by Shannon
Porter, Personal Wine Consultant with The Traveling Vineyard
The
holidays are a time of celebration and getting together with family
and friends. Sparkling wine or champagne is the perfect accompaniment
to any dinner or party – it goes with a variety of foods or can
be served alone. However, many of us are intimidated when it comes to
making a selection. Here are some tips to help you select and serve
the perfect champagne or sparkling wine.
"I
drink champagne when I'm happy and when I'm sad. Sometimes I drink it
when I'm alone. When I have company I consider it obligatory. I trifle
with it if I'm not hungry and drink it when I am. Otherwise I never
touch it – unless I'm thirsty."
– Madam Lilly Bollinger
Did
you know that all champagne is sparkling wine, but not all sparkling
wine is champagne? Any wine with bubbles in it is “sparkling,”
but only wine made in Champagne, France can truly be called “champagne.”
There are only 86,000 acres available in Champagne, France to grow grapes
and there will never be any more.
Most
sparkling wine and champagne is made with either the Pinot Noir grape,
the Chardonnay grape or a blend of both. While the Pinot Noir grape
is a black grape, only the juice is used – therefore making a
“champagne-colored” liquid. For pink sparkling wine or champagne,
the winemakers let the skins of the Pinot Noir grape come in contact
with the juice for a short amount of time or they add some Pinot Noir
wine after the secondary fermentation which makes the ordinary wine
“sparkle.”
To
make the wine “sparkling;” winemakers take ordinary wine
and top it off with a little sugar and yeast. They then let the bottles
lie on their sides for a year or two. The sugar is slowly fermented
by the yeast, producing carbon dioxide – thus causing bubbles
or the sparkle.
To
properly open a sparkling wine or champagne, remove the foil and wire
holding the cork. Place a towel over the cork, hold the cork and twist
the bottle (not the cork), thus twisting out the cork as you turn the
bottle. If any of the wine bubbles up, you can catch it in the towel
instead of all over the table! The ideal temperature to serve sparkling
wine is at 43-48 degrees. If it is properly chilled you have less of
a chance of the cork popping out on its own accord. Serve it a long,
fluted glass to enhance the bubbles.
When
shopping for a sparkling wine or champagne, you will find that there
are several choices ranging from sweet to dry. Here is what the label
means:
•
Demi-sec: Means “half sweet” and is the sweetest of the
champagnes although not as sweet as a dessert wine.
• Dry: Slightly drier than demi-sec.
• Extra Dry: One step drier than dry.
• Brut: The driest and most popular.
Experts and amateurs agree; sparkling wine/champagne is much more versatile
than any other wine to drink with a wide array of foods. Try it with
the traditional oysters and caviar or serve it for a holiday brunch
with scrambled eggs. Try it with nuts (especially almonds), popcorn
or potato chips. Poultry, game birds and pork pair nicely with champagne;
while a pink or rose sparkling wine goes well with ham.
The acidity of sparkling wines and champagnes stand up wonderfully to
spicy foods – something many wines can’t do. Try sushi with
an extra-dry brut and Mexican food with a fruity extra-dry. Asian food
goes best with an extra-dry or light brut. Do you normally drink beer
with your French fries or calamari? Try a sparkling wine or champagne
– you’ll be pleasantly surprised!
Sparkling wine is also ideal for desserts; just be sure and serve a
dessert that is not too sweet or it will make the wine taste bitter.
With a demi-sec try berries, shortbread, angel food cake or tart, lemony
desserts. Dark chocolate desserts go well with an extra-dry or demi-sec.
Or simply serve some strawberries dipped in dark chocolate. The acidity
of the strawberries is a perfect compliment to the acidity in the wine.
Zinfully yours, Shannon
Shannon
Porter has lived in Colorado since 1999. She has been a wine lover since
a trip to Napa in the 80's opened her eyes to the fact that there was
more to life than white zinfandel. She joined The Traveling Vineyard
in 2003, becoming one of the first independent wine consultants in Colorado.
She is now a Team Leader, has conducted over 100 wine tastings and loves
to educate people about wine! For more information on The Traveling
Vineyard or to contact Shannon Porter please visit
www.freewinetasting.net.
