The secret of a perfect bubbly
If you’re after exquisite sparkle, it has to be bottle-fermented fizz
SUMMER has been swirling around, as capricious as the bubbles in a glass of fizz – there one moment, the next, whoosh, your allocation has vanished! The popularity of Prosecco continues, but where Prosecco is tank-fermented, producing slightly larger bubbles, the summer sparklers I’m popping in this piece are all bottle-fermented. So what?
Bottle-fermented fizz undergoes a second fermentation in each individual bottle to bring on the bubbles. It’s more time-consuming but gives exquisite delicacy, with bubbles caressing rather than prickling – and they also tend to be spectacular in their smallness.
But for me, where summer sparklers of this pedigree really come to life is when thrilling zestiness is guided by the hand of a great wine- maker into further depths of flavour.
How long to age it in the bottle before disgorging; whether to use oak; how much of a dosage (dose of sugar or sugar and wine) to add to round out fruitier flavours or to leave the fizz sharp as a citrus scythe? And so the matrix of decisions made in the name of deliciousness continues.
And as far as sharpness goes, our homegrown fizz from Britain’s marginal climate is tantalising – my collection of English fizz has grown to epic proportions over the years.
Trailblazing Peter Hall, at Breaky Bottom near Lewes in East Sussex, is one of my wine heroes. He’s as charismatic as his wine – a person of profundity, charm, thought, twinkle and heart. Hunt down his fab fizz at breakybottom. co. uk (I’ve just bought three cases, and his Sparkling Brut 2009 Chardonnay/Pinot Cuvée Gerard Hoffnung for £31 is a superlative sparkler) or phone 01273 476427 to visit – in my view – Britain’s most picturesque vineyard.
Of course, there is tremendous Champagne produced by small growers as well as big names, Crémant still offers great value across France for bottle-fermented beauties crafted outside the Champagne region.
But please remember Spanish Cava. With its unique flavours and quality, setting its great value aside, it deserves to be celebrated as much as every last bubble in the sparklers of summer.