Êtes-vous prêt à découvrir une aventure cinématographique exceptionnelle au cœur de notre terroir champenois ? La...
10€ discount with the code "BIENVENUE" (for a purchase of 80€ or more)
Cart
(0)
Search in blog
Blog categories
- Winegrower artists (7)
- The History of Champagne (12)
- All about Champagne (85)
- Practice (20)
- Food and Wine (16)
- Output and Event (3)
- People (8)
- What a dish with this Champagne (7)
- Events around the Champagne (11)
- Champagne World (23)
- Outings in the Champenois vineyards (4)
- The experts (32)
- Tips and Tricks (17)
- At the table (11)
- News (77)
- Insolit (12)
Latest posts
The Secrets of the Shooting of Champagne Problems on Netflix in the Land of Champagne!
Read more
Goat's cheese and Champagne: a perfect match
Read more
The marriage of goat's cheese and Champagne represents a captivating gastronomic alliance. This unique combination...
The Secrets of Luxury Champagne Brands: What Insiders Don't Tell You
Read more
Imagine paying €2,000 for one bottle of champagne, while another, just as prestigious in appearance, costs €200. This...
Bernard Arnault's Influence on the Artistic Collaborations of Dom Pérignon
Read more
Bernard Arnault isn't just Europe's richest CEO - he's the architect of a revolution in the luxury goods industry...
Champagne Guide: Introduction to Tasting for Beginners
Read more
The champagne guide is an invaluable tool for those wishing to discover the fascinating world of golden bubbles....
Popular posts
Assemblage de Champagne: Le Savoir-Faire Artisanal Explained
Champagne, an emblematic region of France, is famous for its vineyards and wine production, and has been declared a...
Read more
Geographical location of Champagne
La zone de production de l’appellation d’origine contrôlée (AOC) Champagne, qui a été définie par une loi en 1927,...
Read more
The Best Champagnes to Celebrate Christmas with Elegance and Festivity
Christmas is a magical time of year when we celebrate with family and friends. And what better way to celebrate than...
Read more
How to uncork a bottle of champagne like a professional: complete guide
Uncorking a bottle of Champagne may seem intimidating, but with the right techniques, it becomes child's play. In...
Read more
12 Champagne Bottle Sizes: Capacity Guide
From the quart bottle to the Melchizedec or Midas, the size of champagne bottles can vary from a few centiliters to...
Read more
Blog tags
How to enjoy Champagne
Tasting Champagne is like tasting any other wine, except that effervescence has a sound component. Champagne awakens all our senses.
Hearing
Our senses are first alerted as soon as we open the bottle. The "pop", discreet or ostentatious, is already evocative. Then, as the wine is poured, the bursting of the bubbles in the glass creates intense music at first, then more discreetly as the foam settles on the surface of the glass. If you put your ear close to the glass, you can even hear the sound of bubbles bursting on the surface.
The view
It's the most captivating sensation of an effervescent wine. The incessant ballet of bubbles rising in the glass, twinkling and swirling in a seemingly haphazard fashion.
If you look closely at a glass, you'll see that bubbles are born microscopically, always in the same places, known as "nucleation sites". These sites are actually particles on the glass or in the liquid that trap a gas bubble at the moment of pouring. This bubble grows with the addition of carbon dioxide dissolved in the wine until it reaches a critical size, at which point it breaks away. It leaves behind a new bubble, which in turn expands, generating a succession of bubbles at a rate of 10 to 20 per second.
As the bubbles burst on the surface, fine wine droplets charged with odorant molecules are ejected several centimeters into the air.
The second visual sensation is the color of the wine. A yellow color with green highlights indicates the presence of a majority of Chardonnay grapes, while light red highlights indicate the dominance of black grapes. Over time, wines take on golden yellow, even copper or amber colors.
Rosés are even more varied: pale pink (known as "oeil-deperdrix") or deep pink, with more or less intense hues depending on the composition of the blend. Old rosé wines take on orange, tile-like hues as they age.
Bubbles in a glass of Champagne
The size and number of bubbles in a glass The size of the bubbles depends more on the glass than on the Champagne itself. The initial size of a bubble is a function of the site from which it originates, and then increases as the carbon dioxide continues to diffuse into the bubble as it rises. The longer the journey, the larger the bubble will be when it reaches the surface. The younger the wine, and therefore the higher its carbon dioxide content, the more bubbles are created. Older Champagne wines, containing less carbon dioxide, have finer bubbles.
