SPARKLING WINE
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The area most famous for this
type of wine is of course Champagne, and that is well to the north in France
(north-east of Paris). It is the cooler wine growing regions that produce the
best sparklers. This is because we require relatively unripe grapes for the
wine - indeed cynics would say, with some justification, that the Champagne
growers invented sparkling wine because they could not make such good still
wine as their compatriots further south in France, notably in Bordeaux and
Burgundy.
The basic requirement is for
grapes that when fermented fully will yield around 11% alcohol by volume in the
base wine. There must be no residual sugars left in the wine. Under the right conditions
some wine growing regions can regularly produce well over twice this sugar
level in their grapes to produce a very strong sweet wine - an obvious example
is Sauterne.
The wine is made from clean,
disease-free grapes, and fermented in our stainless steel tanks without any
preservative (sulphur dioxide). At all times it is handled with loving care and
attention. The grapes we use are from Seyval Blanc vines. These have a fairly
neutral taste, high acidity, and the vine is very disease resistant. The more
usual Champagne vine varieties Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay do not
perform particularly well in our climate.
Once the fermentation is complete
we clear the wine by natural settling of the dead yeast cells (the lees), and
then filter the wine to remove any yeast and bacteria. We return it to a
steam-cleaned tank, and make up a fresh yeast starter culture. Once this is
going strongly we add a small quantity of sugar (24 grams per litre) and the
fermenting yeast to the base wine, and immediately bottle it in strong
Champagne-type bottles capped by a crown cork. The bottles are laid down to
store. The yeast ferments the small amount of sugar in the bottles to produce a
little more alcohol, but carbon dioxide is also produced, and unlike in a normal
fermentation this gas cannot escape. It therefore dissolves in the wine, and
pumps up the bottle pressure to 6 bar (90 lbs/sq.in.). The wine now has its
sparkle!
We now need the taste. This comes
from leaving the wine to mature. The yeast dies, and settles on to the side of
the bottle. In time it starts to decompose in a process known as autolysis.
This produces the earthy flavour which is the essential character of this type
of wine. The longer the wine is left on its lees the better as the process only
really starts after about 9 months. Our 1992 vintage was left on the lees for
three years, which is the longest we have left a wine for yet (and longer than
most other sparklers of its type). The wine now has its taste!
The wine should be kept cool,
undisturbed, and in the dark. Within reason the longer the wine is kept in
contact with the lees the better, but the ideal time for termination will
depend on the quality of the wine itself, most aspects of which can be traced
back to the quality of the grapes. The best Champagnes do not contain Pinot
Meunier grapes for example because these are chosen for early maturing
properties. Champagnes are usually matured for between 5 and 8 years, but they
have been in the business longer than us and have had the time to build up the
stocks! Also we use a different grape variety – namely Seyval Blanc, and are
still acquiring knowledge on how the wine performs during maturing.
At the time chosen for the end of
lees contact we have to remove the lees from the bottle, to leave a clear
sparkling wine, and put in the champagne cork. For this we have to send the
wine away to someone with the right (expensive) equipment for 2-3 weeks. There
are four stages in the process:
The wine is ready
for drinking in a few days, though it will continue to improve over a period of
about 6 months.