As the world post-lockdown finds us all taking on more DIY projects but also drinking more, according to most studies, Just Somm Chef gives us pointers on how to make our own champagne, which is awesome, right?
RIGHT.
Here’s an excerpt from his site. Follow the link at the end to get into the directions and how to take the process on. We might just have to plant some grapes ourselves.
Are champagne and sparkling wine the same thing? I wanted to start with a note that Champagne is a style of sparkling wine. Champagne refers to sparkling wine made in the Champagne region of France using chardonnay, pinot noir, and pinot meunier. One of the agreements included in the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 was that the United States would stop using the word “champagne” to sell Sparkling wine. There is an anecdote that the French were suggesting they sell large jugs of low quality red wine with labels that said things like “Napa Valley Red.” There are a few American producers that were grandfathered in and allowed to call their sparkling wine “California Champagne.” I was once instructed by a 6th generation French wine maker that the only way to handle a bottle of American wine labeled “Champagne” is to dump it down the sink (some people get really worked up about things like that).
There are a few methods employed today to make the various sparkling wines of the world. I want to cover the méthode champenoise. This is the method used to make champagne and produces the highest quality bubbles. In other parts of the world, it is referred to as the traditional method.
