Champagne, which we all know, comes from France, and was first made by the monks over 300 years ago when they discovered fermenting grapes into alcohol in a bottle. That monk's name was Dom Perignon. Since then, there are 250 wineries in the Champagne area in France that can legally call their sparkling wine Champagne. Champagne is a wonderful, beautiful and very historic area to visit. Full of champagne houses, chateaus, famous restaurants, cobbled streets and cathedrals.
New Zealand make, consume and export millions of dollars worth of sparking wine every day to over 40 countries. Most of New Zealand’s sparkling wine is made in Marlborough in the South Island but every one of their wine regions produce a sparking wine. Anyone else that makes it has to call it either sparkling wine or methode traditionnelle. Champagne has a wonderful and colourful history and has survived two world wars - especially, as it borders Belgium and is very close to Germany, who has over six champagne houses named after them.
Facts about champagne
In 1688 Dom Perignon invented Champagne
Romans were known to enjoy sparking wine 2000 years ago.
Prior to this date when the wine naturally became sparkling it was considered an imperfection as they did not want the wine to go bubbly!
Champagne is appropriately associated with romantic evenings because, according to professor Trans Ky, the smell arouses the olphactory cells in the nose that are connected to the part of the brain associated with memory and emotion.
Grapes ferment twice to produce bubbles when yeast is added to the sugar it reacts.
Champagne stimulates the production of 60 types of biochemical messages, which sharpen our sensory perception while the endorphins suppress our inhibitions.
New Zealand is one of the biggest consumers of sparkling wine and champagne in the world.
Tasting notes
Brut is dry
Extra dry is actually sweeter than brut
Brut zero is best option for a diabetic as it is much lower in sugar.
Blanc de Blanc means made from Chardonnay grapes.
Cuvee means a blend.
Grand Cru means the very best year and the very best wine
Ways to describe what champagne tastes like or what to look for
Biscuit or toasty
Complexity
Yeasty
Bead (which defines the bubbles)
Mousse (how lively)
Fresh (Lemon or green apple flavour)
Creamy (vanilla or cream)
Nutty
Maturity (the age of the champagne)
New Zealand make, consume and export millions of dollars worth of sparking wine every day to over 40 countries. Most of New Zealand’s sparkling wine is made in Marlborough in the South Island but every one of their wine regions produce a sparking wine. Anyone else that makes it has to call it either sparkling wine or methode traditionnelle. Champagne has a wonderful and colourful history and has survived two world wars - especially, as it borders Belgium and is very close to Germany, who has over six champagne houses named after them.
Facts about champagne
In 1688 Dom Perignon invented Champagne
Romans were known to enjoy sparking wine 2000 years ago.
Prior to this date when the wine naturally became sparkling it was considered an imperfection as they did not want the wine to go bubbly!
Champagne is appropriately associated with romantic evenings because, according to professor Trans Ky, the smell arouses the olphactory cells in the nose that are connected to the part of the brain associated with memory and emotion.
Grapes ferment twice to produce bubbles when yeast is added to the sugar it reacts.
Champagne stimulates the production of 60 types of biochemical messages, which sharpen our sensory perception while the endorphins suppress our inhibitions.
New Zealand is one of the biggest consumers of sparkling wine and champagne in the world.
Tasting notes
Brut is dry
Extra dry is actually sweeter than brut
Brut zero is best option for a diabetic as it is much lower in sugar.
Blanc de Blanc means made from Chardonnay grapes.
Cuvee means a blend.
Grand Cru means the very best year and the very best wine
Ways to describe what champagne tastes like or what to look for
Biscuit or toasty
Complexity
Yeasty
Bead (which defines the bubbles)
Mousse (how lively)
Fresh (Lemon or green apple flavour)
Creamy (vanilla or cream)
Nutty
Maturity (the age of the champagne)
Food and Champagne
Matching food and wine is very simple but many people get it very wrong very easily. It is essential that there are the same qualities and balances in the food that are also found in the wine. If you are an oyster-lover, for instance, and I asked you to describe what it is about the oyster you love, I am sure you would say that they are fresh, lively, juicy and full of life and flavour. In finding a wine to match that, look no further than champagne. Champagne is great with any light canapes, such as smoked salmon, BBQ chicken skewers, whitebait fritters etc. Veal, pork or chicken with lighter sauces are a great match, as is prawns or lobster for that special occasion. Cooking with champagne is lots of fun too, as it is yeasty and is generally acidic enough for cream sauces, and by adding it to your sauce it will perfectly match any dish as long as you keep the sauce quite light. It is also great for bisques or lighter-style soups. Just add a little the next time you make a soup and then drink the same bubbles you used, and you be the judge.
Movies and Champagne
Movies have done wonders to make champagne the standout wine it is today. There is no doubt those movies like Casablanca or Alfred Hitchcock's movie Notorious did wonders to romanticise and endorse the product.
An Affair to Remember put pink champagne on the map, even those there is no such thing - such champagne is called rose. There is not a single James Bond film where champagne is not consumed, and the type is always mentioned, and always Bond drinks it with a beautiful girl adding to its alluring value. Two movies, that both won Best Picture at the Oscars, made you want to go and drink champagne as soon as you had seen them: The Apartment (1960), where it is all they seem to do, and one of the most romantic films to win Best Picture, Gigi (1958). Gigi was set in Maxims in Paris, where the hit song was The Night They Invented Champagne.
Even in The Muppet Movie, Kermie gets Miss Piggy some sparking wine in Idaho. Do you remember Julia Roberts asking Richard Gere in the movie Pretty Woman why he has put a strawberry in the champagne. He says it will bring out the flavour. What a joke, as all it will do is ruin the taste! Strawberries are fine for a champagne cocktail, but nothing else.
Champagne quotes
Tom Waits: "Champagne for my real friends and real pain for my sham friends.
Cate Blancett: (At the Oscars) "Can I have my Champagne now?"
Winston Churchill. "Meeting Franklyn Roosevelt for the first time was like opening a bottle of champagne. Knowing him was like drinking it."
Maria Callas. "I like comparing Champagne with Cognac not coca-cola".
Cole Porter: "I get no kick from champagne. Mere alcohol doesn't thrill me at all. I get a kick out of you."
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