The number of bubbles is in fact theoretical. If we consider that the average diameter of a bubble is 0.5 millimeters, and that wine contains around 12g of carbon dioxide per liter, the calculation shows that a 10-centiliter glass contains around 11 million bubbles. However, this figure is only theoretical, as almost 80% of carbon dioxide escapes at the surface of the glass without generating bubbles.
the Champagne? Nose and mouth
These two senses are inextricably linked, as aromatic perceptions arrive via the direct nasal route and then via the retronasal route, i.e. from the oral cavity to the nasal cavity. The elementary tastes: salty, sweet, sour, bitter, are perceived by the tongue.
Tasting is made more complex by bubbles. Bubbles increase the effluvia that reach the nasal mucous membranes, and require you to wait a few seconds for the wine to better reveal its aromas.
To understand the world of Champagne wines, we need to position ourselves in a two-dimensional space: one represents the diversity linked to the vineyard, the other represents the diversity linked to evolution over time.
Vineyard-related diversity is mainly due to grape varieties. Cultivated in different terroirs, they reveal the grape's aromas and flavors, known as primary aromas, in young wines.
Chardonnay (but also arbane, petit meslier, pinot blanc and pinot gris) gives wines with notes of white flowers (hawthorn, honeysuckle, lime blossom, acacia, jasmine, orange blossom), citrus (grapefruit, lemon) and exotic fruit (lychee, pineapple), but also apple, pear and spices (anise, ginger), even menthol. These wines generally have a light, airy structure on the palate, with a certain liveliness. They are the expression of chalky terroirs, described by a term that is difficult to describe: "minerality" (chalk, gunflint).
Pinot noir and meunier reveal notes of white- and yellow-fleshed fruit (peach, apricot, plum, mirabelle plum), as well as red fruit (strawberry, raspberry, cherry) and even black fruit (blackberry, blueberry), citrus (tangerine, orange), exotic fruit (mango, passion fruit), floral accents (rose, peony, violet) and sometimes spices (cinnamon, clove). On the palate, wines made from black grape varieties give Champagne roundness, smoothness and deliciousness in the case of meunier, and body and power in the case of pinot noir.
The blending of all these components creates an infinite range of possibilities, a complex and varied aromatic palette. This diversity, born of the grapes, is then shaped by the so-called secondary aromas added during vinification. The choices made by the winemaker, from pressing to final dosage, shape the style of each cuvée.
The contribution of reserve wines (up to 50% in certain non-vintage cuvées) already brings the wines into the second dimension, that of diversity linked to their evolution over time, enabling them to express so-called tertiary aromas.
In the early stages of maturity (3 to 10 years), the various aromas evolve towards notes of brioche, viennoiserie, ripe fruit, stewed fruit, then candied fruit (fig, date), dried flowers, dried fruit (almond, hazelnut, raisin), light tobacco, wax, honey, butterscotch, with occasional hints of vanilla and licorice (characteristic of wines aged in wooden containers).
Older, "plenitude " wines (10 years or more) evolve over time with notes of fruit paste (quince in particular), gingerbread, to undergrowth aromas and roasted, empyreumatic notes (toast, rusk, mocha, coffee, cocoa).
For Champagne rosé, aromas can be fresh (citrus, wild strawberry), smooth, powerful (ripe yellow fruit, red berries) or complex, combining fruity notes (wild berries) with hints of undergrowth. The palate can be structured, powerful, fleshy or more ethereal. As they age, their aromas express the full richness of dried fruits and spices, even toasty notes for the oldest.
Related posts
Champagne PEHU SIMONET the art of preserving freshness
Champagne Pehu Simonet vineyard covers 5 hectares, mostly in Verzenay: "My vines are located in the heart of the...
Read more
How to store champagne? How should it be served? At what temperature?
If you have a cellar, this is ideal. You can store your bottles away from light (to avoid light tastes), at a...
Read more
The iodized notes of the Champagne blanc de blancs go very well with a seafood platter, especially oysters.
"A good dish, a good Champagne, and that's it." Nothing complicated about pleasing yourself at holiday time for...
Read more
12 Champagne Bottle Sizes: Capacity Guide
From the quart bottle to the Melchizedec or Midas, the size of champagne bottles can vary from a few centiliters to...
Read more
Geoffrey Orban - Revealing the DNA of Champagne's subsoils and future wines
Specialist of the Champagne terroirs, the Rémois Geolfrey Orban multiplies his interventions with the wine growers,...
Read more