SPARKLING WIN

SPARKLING WINE

SPARKLING WINE

Sparkling wine puts more consumers in I dither than any other style. What is Champagne, exactly? Should I always buy Champagne, or will a cheap fizz do just as well? Do I have to spend a fortune on a famous label? How do I open the bottle, let alone store and serve it? Does it go with food? Wine with bubbles costs a lot more than wine without (I'll explain why later on), so it is understandable that we want.

 

The pressure to get it right, of course, is only exacerbated by the fact that fizz is usually brought out on special occasions. Ironically, this means we often fail to notice its shortcomings. People might sweat over which bubbly to serve at their darling daughter's wedding, but on the big day itself, everyone is far too busy chattering, listening to speeches and dancing to notice a painfully thin and acidic wine in their glass - unpleasant traits they may have spotted had they cracked open a bottle one quiet Tuesday night. Still, think hard, I'm sure you will remember a moment when an expensive fizz has disappointed. There are plenty of hints on the following pages to help you avoid a repeat performance and instead make Champagne and sparkling wines enhance life's most joyful moments.


 

SPARKLING WINE

Certainly, there is nothing else in the wine world to touch Champagne for glamour and kudos. The packaging is often ornate and classy, the brands glittering and famous, the price tag scarily high. It all adds to the impression that you are buying a touch of luxury. But I wish we took sparkling wine less seriously in the UK. Go to Australia and they crack open a bottle of inexpensive, locally produced bubbly on an everyday basis, yet still drink Champagne on a momentous occasion. We should do the same. Fizzy wine comes in so many different styles and at so many different price points that we deserve to ring the changes more often. Let your life sparkle a little more!

SPARKLING WINE

 

APPEARANCE OF SPARKLING WINE

  Most sparklers are  pale and straw-coloured, although pink fizz ranges from a delicate onion-skin hue to a rich, sunset crimson. Red sparklers are a rich garnet. The look of the bubbles is important, too: they should be tiny, rather than large and coarse, and there should be plenty of them.

 

TEXTURE. OF SPARKLING WINE

  Champagne can be pretty rich and complex, but the high acidity and fine streams of tiny bubbles give a light impression and a light impression and a refreshing lift to the wine.

AROMA . OF SPARKLING WINE

There's a fresh, fruity perfume, often lemons, sometimes more orangey or appley, with hints of peaches and raspberries (especially in rose). A lot of fizz has a distinct yeastiness, too, which sometimes comes across as fresh bread, brioche or even Marmite. Look out for creamy, yoghurty aromas, as well as biscuit in some sparklers and milk chocolate in others.

SPARKLING WINE

 

FLAVOUR. OF SPARKLING WINE

 Crisp, tangy acidity is a must in a good sparkler to give a refreshing, mouth-watering finish. As with the aromas, that fresh, clean fruit is there, as are the same hints of yeast, yoghurt and chocolate, particularly on the finish. Champagne is sometimes described as having a 'double' taste: a clean, incisively crisp attack followed by richer, creamier depths after swallowing.