The Wine Corner

The Wine Corner: Have yourself a bubbly holiday

"Come quickly, I am drinking the stars."

Legend has is that Dom Pérignon bellowed this after he invented the bubbly. Unfortunately, it never happened, but it makes for a great story.

In Dom Pérignon's day, bubbles were actually considered a serious wine flaw. During the late 1600s, cellar workers had to wear heavy iron masks that resembled a baseball catcher's mask to prevent injury from spontaneously bursting bottles. The disturbance caused by one bottle's disintegration could result in a chain reaction, with it being routine for cellars to lose 20 percent to 90 percent of their bottles to instability.

One monk wrote in his journal, "An unfortunate accident occurred today in the cellar. Brother Francois lost an eye as he was relocating some bottles." Good grief. Working in the wine cellars back then was not for the faint of heart. Just picture the sight of monks in robes and masks resembling catcher Carlton Fisk. The mysterious circumstance surrounding the then-unknown process of fermentation and carbonic gas caused many to call the sparkling creations "The Devil's Wine."

While the French were doing everything they could to prevent wine from bubbling, across the channel in England, they embraced the sparkling aspects of French wine. As a matter of fact, the English worked on ways to enhance the production of bubbles and put the wine in stronger glass bottles to withstand the increased pressures. When word got back to the French winemakers about these advances, they decided to perfect and control this secondary fermentation, and put the stronger bottles to use. Since England at the time was the largest market for French wines, it just made good business sense to give consumers what they desired.

Although the good brother Dom Pérignon did not invent champagne, he is credited with perfecting the process. He pioneered the use of corks, which sealed the wine much better than the wood and oil-soaked hemp stoppers that were then in use. In addition, he added the wire meshing to hold the cork in place. He also was responsible for helping create "the methode champenoise," the bottling process that differentiates champagne from many other sparkling wines.

After the primary fermentation, the catalyst function that turns grape juice into an alcoholic beverage, a second alcoholic fermentation occurs in the bottle in the making of champagne. This second fermentation is induced by adding several grams of yeast and several grams of rock sugar. Then, the champagne bottle is capped with a crown cap, and the bottle is placed upside down so the sediment settles in the neck of the bottle. The neck is then frozen, and the cap removed. The pressure in the bottle forces out the sediment, and the bottle is quickly corked to maintain the carbon dioxide inside. Have you ever wondered why proper champagne is expensive? It is very labor intensive.

In addition to the wine produced in the methode champenoise, there are other rules that apply in order for the product to be called champagne. The most obvious is that the grapes are from the region of Champagne, located about 80 miles northeast of Paris. It also must be made from pinot noir, pinot meunier or chardonnay grapes.

Great champagne is a treat, but there are less costly sparkling wine alternatives produced the world over. For example, there's the excellent sekt of Germany and the distinguished cava of Spain. The proseccos of Italy also have a long and distinguished tradition among sparkling wines. While I was in Tasmania last year, I tasted some fabulous bubblies. Here in the U.S., the Californians produce some world-class sparklers, and right in our own backyard, Westport Rivers Winery in southern Massachusetts makes some outstanding sparkling wines that better Veuve Cliquot (in my humble opinion).

And remember, you don't need New Year's Eve or a Christmas party to pop a cork. Champagne is a very versatile food wine as well. As Winston Churchill said, "In victory, we deserve it; in defeat, we need it." In other words, it is perfect for every occasion.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

¢¢¢