Chapter 9 CHAMPAGNE AND SPARKLING WINES
Strictly speaking, champagne is a sparkling wine that comes from the Champagne region of northeastern France. If it's a bubbly wine from another region, it's sparkling wine, not champagne. While many people use the term "champagne" generically for any sparkling wine, the French have maintained their legal right to call their wines champagne for over a century. The Treaty of Madrid, signed in 1891, established this rule, and the Treaty of Versailles reaffirmed it.
The European Union helps protect this exclusivity now, although certain American producers can still generically use "champagne" on their labels if they were using the term before early 2006.
HOW CHAMPAGNE IS MADE
Sparkling wines can be made in a variety of ways, but traditional champagne comes to life by a process called the “methode Champenoise”. Champagne starts its life like any normal wine. The grapes are harvested, pressed, and allowed to undergo a primary fermentation. The acidic results of this process are then blended and bottled with a bit of yeast and sugar so it can undergo a secondary fermentation in the bottle. (It's this secondary fermentation that gives champagne its bubbles.) This new yeast starts doing its work on the sugar, and then dies and becomes what's known as lees. The bottles are then stored horizontally so the wine can "age on lees” for 15 months or more.
After this aging, winemakers turn the bottles upside down so the lees can settle to the bottom. Once the dead yeast has settled, producers open the bottles to remove the yeast, add a bit of sugar known as dosage to determine the sweetness of the champagne, and slip a cork onto the bottle.
Contrary to popular misconception, the namesake of the famous brand didn't invent champagne. But Dom Perignon, a Benedictine monk who worked as cellar master at an abbey near Epernay during the 17th and 18th centuries, did have quite an impact on the champagne industry. In Perignon's day, sparkling wine wasn't really a sought-after beverage. In fact, the bubbles were considered to be something of a flaw, and early production methods made producing the wine somewhat dangerous. (Imprecise temperature controls could lead to fermentation starting again after the wine was in the bottle. If one bottle in a cellar exploded and had its cork shoot out, a chain reaction would start.) Perignon helped standardize production methods to avoid these explosions, and he also added two safety features to his wines: thicker glass at the bottom of the bottles (“punt”) that better withstood pressure and a rope snare that helped keep corks in place (the precursor to the “cage”).
SERVING CHAMPAGNE/SPARKLING WINE
Sparkling Wines usually have a natural or artificial cork, which is held tight against the bottle, by a wire cage. After removing the outer foil, the cage may be removed by twisting the looped tab at the bottom of the cage.
Sparkling wines are under pressure so care must be taken so that the cork does not pop out and hit someone in the cabin.
Holding the bottle at a 45-degree angle with one hand holding the neck of the bottle (with the thumb over the top of the cork), gently rotate the bottle with the other hand. As the cork loosens, slowly guide the cork out of the bottle. You should hear a muted "poof" sound. Make sure the champagne flutes or glasses are crystal clear and clean - dish soap residue will kill the bubbles which makes the bubbly … bubbly!
60 Aircare FACTS Initial Service Training
Wine & Cheese - Reference
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