How to Open a Sparkling Wine Bottle

With weddings, graduations, and all manner of other excuses to open a bottle of bubbly upon us, we have officially entered sparkling wine season. A quick reminder on how to open a bottle safely seems appropriate.

1. Wrap the bottle in a towel. This helps you grip the bottle, which will likely prove damp from the wine bucket or from condensation. It also helps keep corks from flying towards the nearest Ming vase, should your hand slip. Jokes aside, corks in the projectile state can cause injuries, especially to the eyes, so care is warranted.

2. Remove the wire cage. You can bend it into interesting shapes later.

3. Hold bottle horizontally. This lessens the pressure against the cork by spreading it across a wider area.

4. Twist either the cork or the bottle with a steady, slow movement. This breaks the seal.

5. Continue twisting till you feel the cork move outward. Do not pull the cork from the bottle but let the pressure push it free.

6. Maintain pressure on the cork as it frees itself. Let the gas escape quietly and bring the bottle to the vertical as you do so. No disconcerting pop, no overflow of wine.

7. Accept the ooos and ahs of an admiring crowd.

Random Sparkling Wine Facts

Sparkling wines sparkle because of carbon dioxide trapped in the wine during a second fermentation in a closed environment. The two main ways to accomplish this are:

1. The Charmat Process— This involves adding a mixture of sugar, yeast, and wine (called dosage) to a stainless steel vat of wine.

2. The Champagne Method— Here vintners add the dosage to each bottle and recork it, instigating further fermentation.

As can be imagined, the Champagne method proves costlier and more labor-intensive than the Charmat process. Both methods produce wines that will tickle your nose, but finer bubbles and finer mousse (foam) result from the Champagne method.

The traditional wide-mouthed Champagne glass was supposedly modeled on the breasts of Marie Antoinette. Speculate on that as you wish. We do know that such a glass actually causes the wine to lose bubble vigor more quickly. Prefer the tall Champagne flute. It has a slightly rough inner surface that provides points where bubbles can form.

Just to be clear, for member countries of the European Union, Champagne refers strictly to wines from the Champagne region in France. These wines are regulated as to production, grape varieties used, and so forth. In countries outside the EU, the term champagne is used freely. At least in the US, the term champagne bears no legal definition, though presumably it always refers to sparkling wines.

Dom Pérignon, the supposed discoverer of sparkling wine discovered no such thing. Any wine with active yeast and a little residual sugar remaining will likely enter secondary fermentation. This represented a problem for early winemakers because they did not know how to control this secondary fermentation. Winemakers frequently found themselves with a cellar full of bottles that had popped their corks on their own or had burst from the pressure. Dom Pérignon sought ways to prevent wines from entering secondary fermentation. Winemakers now avoid unwanted secondary fermentation by removing yeast from wines. They do this mainly by filtering or fining the wine.

The Champagne region also produces a still wine, called Coteaux Champenoise (AC). These wines, made with the same grape varieties as the sparkling version, are dry, lean, yet with an underlying richness. Not often seen in this country but worth a try.

Useful Sparkling Wine Terms to Know

• Brut. Used in Champagne and elsewhere, this term designates a drier style of wine.

• Extra Dry. This term indicates a wine sweeter than brut. Apparently, Gallic producers wanted to appeal to a British market that claimed preference for dry wines but actually liked sweeter ones better.

• Sec and doux mean, respectively, dry and sweet. In other words, the outer boundaries of the above terms.

• Blanc de blanc. A sparkling wine made solely from white grapes. In Champagne, that grape is chardonnay. Elsewhere, it can vary.

• Blanc de noir. A sparkling wine made from red grapes. In Champagne, the grapes are pinot noir and pinot meunier.

Other names for sparkling wine include:

• Sekt (Germany)

• Crémant (France)

• Cava (Spain)

• Prosecco (Italy)

• Spumante (Italy)

These alternatives are often quite tasty, and good values, as well.