High Spirits

Demystifying the bubbly

Think bubbly and the image of a celebration comes to mind. But serving this delectable and much aspired-for beverage is not an easy task. By Sayoni Bhaduri

Champagne is a sparkling wine and comes with its own intricacies and presentation rules. So serving it the right way is key to the entire experience, especially in times when the maximum consumption happens in F&B outlets and restaurants.

Daniel Lorson, communications director of Comité Interprofessionel du Vin de Champagne (CIVC), believes that the new wine market needs a well-developed culture to appreciate the wines better. "Service staff plays an important role in the sales process and in the wine education of consumers. The focus needs to be on various POS material and training sessions across key markets in India for better understanding of wines," he says.

This includes understanding the various types of wines, particularly champagne. It said that older the wine better the quality, but the same cannot be applied to champagne. Champagne is often a blending of several years which allows for constant quality from one year to another instead of depending of one year's quality. "When one year is exceptional, a producer can issue a vintage (millésime) representative of this special year. The decision is individual. Each producer estimates if their harvest is worth a vintage. Hence the years are not the same for all," clarifies Lorson.

Understanding champagne

There are a few key things that need to be discussed and information imparted to the staff because they play a key role in helping a guest choose their wine. Understanding the terroir where the grapes grow is an aspect that has to be well understood. It is a combination of the soil, sub-soil, climate and the exposition of a region that makes a wine unique. This configuration cannot be replicated and hence any other variety of sparkling wine cannot be called champagne except for the one produced in the Champagne region of France.

The second step of the process is to understand the variety of champagne wines and accordingly suggest the perfect wine to suit guest tastes. Lorson says, "There is diversity among Champagne wines - Blanc de noir is made only of black grapes, Blanc de blanc from white grapes, it could be a blend, white or pink, young or vintage."

Every wine-making house in the region has a secret blending recipe which allows the wine to be of the same style. "Blending may depend on the year, the village or region, the grapes," he further adds. Only three types of grapes can be used to make Champagne - these are Meunier and Pinot noir that are black grapes and Chardonnay, which is a white grape. Often there is an addition of sugar to the wine or none whatsoever making them extra brut (no sugar), brut (less than 15 grams of sugar per litre), or demi-sec (with more sugar). "It is important for the staff to know why champagne is different and why it is usually more expensive," says Lorson.

Serving champagne

There are a lot of misconceptions surrounding the act of serving champagne. Contrary to popular opinion, champagne should be opened gently instead of popping it with gusto. Few points that should be kept in mind include:

• Champagne should ideally be served between six degrees and nine degrees Celsius.
• When using a napkin to hold the bottle, it is best to leave the label unhidden, it is after all the signature of the producer.
• The bottle should be held from the body and never by the neck.
• The glasses best for champagne are tulip-shaped ones. They need to be rinsed in detergent-free water since detergent affects the bubbles.
• The bottle needs to be held firmly at the base by one hand and the glass should be filled not more than two-thirds.

Bottles can be stored for long periods in champagne cellars, but it is better not to do so since you never know in what conditions the bottles were shipped and what they suffered before the client buys it, Lorson exclaims.

These are just a few details that the staff needs to keep in mind while helping guests make the right choice of wine and serving them. They also need guidance regarding their sense of smell, taste and colours of Champagne. Every wine has a bouquet of its own that has something unique about it and the right pairing helps unravel the flavour of both the food and the wine. What the distributors and producers need to do is promote not only their products but educate the industry about them too.