Bubbly FAQ

Have something you’re dying to know about sparkling wine or Champagne? Ask The Bubbly Girl by sending your question to maria@thebubblygirl.com.

What’s the difference between champagne and sparkling wine?
Champagne is the name reserved for sparkling wines made in the Champagne region in northeastern France. Wines with bubbles made anywhere else in the world are called sparkling wine.

Will champagne give me a headache/hangover?
Not necessarily. It depends on two things: how much you drink and how fast.
Since the body can only process about 2 ounces of hard alcohol or one glass of wine an hour, you’re looking for trouble if you drink any more than that.

That’s especially true with bubbly, because a team of British scientists at the University of Surrey in Guildford found that the carbonation helps the alcohol get into your system more quickly. Here’s a link to that study. And not only that, the alcohol’s effects last longer when the wine is bubbly. Another team of scientists in New York found that we girls aren’t able to process hard alcohol or wine as effectively as men do.

Some people think that impurities in inexpensive bubbly or sugary wines also can make you feel worse, but the jury’s still out on that one. I think the trouble with sweet drinks is that they go down so smoothly that it’s easy to drink more than you intended.

So remember, sipping -- not swilling -- is the way to go.

How do I open a bottle of bubbly without putting someone’s eye out?
A bottle of sparkling wine can have as much pressure inside it as a truck tire, so it’s wise to be careful when opening bubbly. First, make sure the bottle is well-chilled, to about 45 degrees, by letting it rest in the refrigerator for an hour or a mixture of ice and cold water for 30 minutes. Remove the foil from around the cork and loosen the wire cage. Place a dish towel or cloth napkin over the cage and cork. Hold the towel-wrapped cork firmly in one hand while twisting the bottle to remove the cork. The cork should come out easily with a soft, satisfied sigh, not a loud pop.

What do words like brut and dry mean?
These terms refer to how sweet a sparkling wine or champagne is. The first champagnes were quite sweet or doux (pronounced doo); the next wines that were a little less sweet were called demi-sec or half-dry in English. Next came dry wines, which had slightly less sugar still. Brut (pronounced broot) wines now are the most common style and have so little sugar that its flavor is almost imperceptible. The newest style is extra brut or brut nature, which isn’t finished off with a shot of sweetened wine at the end like all the other styles of champagne and sparkling wine.

How do those bubbles get in the wine?
Fine sparkling wines and champagne are made through a two-step process. Grapes naturally contain sugar and have yeast on the outside of their skins. When the grapes are crushed, the sugar and yeast mix together and start fermentation. As the yeast eats the sugar in the grape juice, it produces alcohol. The fermentation ends when the yeast has eaten the available sugar. To make champagne, some wine is bottled and then a mixture of yeast and sugar is added. A second fermentation starts inside the bottle as the yeast eats the sugar. The CO2 gas produced by the fermentation is trapped inside the bottle, and goes into the wine, making it bubbly.
It’s also possible to create sparkling wine by fermenting wine, yeast and sugar in a big tank that traps the bubbles (the charmat method) or by pumping CO2 gas into the wine. This is often done with less expensive wines.

What does methode champenoise mean?
It literally means “the method from Champagne.” Methode champenoise ( pronounced may-TODE Sham-pen-WAAS), refers to making champagne or sparkling wine in a two step process that ends with the wine being fermented inside the bottle. If you see the words methode traditionelle on a bottle, it means the wine was made in another part of France using the same method.

What do the size and number of bubbles mean?
With champagne, a persistent stream of very tiny bubbles is a mark of quality. The tiny stream of bubbles or beads is called perlage (pear-LAAJ). The more tiny bubbles you have, the easier it is to experience the wine’s flavors and aromas, according to a study by scientists at The University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne. The French think large bubbles are a sign of a poorly made wine; they call these bubbles “toad’s eyes.” Large bubbles may be a clue that the wine got its bubbles through carbonation, rather than being fermented in its bottle.

