How well do you know Champagne?
ASHEVILLE – Champagne always gives a celebration an extra pop, but New Year's Eve parties are just another excuse to dress up without the bubbly.
But how much do you know about this fizzy favorite? Here are the top 10 things you must know about the only sips that sparkle, according to a couple of local experts.
To be known as true Champagne, the grapes for the wine have be grown in the Champagne region of France. “It wouldn't really matter to us,” said Gene Hollar, manager of Weinhaus, “but the French jealously guard it.” The region itself isn't very large at all, Hollar said. “You could probably fit about half of Buncombe County in it.” All other wines with bubbles must be called sparkling wine.
Looks can be deceiving: The vast majority of Champagne is made from red grapes, even though it has a straw color. The juice in all grapes is colorless, and Champagne is made with gentle pressing, so the grape skins don't get added to the mix.
What do the initials mean? There are codes in the fine print on Champagne bottles that tell a little bit more of the story behind the bubbles. If you see the letters “NM,” it means the makers buys their grapes from all over and blend it, said Hollar. “RM” means the bottle is made from grapes from a single grower. But what do all these letters mean? Hollar said the RM bottles “are going to take more time” to make.
It takes 2.6 pounds of grapes to make one bottle of Champagne, and there are 250 million bubbles in each bottle, according to Eberhardt Heide, owner of Asheville Wine Market.
Champagne and caviar are the peanut butter and jelly of aristocrats. But you aren't limited to serving polarizing fish eggs with flutes of Champagne. Try cheese or smoked salmon with the drink before dinner. It also goes well with crème brule.
Just like revenge, Champagne is best serve cold. Hollar said you should keep it below 45 degrees. “If it's not a good Champagne, then the colder the better,” he noted. Keep the bubbly in a bucket that's half water and half ice, with a dash of salt to keep it cooler. After 15 minutes in the bucket, it's probably ready to serve.
This wine is elite, so, naturally, it also gets its special type of glass for serving. It's best served in a tall slim flute. If you use a wide regular glass, the bubbles will leave the surface too quickly, Hollar said.
Safety comes first when it comes to opening Champagne, said Heide. Don't point the bottle at someone's eyes when your about to pop it open, he said. The best way to open a bottle is to hold the cork and turn the bottle slightly, Hollar said. “Allow the cork to escape the bottle,” he said.
Champagnes are sort of ranked in terms of sweetness. Here's a guide from sweetest to driest: doux, demi-sec, sec, extra dry, brut and extra brut. By the time you get to extra brut, it is bone dry, said Heide.
A soon as you open your bottle, the fizz starts escaping. You can't really keep champagne for later, so get all your celebrating in the day you pop one open.