FRANK MANGIO - Temecula
Once a year I get re-aquainted with venerable old names from a special place called Champagne, France. Names like: Moet et Chandon, Dom Perignon, Krug and Bollinger are suddenly available at prices that can take your breath away. Prices for the four mentioned, average about $250. per bottle for a vintage in the 90’s.
If you’re still with me and I haven’t chased you away with that price range, let’s explore why these sparkling wines are so in demand. Champagne is a product of either Chardonnay or Pinot Noir. Chardonnay is the only white grape grown in the area and used in virtually all Champagnes. “Blanc de blancs” are exclusively Chardonnay.
The Pinot Noir gives the Champagnes tint, texture and aroma. The region that can call its wines Champagne is a district of France that is East of Paris, in the Reims area. The name Champagne is derived from Campagnia, a latin term for the countryside near Rome, Italy. The conquerors from Rome brought winemaking to the hills of Champagne. The inventor though was a French monk, Dom Pierre Perignon, who really was motivated to find a way to make white wine out of red grapes.
Today, that is no problem, but in his day, in the 17th century, he kept getting something terribly wrong…he kept getting frothy bubbles. Eventually the “champenois” or winemakers, began to think the sparkle wasn’t so bad after all and maybe, this was something special they could introduce to the world.
How many bubbles does a bottle of Champagne have? The answer is about 56 million, but that is only after the bottle is opened. If the bubbles are tiny, then you have a fine bottle, aged well, in the right temperature, in smaller wine cellars. The soil of Champagne is very chalky and porous. The weather is among the most cool of any vineyards in the world.
Champagne is a difficult and complicated wine to process. It evolves from a secondary fermentation during which gas is trapped inside each bottle, to become champagne bubbles. You would not want to drink this “blend” right away. The winemaker is envisioning what the drink would taste like years beyond. So it is that Champagne really will taste more beautiful with age. Highly rated years for Champagnes were 1990, 1995 and 1996.
A dry Champagne, that is one with very little sweetness added, is termed a “Brut.” It is best drunk as an aperitif or with a meal. “Sec” or “demi-sec” are sweetened Champagnes that really shine at the end of a meal or with fruit desserts. Of course, the vast majority of Champagnes are Brut with very little sugar in the content. Alcohol content is generally held to about 12%.
Non-vintage champagne requires great skill on the part of the winemaker who blends the grapes and takes it through the double fermentation, then shortly after, bottling and selling occurs. Locally, Thornton Winery and Wilson Creek Winery, both in Temecula, have sparkling wines that are very popular and are non-vintage value wines.
Chilled Champagne is best for drinking. Keep it refrigerated for some four hours before serving, but NEVER chill in the freezer…it will ruin the aromas and flavors.
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