In a few short nights it will be New Year’s Eve, probably the biggest party night of the year in much of the world. It is a night of great celebration, and one of the single greatest associations we have with it is Champagne.
To be fair, for many the term ‘Champagne’ is often applied to any sparkling wine. While many may be quite good, and most are more affordable than the “Real McCoy”, properly speaking the term refers to wines made in the north-east region of France called Champagne, and it usually refers to the sparkling wine which undergoes a second fermentation right in the bottle.
It is illegal to label any other wines as Champagne, and you can’t even put “Champagne Method” or “Méthode Champenoise” on the bottle to indicate the method of production. Instead, producers in other jurisdictions will use “Méthode Traditionelle to tell buyers that what they are getting was made in the same way as the “C” people make theirs.
While there really was a monk, Dom Perignon, he wasn’t the first to make a sparkling wine, and it wasn’t until the a19th century that they finally figured out how to manage the wine without lots of bottles bursting. (This might remind some of trying to make homemade beer in a closet...)
A sparkling wine made in the traditional method starts with wine fermented in the regular fashion. Then, some sugar and yeast is added to the bottle (dosage) so that the wine undergoes a second fermentation, one that lasts at least a year and a half.
Sparkling wine bottles are usually a lot heavier than other wine bottles so that you don’t have explosions issues. During this fermentation, they usually just use a snap cap such as you find on beer bottles.
One of the by-products in the process is a mass of dead yeast cells. To be able to get them out eventually, the bottles are left inverted at an angle, with the neck below the base during fermentation, and every once in a while given a little shake. This process, called “riddling” or remuage, used to be done by hand. Now there are machines - riddling cages and gyropalettes - which will manage this process efficiently for over 500 bottles at a time.
When the wine is ready, the neck of the bottle is flash-frozen and the cap snapped off. The pressure in the bottle forces the plug of frozen sediment out the bottle, and the bottle is then topped up and sealed with the traditional cork and wired closed.
Most champagnes today are in the style known as“brut”, which has little to no residual sugar. For styles that are a little sweeter, some form of sugar is added at this point.
Champagne is made typically from Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. The latter two grapes are dark-skinned, but as the juice is clear, minimizing skin contact means that the wine will be more golden in colour. Sometimes you see the term, “Blanc des blancs” on a label. This indicates that only ‘white’ grapes were used. “Blanc de Noirs” would point out the presence of just dark fruit. For Rosés, some colour is intentionally extracted.
Here in Ontario you can expect to pay from $40 to $300 for a bottle of Champagne. The most expensive products available are Louis Roederer Cristal, $287.95 – which has been the Champagne of choice for Rock Stars and Rappers- and the iconic Dom Perignon, $219.95, given a heady rating of 94+ by Robert Parker Jr. If you like your Dom P ‘pink’, however, you will have to pay an additional $80 for the privilege. These are all from single vintages, whereas most champagnes are blends of the product of more than one year.
Piper-Heidsieck, $49.95, and Nicolas Feuillatte, $44.95, would be my recommendations for Champagne. The elegant Piper-Heidsieck, available in both its regular bottle and its red-clad ”bodyguard” edition, is #84 on the Wine Spectator’s top 100 wines for 2012.
Nicolas Feuillatte is one of the newest Champagne houses, established in 1976. It is also one of the most popular Champagnes in France. The style emphasizes freshness and fruit, rather than the toasty or yeasty style that some prefer.
The least expensive Champagne is the Champagne Victoire Brut Prestige, on sale until January 6 for $36.95. It has been well received in every review I’ve checked, with high marks for its mousse (bubbles) and fruitiness.
Good Canadian sparkling wines made in the traditional fashion tend to be in the $30 range. At the top are the Cuvée Catharine Brut and Brut Rosé from Niagara’s Henry of Pelham, both $29.95. The Brut was one of only two gold medalists for Sparkling wine at the 2012 Canadian Wine Awards, and the Rosé accentuates the cherry flavours ever so slightly.
Cave Spring Cellars Blanc de Blanc, also $29.95, emphasizes frothy minerality and earned a 90 from the Globe and Mail.
Flat Rock Cellars “Riddled” is in Vintages for $24.95. Lovingly made from hand-picked Chardonnay and Pinot Noir it shows lively acidity and good clean flavours. Instead of a cork, Flat Rock uses the metal bottle cap, just as all companies do during secondary fermentation.
Angels Gate Archangel, currently $18.95, is 100% Chardonnay. I have always liked the way Angels Gate keeps their wines true to the character of the grape, and I expect that this will be another example of that skill.
Cono Sur in Chile always delivers great value, and I think we will find the same with their Brut NV. It has received many bronze and Silver medals from reliable competitions, and a 16/20 score from British writer Jancis Robinson, significant praise indeed. Along with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, this includes Riesling in the blend.
From Spain we get Freixenet Cordon Negro, $12.95, and Segura Viudas Brut Reserva, $13.95. The former made the Top Value list for sparklers in the Canadian magazine, Wine Access. The latter hit #45 in Wine Enthusiast’s “Top 100 Best Buys” this year, with the accent on freshness. Both are made from indigenous Spanish grapes - Parellada, Macabeo, and Xarel-lo.
If it’s sparkling red you’re seeking, one option is Australia’s Jip Jip Rocks Sparkling Shiraz, $16.90. The LCBO references its “ripe black fruit” and “flavours of cherries jubilee and vanilla ice cream”. I think this is made in the Cuvée Close Method, with bubbles induced in a pressurized tank rather than in the traditional method of champagne.
Another red choice would be Brachetto d’Aqui, a semi-sweet fizz from Piedmont. The Balbi Soprani version is $16.95, and is really considered a wine to accompany desserts.
The classic white sweet sparkler is the Martini & Rossi Asti Spumante, $13.95, made from the aromatic Muscat – or Moscato – grape. Like the Brachetto, this is low in alcohol at just 7%. It is simple, tasty, and fun.
Another way to sweeten your fizzy drink is to pour an ounce of liqueur into your “flute” (the tall slim glass that is best for champagne) and then fill with sparkling wine. Cassis – made from blackberries – gives us a “Kir Royale”. Chambord highlights Raspberry, and St-Germain Elderflower, the current darling of the liqueur world, has tropical and herbal notes.
As I indicated at the beginning, there are dozens more sparkling wines in our stores and many such as a Prosecco, Cremant de Loire or Cremant de Bourgogne, would be just as worthy as some of these. While these wines are often relegated to a celebratory role, they can just as easily be part of a meal any time of the year. Most would serve as well as other dry white wines, and given the price range, wouldn’t necessarily require a mortgage in the process.
However you choose to celebrate, I wish you all the best for a healthy and prosperous 2013. Happy New Year!