Know your bubbles
To properly enjoy a champagne lifestyle, it helps to get the basics right first. Our resident expert, Sourish Bhattacharyya, has this brief tutorial. Are you sitting comfortably?
To properly enjoy a champagne lifestyle, it helps to get the basics right first. Our resident expert, Sourish Bhattacharyya, has this brief tutorial. Are you sitting comfortably?
Why are some sparkling wines called champagnes and yet others are not?
It’s about region. It was in the Champagne district of France that the style was developed after centuries of trial and error.
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To what lengths have the producers of champagne gone to protect the label?
The Comite Interprofessional du Vin de Champagne (CIVC) was set up in 1941 to defend champagne houses against the misappropriation of their prized appellation. To date, it has won over 750 cases against interlopers, including the haute couture house Yves St Laurent, for launching the perfume named Champagne (it was subsequently renamed Yvresse, French for ‘being drunk’). Harrods were hammered for selling a Canadian-made mineral water for cats and dogs named Champagne. And so was Perrier for advertising its product in Germany as the “champagne of all mineral waters.”
What are the sugar levels in the various categories of champagne?
Even in the 1800s, champagne was a sweet sparkling wine. The sweetness was adjusted to the markets in which it was sold. The Russians preferred a residual sugar level of 300 gm per litre; the English liked it between 22 and 66 gm. The Brut style was eventually developed in 1846 for the English market by Perrier-Jouet, a champagne house. Today, the driest champagne you are likely to find is Brut, which contains up to 15 gm of residual sugar per litre. For the sweeter-toothed, there is the oddly named Extra Sec, or Extra Dry, which has 12-20 gm, the more misleading Sec or Dry, which has 17-35 gm, and the Demi Sec, or Rich, with 35-50 gm.
Which grapes go into making champagne?
Chardonnay (white), Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier (reds) are used in varying proportions to make champagne. If it’s a blanc de blancs (‘white of whites’), then, only Chardonnay grapes go into making it. If it’s a blanc de noirs (‘white of blacks’), then, only the Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes are used. Now, if you’re wondering how dark grapes can make a white wine, then you should know that grape juice is colourless. Only when it comes in contact with grape skins that it acquires a colour—rose or red.
Dark grapes
You’ve bought the bottle, you’ve invited your pals. Now what?
Chilling Not relaxing. But literally chilling the champagne. In the absence of a proper wine chiller, your best bet is to keep it at the bottom shelf of the refrigerator three to four hours before it is to be served. Then 20 minutes before the big moment, dunk it into an ice bucket topped up with ice cubes and water.
To shake or not to shake No shaking and frothing, not unless you’ve just won the Grand Prix. What you do is hold the bottle at approximately 55 degrees, point the neck away from your guests and from breakables and remove the foil. Then twist the wire muzzle six times, and, holding the bottle in one hand and placing the thumb of the other on the cork, gently twist the bottle (not the cork) until the cork eases out with a gentle pop. By the way—if the base of the cork is wider than the head, it means the champagne is young, which is what it is in most instances.
More bubbles means better champagne—right?
Wrong. The older and the more elegant a bubbly gets, the fewer bubbles you’re likely to see in your glass. In a top end champagne, the bubbles go up in a regular pattern and don’t make any noise. The really top end bottles come wrapped in yellow paper to protect it from light. Don’t remove it. Ooh, look my rose turned orange! That’s not a good thing. It means the champagne has oxidised. Out comes another bottle!
