W
ine would have started out as an accident some five thousand years ago when some crushed wine juice left for some time probably with the skins started to ferment as the yeast on the skins reacted with the sugar in the juice to form alcohol. Champagne was also an accident when a bottle of wine which hadn’t fermented completely was left out to be covered by snow, when the snow melted and the warmth reactivated the fermentation in the bottle creating carbon dioxide and blowing the cork out of the bottle creating a sparkling wine which a monk called Dom Perignon described “I am drinking the stars”. From that moment Champagne was born and it is still created in the bottle to this day, although nowadays the yeast strains are added to the wine rather than waiting for nature. Dom Perignon went on to work with this new sparkling wine and help master the technique of creating first class Champagne
by blending various grape varieties. Champagne is different to most sparkling wines in the fact that after a still wine is made by fermenting the wine in either stainless steel tanks or as some vineyards still do in large oak barrels, the wine is then transferred to bottles for the next phase of their life and this is indeed the same bottle you purchase some years later. In the production of most sparkling wine the addition of carbon dioxide to create the fizz takes place in the tanks in a similar fashion as soft drinks, the sparkling wine is then bottled and sold, vary rarely with any age. If the label carries the words “Made in the traditional way” or as in the case of Champagne “Methode Champenoise” or “Methode Traditionnelle” then you know with this wine and the creation of the sparkle was within the bottle itself and the lengthy process of making Champagne begins and why Champagne is more expensive than other sparkling wines.
winelander
FOOD, WINE & ISLAND TIMES
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www.thebribieislander.com.au
The Bribie Islander
Bribie Island. Ph. 3410 0084
Shop 3/12, First Ave, Service Road, BONGAREE (Across from Bongaree Car Park)
