Wine notes

Master of Wine Emma Jenkins is in a bubbly mood as she writes about the most celebrated of celebration wines.

“Idrink Champagne when I’m happy and when I’m sad. Sometimes I drink it when I’m alone. When I have company I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if

I’m not hungry and drink it when I am. Otherwise, I never touch it – unless I’m thirsty.” So said Madame Lily Bollinger – a woman after my own heart. If Champagne makes your heart beat faster too, do read on...

Why so fizzy? “Come quickly, brothers,

I am tasting the stars!” Seventeenth-century Benedictine monk Dom Pérignon is credited with perfecting many of the techniques that established the modern Champagne style, including the secondary fermentation in the bottle that traps dissolved CO2 in the wine. Held under pressure, the CO2 is released when the bottle is opened, delivering the characteristic fizz. This production method is the most highly regarded, but CO2 can also be induced in wine still in a tank or even just squirted in before the bottle is sealed, although these methods do not deliver wines with as fine a “bead” (winespeak for the bubbles) or as complex a character.

Sparkling wines vary considerably in colour, grape varieties, sweetness, fizziness and alcoholic strength, depending on origin and method of production. The most important factor is the quality of the “base” wines made each year, which should be high in acidity, subtly-flavoured and well-balanced. Blending these base wines creates the non-vintage, consistent “house style”. Top Champagne houses can use several hundred base wines. Vintage wines are usually only made in exceptional years.

Sparkling prose: “Brut” denotes a dry wine, “sec” is sweet and “demi-sec” off-dry. “Blanc de blancs” means only white grapes were used; “Blanc de Noirs” is red grapes only.

Aim well! Sparkling wine must be opened very carefully. Once you’ve removed the foil and loosened (but not removed) the wire cage, the trick is to grasp the cork then twist the bottom of the bottle to ease the cork out. Think “gentle sigh” rather than “pop!”.

There’s no such thing as French Champagne... because all Champagne French.

Named for its region of origin, and made from varying ratios of chardonnay, pinot noir and meunier, Champagne must meet strict criteria imposed under French law. Other sparkling wines made in the same manner must be called “methode traditionelle”.

New Zealand makes fantastic methode traditionelle plus a few homegrown versions (sparkling sauvignon blanc, anyone?) and globally there’s a wonderfully diverse range of sparkling wines to suit all occasions and budgets. While Champagne remains the pinnacle of sparkling wine, there are certainly plenty of other options for sprinkling a little sparkle into your day.

It must meet strict criteria imposed under French law.