Champagne: Bubbly and toasty

By JANET K. KEELER and CHRIS SHERMAN
© St. Petersburg Times
published December 30, 2001

Making Champagne is a complicated process with a storied history, dating back hundreds of years.

True Champagne comes from grapes in the French region for which it is named, about 90 miles northeast of Paris. The real stuff is made the hard way, a traditional ritual known as methode champenoise, with a lot of tedious labor and a final fermentation that takes place in each bottle.

Champagne, by that name or the others it goes by when made outside of France, is wine with a special sparkle. It has as many different characteristics and tastes as the palette of wines, so, if you say you don't like Champagne, you probably have not sipped one that suits your tastes.

Here's a primer to get you started.

-- Janet K. Keeler, Times food editor, and Chris Sherman, Times food critic

Read the label

MARQUE: The name of the winery or Champagne house. Each has a "house style," from light (Lanson) to full (Krug), reflected in all its different wines every year.

SWEETNESS: doux (sweet), demi-sec (semi-dry, sweet), extra dry (actually semi-dry or somewhat sweet), brut (bone dry).

CUVEE: The blend. Blanc des blancs (made from white grapes); Blanc des noirs (made from red grapes), a particular vintage or the house's prestige blends, such as Grand Siecle or La Grande Dame.

VINTAGE (if any): Most Champagne is nonvintage and undated because each bottle contains a blend of wines made in different years. Vintage Champagne is made from the best grapes of a single year only three or four times a decade; only small quantities are made and sell for a higher price.

Producer's town and country of origin

PROFESSIONAL REGISTRATION CODE: Denotes the type of producer -- cooperative, family vineyard, merchant, company.

BOTTLE SIZE: The standard bottle is 750 ml. The smallest is a quarter bottle, which holds about 6 ounces, and the largest is called Nebuchadnezzar, which holds 508 ounces, about 20 bottles. A split is half of a standard bottle and a magnum is double.

What's in a name?

Sparkling wine from outside Champagne region of France goes by other names:

France: vin mousseux, petillant, cremant.

Italy: spumante.

Spain: cava.

Germany: sekt.

United States: sparkling wine.

The grapes

French makers use only one white grape, chardonnay, and two red grapes, pinot noir and pinot meuniere. The mix varies from house to house. Generally the more red grapes, the more full bodied the wine.

What to eat with sparkling wine

Oysters

Champagne goes with a wide variety of foods, especially salty, smoky and creamy dishes:

Sweet (doux, demi-sec)

• Strawberries
• Cheese
• Poultry
• Creamy desserts

Dry (extra dry, brut)

• Sushi
• Oysters and other shellfish
• Caviar
• Thai food
• Smoked salmon

Rose

• Salmon
• Lamb, pork and other roasted meats

How to open it

Your goal when opening a bottle of Champagne is to control the cork so you don't injure anyone -- or lose any luscious bubbly. The cork should come out with a "poof" rather than the loud "pop" you see in the movies.

Remove the foil, if the bottle has it, and keep one thumb on the cork just in case it starts to ease out before you're ready. Grasp the cork in one hand and the bottom of the bottle in the other. Turn the bottle, not the cork, slowly.

How it makes you bubbly

The headiness that accompanies a couple sips of Champagne is a result of the carbon dioxide in the wine, the same thing that makes the bubbles. It is absorbed quickly by the stomach wall and moves directly into the body's circulation system, making a beeline for the brain. It's definitely a party popper.

The legend of the monk

Pierre Perignon, a Benedictine monk, is often credited with inventing Champagne. However large his contribution was, Dom Perignon was not the first to make sparkling wine in France. Perignon, however, was the first to understand that in the cold climate of Champagne, blending grapes from different vineyards produced a much more distinguished drink.

Colors of Champagne

The color of Champagne can be a clue about the grapes in the wine.

White: Usually lightest and youngest of Champagne.

Straw to golden: While this could be made from all chardonnay, most makers strive to make pinot-based wines quite white. Gold may also come from bottle aging.

Salmon: It may blush, but it can't hide the pinot in its heritage. Usually blanc de noirs and a bit fuller.

Rose: Full-bodied, slightly spicy, more expensive and great with food, it's made by adding red wine or letting the pinot sit on its red skins to pick up a little color.

Taste it!

The foam, crisp colors and tiny bubbles are lovely to look at, but don't drink only with thine eyes. Take time to enjoy the aroma; it can be toasty, yeasty or fruity. Then linger over the taste and texture -- delicate with a taste of citrus and and acidic zing, or creamy.

Speaking of Champagne

"Champagne has the taste of an apple peeled with a steel knife."
-- Aldous Huxley, British writer (1894-1963)

"There comes a time in every woman's life when the only thing that helps is a glass of Champagne."
-- Bette Davis in Old Acquaintance

"Come quickly. I am tasting the stars!"
-- Dom Perignon, when he first tasted the sparkling wine

Sources: "The Champagne Companion" by Michael Edwards (Firefly, 1997); "The Essential Wine Book" by Oz Clarke (Fireside, 1996); "French Wines" by Robert Joseph (DK Publishing, 1999)

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