Page 209 - NEWNORMAL_ANIMATED

BUBBLES

or winegrower who orchestrates the blend is HOW TO BEST ENJOY DRINKING
a unique Champagne that, vintage after vin- YOUR CHAMPAGNE
tage, expresses and perpetuates the particular The versatility of Champagne is well known.
vision and style of each individual producer. It can be enjoyed in so many ways you could
The winemaker kick-starts the effervescen- write a book about it! In fact much has been
ce by adding a sweet solution known as the written about it!
‘liqueur de tirage’ – a mixture of still wine from Let´s begin with cooling the bottle. Place the
Champagne with cane or beet sugar (20-24 bottle in an ice bucket with ice cubes and wa-
grams/litre, for a rise in pressure by the end of ter for half an hour, or store the bottle on its
fermentation of up to six bars), plus selected, side in the bottom of your refrigerator for four
acclimatized yeast cultures and additives that hours. Never put it in the freezer!
assist the ‘remuage’ process (riddling). These The officially recommended temperature is
consist of bentonite or bentonitealginate that about 8° C - 10° C (46° F - 50°F). but I personally
make the sediment heavier, encouraging it to prefere a litte bit cooler. Then it´s cool...
slide down to the neck of the bottle, near the You aren´t Formula 1 race winner. Don´t pop
cork. that cork like them! Yeah, it looks cool. But
Once filled, the bottles are hermetically sea- don’t be a hero. I never open Champagne like
led with a polyethylene stopper known as a that, and no sommelier will. Put your thumb
‘bidule’, which is held in place by a crown cap. on the top, turn the bottle, not the cork, and
A few producers still use cork for the ‘tirage’ not remove it until the cork is off. Point the
(bottling) stopper. The bottles are then trans- bottle at 45 degrees and having a cloth na-
ferred to the cellar and stacked ‘sur lattes’: ho- pkin between your thumb and the cork. Then,
rizontally, row upon row, usually in steel cages. gently twist the bottle, giving you a lot more
Inside the bottle, the wine undergoes a control.
second fermentation that continues for 6-8 Most of sommeliers will tilt the glass 45 de-
weeks. The yeasts consume the sugar, trans- grees just as you would when pouring a beer
forming it to alcohol and carbon dioxide, re- from the tap, because the bubbles hit a larger
leasing esters and other superior alcohols that surface area of the glass, which reduces the
contribute to the wine’s sensory profile. amount of foam and allowing you to pour it
According to the rules of the Champagne faster. But being in Champagne, the waiter will
appellation, wines may not be bottled until serve pouring the wine into a glass that’s set
the 1st of January following the harvest. They on the table. They believe that’s the correct
must then spend a minimum of 15 months way to pour it.
maturing in the producer’s cellars, of which 12 First, look at the champagne, then smell it.
months is maturation on lees. Vintage cuvées Hold your nose over it and see what you can
are matured for at least three years. In practice, smell. There are five aroma groups. Flowers, ve-
most Champagne wines are cellared for consi- getables, fruits, dried fruits, indulgent delicaci-
derably longer than this. es. Don´t swirl your glass! You lose the CO by
2
Towards the end of their long resting period, aerosol and show to the others, you aren´t the
the bottles must be moved and rotated to loo- connoisseur. Take a little sip, let it roll down your
sen the deposit left by the second fermentati- tongue, down the palate. The longer the fla-
on and persuade it to collect in the neck of the vour lingers in your mouth, the more high end,
bottle, near the stopper. This process known the more expensive the champagne will be.
as ‘remuage’ causes the sediment to slide And the best advice? Don´t take the whole
downwards in preparation for disgorgement thing too seriously. The best wine is the wine
(the ejecting of the sediment under pressure). you enjoy with your friends or loved ones. ƅ
209