Part two of a four part series Have you ever wondered how all of those bubbles actually get into a glass of Champagne? I can assure you it is by very precise design. Champagne is the one of the most highly controlled wine growing regions in the world. Every step from grape to glass is regulated in order to ensure that consumers are getting the best product the region has to offer.
There are only three grape varietals that are allowed in Champagne; Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Muenier. They must be grown in one of the official 319 Crus. Even the winemaking process, using the M?thode Champenoise, and the labeling are tightly controlled.
An excellent illustration of this control is how much juice a winemaker can use from a particular amount of grapes. Every crate of fruit that is brought to the presses is first meticulously weighed. For every 4,000 kilograms (8,800 pounds) of grapes that are pressed, only the first 20.5 hectoliters (541 gallons) of juice is allowed to be collected as “cuvee.” The next 5 hectoliters of juice is designated as taille (pronounced “tie”) and must be either discarded or sold to a distillery — it may never be used in the vinification of Champagne.
Once the cuvee has been collected, the juice is allowed to settle before being transferred to either large stainless steel or oak barrel fermenters where sugar is added and then yeast is introduced to initiate fermentation. The additional sugar ensures that the fermentation process will result in the desired alcohol level. Eventually, the still wine is sampled and decisions are made by the winemaker as to which vats will be used for blends as well as specific vineyard and vintage bottlings. This is referred to as “assemblage.” Some still wine is held in reserve and may be added to a solera (a collection of wines from previous vintages) for use at a later date.
The final blends are then bottled with a small dose of liqueur de tirage, a mixture of still wine and sugar, and special yeasts, and then capped with a metal crown closure. A secondary fermentation occurs in the bottle, and since the byproduct of CO2 gas has nowhere to go, it is absorbed into the wine and viola! Bubbles. Regular cuvee wines must age in the bottle for at least fifteen months on the lees (sediments) and vintage-declared wines for at least three years. When the wines have met the minimum aging requirement, they may be slowly turned from their horizontal sides and placed in a vertical position, cap-side down. Once the “riddling” process has collected all of the sediments in the neck of the bottle, the neck is plunged into a super-cooled bath that freezes the liquid in the neck and creates an ice plug that traps the sediment inside. The cap is removed and the pressure in the bottle expels the ice cap out of the neck. During this process, called disgorgement, some wine is lost, so the winemaker then “doses” the wine with either reserve wine or wine with some sugar in it. The amount of sugar added during the dosage procedure is what gives the Champagne its Brut (driest), Extra-Brut, Dry, Extra-Dry, Demi-Sec or Doux (sweetest) characteristic. The bottle is sealed with a cork stopper and labeled. Most producers will allow the wine to rest a few more months before releasing it for sale.
Some winemakers will age their wines for a much longer time than required and riddle, disgorge and dosage their wines in tranches as market demand requires. As a general rule of thumb, the closer a wine is consumed to the disgorgement date, the fresher and bubblier it will be. Wines that have been aged following disgorgement will develop complex flavors and lose a little sparkle. The later is not necessarily a bad thing, it’s simply a matter of taste.
Knowing a Champagne’s disgorgement date, varietal composition and dosage allows the consumer to figure out what age and style of wine they enjoy. In order to fully appreciate Champagne, it should be served well-chilled in a tall slim glass with a wide flare at the top. The shape of the glass and the cold temperature preserves the bubbles and enhances the experience.
