Champagne’s flavour shapes its bubbles

CHAMPAGNE’S flavour is also the secret to the unique straight line of bubbles in a glass of fizz, scientists have discovered.

A flute of champagne has bubbles, just like a glass of pop or beer, but unlike in other carbonated drinks they form orderly vertical lines.

Molecules called surfactants – lubricating molecules also commonly found in detergents – are found in champagne and are believed to help provide its distinctive taste. But a study at Brown University

has now found they also alter the surface properties of bubbles in a drink and are responsible for their vertical alignment.

In champagne, there are small bubbles and plenty of these lubricating molecules, which creates order and a highly organised form of carbonation.

Other fizzy drinks have more frenetic bubble patterns and this is because they do not have surfactants.

Prof Roberto Zenit, professor of engineering at Brown and lead author of the study, said champagne’s flavour molecules stabilise bubble interactions and create the linear carbonation.

“It turns out that flavour molecules have surfactant-like properties and in champagne, these molecules adhere easily to the surface,” he said.

“Surfactants change the surface properties of the bubbles, which lead to the stabilisation of their interactions.”

He added that this study, published in the journal Physical Review Fluids, is the first to explain the physical aspect of champagne’s unique bubble formation.

“These contaminants that act as surfactants are the good stuff,” said Prof Zenit. “These molecules that give flavour and uniqueness to the liquid are what makes the bubble chains stable.”