This Niagara wine sparkles
Is it just me, or does the sound of sparkling wine popping opening bring a little flutter of joy to you? Because it’s the season to be jolly, I think it’s best we prepare ourselves.
We have such an array of quality bubbles in Niagara that it’s hard to know where to begin.
Let’s start with getting the terminology straight; Champagne is a term used solely for wine that comes from the actual Champagne region in France. So please, please don’t use it for anything else. Sparkling wine, Brut, Cuvée, anything you like, but leave the term Champagne to wines that come from that beautiful region northeast of Paris.
It’s not a snob thing. Really. They have legally protected a name that has more than 200 years of sparkling wine history. However the arduous method it takes to make a wine that tastes of brioche bread, apples and mushrooms on toast with bubbles that delicately dance around on the palate is something not limited to Champagne.
Having a cool climate is beneficial. Hooray for us! Finally a reason to gloat against sunny California. Like any fruit, grapes ripen with the season. In a cooler climate you get fruit with higher levels of acidity, as they haven’t ripened to high degrees (or Brix levels, as us wine folks say). You need this structure of acidity to carry the wine through the long process. After the grapes are fermented into a base wine, they’re bottled and right before being sealed, winemakers add “liqueur de tirage” (active yeast).
They cap it, and the wine undergoes a second fermentation (ie. alcohol and carbonation) in bottle.
Now the bubbles are trapped inside, et voilá, you have a sparkling wine. The yeast eventually settles to the bottom of the bottle where vintners allow it to sleep for a period of time (two years is about average, one year is VQA minimum). This period allows the wine to infuse with all of those yeast flavours, like that coveted brioche bread. To filter out the yeast, winemakers riddle the bottles (slowly turning them upside-down until the yeast settles in the neck of the bottle), and then flash freeze the necks.
Finally, the bottles are quickly opened, the frozen block of yeast pops out, and the rest of the wine is clear. The wine is topped up with a ‘dosage’ (a bit more wine) and corked.
What a process. And one that we absolutely excel at in Niagara.
If I could get on my soap box and proclaim one thing, it would be that sparkling wine can be our legacy. We have everything going for us.
We have the cool climate, we have the soils, and we have amazing winemakers. Amélie Boury, winemaker at Niagara-on-the-Lake’s Château des Charmes, is actually from a region just outside of Champagne and makes sparkling wines that would make any sommelier second guess it for the real deal.
Her ability to create complex, oxidative and biscuity flavour, delicate texture and finesse is something that is to be truly applauded. And because price is on our side, you only pay a fraction ($24.95 a bottle) of what you would for Champagne.
So, yes, you can have your sparkling wine and drink it, too. And Niagara is not just resting on its laurels, it’s keeping up with the trend. If you want to be in the know, then sip on a pét-nat (short for pétillant naturel). This ancient style of sparkling winemaking is made by bottling wine that is still fermenting. It’s often unfiltered and hazy, and has the grass roots, old school nuance that appeals to wine snobs and hipsters alike. Its bubbles are gently fizzy and the wine is usually sealed with a crown cap (additional cool factor here).
Many wineries are experimenting with this locally, including Southbrook, Trail Estate, Niagara College and Creekside.
No matter what you choose this season, Niagara will have it. Have fun experimenting — choose a few different wineries and styles and compare. And take this thought with you; sparkling wine is not really intended to save for special occasions. I implore you to pop a bottle on a random Tuesday night while watching Netflix and having some popcorn.
Like its cousins in the beer world, this wine has the edge of carbonation that marries so well with food. It is not overly high in alcohol or body, so it’s an easy sipper on any day, in any season.
Europeans understand this concept, and often sparkling wine is enjoyed during the week, and in sparkling regions on a daily basis. Surely if we have learned the winemaking secrets from our ancestors across the pond, we can emulate a bit of their lifestyle, too. That will be my new year’s resolution. Make it yours. — Kristina Inman is a certified CAPS sommelier and TAC tea sommelier who teaches at Niagara College where she also works on business development for the Canadian Food & Wine Institute.