Keep in mind that many Italian sparkling wines aren’t made to be as bubbly as champagne, so they won’t have as many bubbles. This isn’t a bad thing.

What’s Prosecco?
Prosecco is the name of a grape, as well as the gently sparkling wine made from that grape. It grows best in the hills east of Venice. It’s the sparkling wine mixed with white peach nectar in the famous Venetian cocktail, the Bellini. Prosecco has a light, refreshing quality and often tastes like green apple, lemon with a flat mineral taste at the end. The best ones are made from grapes grown near the towns Conegliano and Valdobiaddene.

Why do people say sparkling wine tastes like lemons, green apples and plums? Are those fruits in there?
There’s nothing in a bottle of good sparkling wine but grapes, such as chardonnay, pinot noir or Prosecco depending on where it’s made. The magical thing is that as juice from those grapes is transformed into wine, it undergoes many chemical changes that give the wine unique aromas and flavors that remind us of other fruits. A wine made from chardonnay grapes may end up reminding us of lemon or green apples; pinot noir often smells and tastes like raspberries and plums. Prosecco can be crisp like apples or even smell of honeysuckle. If desirable oxidation or long aging occurs, the wine might remind us of toast or a croissant.

I just poured champagne in a glass and it went flat right away. What happened?
Bubbles are very delicate, even a lipstick print on the side of the glass can make your wine go flat. When bubbly from a fresh bottle goes flat as soon as you pour it in the glass, it usually means the glass had oil, lipstick or soap residue on it that made the bubbles go flat. I prefer washing flutes with vegetable-based dish soap, because it rinses better than heavy as regular petroleum-based dishwashing liquid.
If a glass of champagne is flat at a restaurant, it may mean that the glass wasn’t rinsed properly, or that the bottle had been open for a while. Don’t be shy to ask the server whether the bottle was fresh.

What foods go with bubbly?
I was on the radio one afternoon and the host tried to stump me by asking what kind of bubbly to serve with a fried bologna sandwich. Not missing a beat, I told him that champagne would be a lovely pairing.

Because sparkling wines come in such a wide range of flavors, from light refreshing Prosecco to crisp brut champagne to powerful and rich sparkling shiraz, it’s possible to find a wine that complements nearly any food.

Champagne and sparkling wines crackle with natural acidity and bubbles, making them perfect with anything fried or slightly greasy. Of course instead of fried bologna, I’d prefer fried chicken, potato chips or French fries.

Seafood, whether it’s ahi tuna, shrimp, lobster, oysters or crab, is beautiful with a range of sparkling wines, from Prosecco to brut champagne to dry rosé.

Richer foods, like salmon, lamb, pork, duck or rare beef work well with wines that have a good dose of pinot noir, such as dry rosé and blanc de noirs. If you’re having a richly flavored marinated steak, go for the gusto of a sparkling shiraz.

Spicy foods – think Thai, Indian, Cajun – are great with sweeter wines like Moscato d’Asti from Italy or sparkling wines and champagnes marked dry or demi sec. The sweetness helps cool some of the fire.

The trickiest pairing is dessert. Make sure the wine is as sweet as or sweeter than the food or it will end up tasting sour. Lightly sweetened fruit desserts and pound cake or shortbread can work with Moscato d’Asti and demi sec wines. Flourless bittersweet chocolate cake and lemon curd cake are divine with Brachetto d’Acqui. To be on the safe side, try out any pairing before serving it to guests.

How can I afford champagne on a budget more suited to beer?
When you buy wines made by well-known Champagne houses, you’re paying for advertising and marketing as much as wine. Talk to the staff at your favorite wine shop to get some tips on champagnes made by smaller producers -- like Philipponat, Charles Ellner or Billecart Salmon -- who don’t spend so much money on advertising.
Or why not be adventurous and try some of the well made sparkling wines from other regions of France, such as Burgundy, Limoux and Alsace or other parts of the world.

To learn more, sign up to receive information on the release of my book “The Bubbly Girl’s Guide to Sparkling Wine & Champagne” or ask me a question.