Here is a brief collection of insights I have found about my favorite sparkling wines. Regarding drying your champagne glasses: As a matter of fact, in order to maximize you Champagnes effervescence, leaving a tiny bit of lint in your glass is paramount. As we all know, popping a Champagne cork reduces the tremendous pressure maintained in the thick bottle and releases the carbon dioxide dissolved in the wine. The gas suddenly out of solution and must collect together in order to form a bubble. Gerard a physicist (or fizzisist?) at the University of Reims and the worlds leading authority on bubbles, filmed Champagne using video and a microscope, and discovered that bubbles can form at a rate of 400 per second. Most bubbles form on imperfections or microscopic particles inside the glass, such as pieces of lint that floated into the glass or were left behind by a towel. Molecules of CO2 collect on the particle until together they buoyant enough to detach and float to the surface as a single bubble. Another bubble of collected CO2 molecules then forms in its place, resulting in
the telltale fine lines racing up through the wine. So for optimal effervescence, we wiping Champagne and sparkling wine glasses with a clean, dry (but not cloth before using them.And now for the flute: Its worth first taking a moment to think about why the flute and Champagne became such fast friends. According to Mot & Chandon chef de cave Benot Gouez, the narrow design of the flute was first called into duty as a means of wrangling unwieldy sediment. Champagne served with, or as, dessert, and if a glass was filled during dinnertime, then the sediment would have collected nicely and neatly at the thin glasss bottom by the time a drinker was ready to partake.Yet the flute largely has stood the test of time despite the fact that disgorgement—the removal of the
lees from a bottle of Champagne—began as a practice more than 200 years ago. The result for the drinker then is that weve been suffocating our sparkling and hindering our own full enjoyment of its finest expressions.This was a rather fortuitous union: Maison was born from the wedding of Perrier and Jout in 1810. United by a love of nature, a passion for champagne and a bold, entrepreneurial vision, the young couple wasted no time in founding their own Champagne House, ultimately joining both their surnames to create
Drinking Champagne from a wider glass rather than a thin flute allows us to experience more of the aromatic spectrum, says sommelier Daniel Braun, the owner of Princeville Wine Market on the island of Kauai. Not only do flutes still send a festive signal, but in such a soiree setting, when glasses of bubbles may be poured and left sitting for a time before being passed around, theyre actually useful in a different way. There are many occasions that call for a flute, and I prefer to use them in settings where I may be concerned with a Champagne losing too much carbonation, says Braun. The narrow flute helps a glass of sparkling to retain its satisfying effervescence for a longer period. Conversely, the coupe glass encourages the loss of bubbles even more rapidly—the outcome.
Personally, I enjoy a flute. I have several, some better than others. But I have been forced to drink my sparkling wine out of paper cups, plastic cups, wine glasses, and even coffee cups. And I will tell you the flute is the best!
In 2015 Champagne was officially declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO (The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), thus solidifying their claim that though sparkling wine can be made anywhere, only wines made in their region can truly be recognized as Champagne. Then in 2019, Le Colline del Prosecco di Conegliano e Valdobbiadene was awared the same honor recognizing their uniqueness in a sea of bubbles.
Want to try the ultimate Prosecco? Look for the word Cartizze. Superiore di Cartizze is, in effect, the Grand Cru of Conegliano Valdobbiadene.
