 and is aged for a minimum of 36 months (18 is the norm). Assemblage from several vineyards, most at premier cru level. Chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier grapes. Also vegan. Lesson learned: premium champagne, one vintage, biodynamic, minimum age 36 months, three different grape varieties, ultra-low sulphite.
text Nico McGough image PR
Bmurmuring wines always bring an extra dimension to the glass. But how do those bubbles actually get into the wine, and why the high price?
How do those bubbles actually get into the wine?
According to tradition, it all came about by chance: a spontaneous, second fermentation occurred in an already sealed bottle. Since carbon dioxide released in the process had nowhere to go, the wine absorbed it, only to release it later in the form of millions of bubbles in the glass. People from the Champagne region claim they had this scoop.
Champagne was not sparkling at all until the 18th century!
Winemakers from other wine regions, such as Limoux, know better and argue against it. The problem with this technique (second fermentation in the bottle) is that the dead yeast cells linger in the wine, so it looks cloudy and can be a bit 'fudgy' in taste. Exactly what you don't want as a winemaker. That was addressed by the widow Clicquot in the early 1800s. But first some useful background.
The famous Benedictine monk Dom Pérignon (1639-1715) did pioneering work that would lead to the growth of champagne.
Dom Pérignon
Champagne producers insist against their better judgement that they are the 'discoverers' of sparkling wine and of champagne in particular. But that is unfortunately nonsense, because sparkling wine has been made in Limoux in the south of France for a very long time. It is true that the famous Benedictine monk Dom Pérignon (1639-1715) did pioneering work that would lead to the growth of champagne. For instance, he discovered how to make a white wine (a Blanc de Noirs) from blue grapes and was the spiritual father of assembling different wines into one homogeneous final product. In this context, it is nice to know that champagne was not sparkling at all until the 18th century!
The harvest at Deux Lunes in Alsace.
Veuve
So people knew that young wine bottled in autumn had to go through the cold winter period first. The living yeast cells still in the wine kept quiet. But as soon as spring sunshine arrived, things got turbulent in the bottles, which either lost their cork due to the CO₂ pressure in the bottle or exploded. Working in the wine cellar was seriously precarious.
So the yeast cells were against the cork. But then they still had to come out!
It was only in 1805 that 27-year-old widow Nicole Berbe Clicquot (born Ponsardin) designed a method to remove the yeast clot from the bottle so that the bubbles remained in it but the wine was sparkling clear. She designed the 'pupitres' in which the bottles went from a horizontal position slowly rotating to a vertical position. This is called 'rémuage' and gave work to hundreds of 'rémueurs', each of whom rotated thousands of bottles each day one turn at a time while positioning them increasingly with the cork down. So the yeast cells were against the cork. But then they still had to get out!
Binet
It was then customary to remove that gag manually. One would hold the bottle upside down, carefully remove the cork and spray away the yeast cells. Quickly bottle upright, refill with some old wine and a pinch of sugar (liqueur d'expédition) and immediately insert the new cork. A lot of fuss and time stress, which was also not without (explosion) danger. Winemaker Binet figured out that if you froze the neck of the bottle with yeast plug in a bath of salt and ice (minus 28 degrees Celsius) you had much less stress and the final result improved. It also drastically increased the working speed.
Wine estate of Leclerc Briant: superbe champagne from small-scale production
Crown cork à la beer
To this day, that technique is in use, although sometimes the salty brain is replaced by liquid nitrogen. The cork has also now been replaced everywhere by a small plastic cap called a 'bidule', which translates freely to 'the thingy'. The bidule possesses a hollow bottom, fits exactly into the bottle neck and catches the yeast cells. The whole thing is sealed with a real crown cap à la beer.
Abstain
The technique for removing the (crown) cork is called 'dégorgement', or degorging. Are the French good at it, just think. Everything to do with the technique described above is called the 'Méthode Champenoise' in Champagne and the 'Méthode Traditionelle' outside. The work of the rémueurs is largely over, as almost all producers worldwide now use specially designed pallet boxes in which hundreds of bottles are simultaneously guided from horizontal to vertical.
Other techniques
Of course, the wine industry does not stand still and other preparation techniques are being tried, for example adding CO₂ gas to still wine. Personally, I have never seen a wine with added carbon dioxide gas that meets my quality requirements.
Spotty champagne is the 'groundswell'
It is different with the 'Methode Charmat', in which bottle fermentation is imitated very large in a pressure tank. That this technique can lead to more than charming wines is proven by Manlio Collavini, among others in north-east Italy. The fact that the price of a bottle of champagne is higher than that of many other sparkling wines is partly due to the amount of work involved in production.
Maturing thousands of bottles of cava
Ultra-cheap champagne is available, but you would really do better to choose a different wine filling. Spot-cheap champagne is the 'ground-soil' of the region and not really worth looking at. Rather spend the money on a cava or a spumante, then you do have something festive in the glass.
Vincent Edouard Poirier Brut N.V. Louis de Grenelle
Originating from the Loire and made by an expert in sparkling wines. To make this stylish wine, they use chardonnay, chenin-blanc, ugni-blanc and sauvignon blanc grapes. Lesson learned: méthode traditionnelle and an assemblage from multiple grape varieties.
Cava Brut especial 2018 Oriol Rossell
From nearby Barcelona. Composed of xarel-lo, macabeo & parellada. Organic production. Hand-turned bottles. Lesson learned: very affordable, handcrafted wine from organic production.
Pinot Grigio Spumante extra dry 2020 Giol
Rare, monocépage spumante from 100% pinot grigio grapes. The vineyards are located near Venice on a thick slab of clay that regulates moisture during the hot summer. Mechanical re-muage with pallet boxes, organic, vegetarian and vegan certified. Just not bitingly dry, beautiful, almost 'creamy' mousse. Teaching moment: just not quite dry, made from one grape variety, organic and vegan.
Prosecco Rosado 2020 Giol
The very first production of this wine. Butterfly light, pale pink. Made from 95% glera (prosecco grapes) and 5% pinot noir. Butterfly Light, super-elegant. Certified organic, vegetarian and vegan. Lesson learned: white prosecco grapes complemented by red pinot noir, organic and vegan.
Crémant d'Alsace Brut Zéro 2013 Vignobles des Deux Lunes
Unprecedentedly successful, powerfully effervescent wine from Alsace. Vintage 2013, Brut Zéro (so zero sugar added), mouth-filling, impressive. Biodynamic. A Blanc de Noirs, so from 100% blue grapes, in this case pinot noir. Lesson learned: white wine from blue grapes, very ripe and zero sugar added, biodynamic, ultra-low sulphite.
Champagne Brut Réserve 2016 Leclerc Briant
Superb champagne from small-scale production. All vineyards here are biodynamic. The wine is from 2016 and is aged for a minimum of 36 months (18 is the norm). Assemblage from several vineyards, most at premier cru level. Chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier grapes. Also vegan. Lesson learned: premium champagne, one vintage, biodynamic, minimum age 36 months, three different grape varieties, ultra-low sulphite.
