How does bubbly get its bubbles?
“Too much of anything is bad, but too much Champagne is just right.” Mark Twain.
If you’ve ever stared lovingly into your champers flute and wondered how all those beautiful bubbles landed up inside, then listen up. This king of wine (and wine of kings) is made slightly differently to its cellar mates and has an interesting tale to tell.
Champagne, made in northern France is produced in a process called Méthode Champenoise or Méthode Traditionelle.
Initially, it is very similar to the process used in making still wine: grapes are harvested and then pressed. The main difference here is that they are crushed in a pressoir coquart – a special press with a shallow base that allows only a thin layer of grapes to be pressed. This keeps the juice from coming into contact with the skins, ensuring it remains uncoloured.
The juice is then passed into a tank, either a stainless steel vat or an oak barrel, where yeast is added to encourage fermentation. The yeast literally eats the sugar in the juice, producing alcohol in the process. The result is an acidic, dry wine.
Various base wines are then blended and added to this first-fermented wine. The classic Champagne style is non-vintage, which blends different grapes from various vineyards and several harvests. This is a highly skilled task, combining as many as 70 different base wines, which change in character each year.
Then the magic happens: once the wine is blended, it is combined with the liqueur de triage, a mixture of wine, sugar and yeast that precipitates the second fermentation. And it’s during this second fermentation that the bubbles are born!
The wine is then bottled, crown capped and aged ‘sur latte’ – the bottles are stacked on their sides between thin layers of wood.
The cooler the fermentation temperature the better, as this slows fermentation and creates smaller bubbles and a more consistent bead. This fermentation can take anything from two weeks to three months.
Once the secondary fermentation is complete, the bottles undergo remuage or riddling, where the sediment created during fermentation is removed from the wine. This process takes up to three weeks (the best things in life are worth waiting for, right?)
The wine is then aged ‘sur point’ (fully inverted). The minimum time for non-vintage Champagne is 15 months, though most receive 18 to 30 months. Vintage Champagne must age for a minimum of three years, although many are held for much longer.
Once the wine is ready for release, the remaining sediment is removed by submerging the cap end of the bottle in a freezing brine solution. This solidifies the sediment in the neck so that when the bottle is turned upright again, it is ejected from the bottle due to the pressure inside the bottle.
Finally, the bottle is topped off to its previous fill level with liqueur d’expedition – a solution of sugar and wine, and corked.
The best part of the entire process, is that – unlike regular wine that can be aged further – from the moment it leaves the cellar, sparkling wine is ready to drink!
You can get up close and personal with bottles of SA’s best bubbly at the exclusive Café Cru Sparkling Wine Bar at the TOPS at SPAR Wine Show, presented by The Star taking place from 25 to 27 May 2017 at Montecasino.