Chmapgne Making ProcessZiaul Haque Howlader

Champagne is the ultimate celebratory drink. It is used to toast newlyweds, applaud achievements, and acknowledge milestones. A large part of its appeal is due to the bubbles that spill forth when the bottle is uncorked. These bubbles are caused by tiny drops of liquid disturbed by the escaping carbon dioxide or carbonic acid gas that is a natural by-product of the double fermentation process unique to champagne.

Today, fine champagne is considered a mark of sophistication. But this was not always so. Initially, wine connoisseurs were disdainful of the sparkling wine. Furthermore in 1688, Dom Perignon, the French monk whose name is synonymous with the best vintages, worked very hard to reduce the bubbles from the white wine he produced as Cellarer of the Benedictine Abbey of Haut-Villers in France's Champagne region. Ironically, his efforts were hampered by his preference for fermenting wine in bottles instead of casks, since bottling adds to the build-up of carbonic acid gas.

Harvesting Harvest in Champagne generally occurs around

mid October. Although 8 varietals are permitted in the production of Champagne, the most widely used are: Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

Generally, the Pinot Meunier is the first varietal to be harvested, followed by Chardonnay and then Pinot Noir. Grapes will be hand harvested in order to ensure that the grapes are brought in clean and undamaged.

Beautiful Chardonnay grapes at harvest

Pressing Grapes will be pressed as soon as possible, especially

with Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, as skin contact with these dark skinned varietals will soon begin to taint the juice if left on the skins.

A traditional basket press often used, the idea being to extract the juice slowly and methodically. Two pressings are utilized here. The first press is called the “cuvee” which is considered the finer, more high quality juice. The second pressing is called the “tailles” (or tails) and considered of lesser quality. Appellation regulations strictly regulate the volume of juice from each pressing that can included in the final product. As an example, if 100 hectoliters of Champagne were to be produced, Champagne A.O.C. stipulates that 80 hectoliters would need to be from the first “cuvee” press and 20 hecotliters from the second or “tailles” press.

Immediate and gentle pressing of the grapes

First Fermentation Next, the first of two fermentations takes place. A key factor

in this first fermentation is that it be relatively quick and warm. The emphasis here is to produce a relatively neutral wine that is high in acidity. Why a neutral wine? Because the formation of fruity esters will interfere with the flavor and autolytic development that will largely occur during the secondary fermentation and ageing process.

A second fermentation and extended lees ageing requires that such a wine have the acidic structure to engage such a process. Most often this first fermentation takes place in stainless steel, and most do not go through malolactic fermentation.

However some producers will use a combination of wood and stainless steel in this first fermentation. Bruno Michel, Tarlant and Bollinger are such examples. At the other end of the spectrum, Krug and Alfred Gratien vinify entirely in wood barrels.

Primary fermentation at Tarlant

Blending The blending process in Champagne is what sets this

region apart from just about any other wine producing region in the world. Whereas most wine regions produce a new vintage of a particular wine every year, the Champenoise are master blenders.

Although in a good year many domains will produce a vintage champagne, the Champenoise pride themselves on their masterful skills of blending multiple vintages to create a signature “house style”. Perhaps the epitome of this artful skill is evidenced in the wines of Krug, where up to 7 different vintages are blended to create their multi-vintage cuvee.  Maintaining a supply of multiple vintages of reserve wine in stock to blend in with newer vintages also implies holding back stock, which in turn adds to the cost of producing Champagne.

Second Fermentation Once a blend has been created, a mixture of still

wine, sugar and yeast will be added to the blended wine. This mixture is known as the “liqueur de triage”.

The wine is then bottled with a crown cap (think beer) and left to begin a secondary fermentation in the bottle.  Here, active yeast will begin consuming the available sugar, resulting in the anaerobic production of alcohol within this sealed bottle. A by-product of this fermentation is carbon dioxide, which if not allowed to escape into the atmosphere, results C02 which is dissolved into the wine a.k.a., bubbles! This second fermentation generally takes between 4-8 weeks.

Cuvee Maxime undergoing extended lees ageing

Lees Ageing Following the completion of the secondary

fermentation, the wine will then begin a period of ageing in bottle where the wine will interact with the dead yeast cells (lees)  and which will greatly influence the flavor and texture of the finished champagne.

This process is known as “autolysis”. Flavor characteristics relative to this bio-chemical process include nuances of baked bread, roasted nuts, and salty cheese. 

Chardonnay in particular is a varietal that benefits greatly from this lengthy autolytic ageing process. By law, non-vintage Champagne must age a minimum of 15 months on their lees, although most age between 18-24 months. Tarlant’s NV Cuvee Louis spends an incredible seven years on the lees.

Remuage, a process invented by the Veuve Cliquot in the early 19th century

Remuage/Riddling Once the champagne has completed its extended lees

ageing and is ready to be bottled it will go through a process known as “remuage”. This procedure is aimed at loosening the dead yeast cells and sediment  that has formed at the bottom of the bottle, and slowly moving it towards the neck of the bottle which it will be removed or disgorged.

This process must be done methodically and over time so as not to disrupt the champagne in bottle. Remuage can either be done by hand, by slowly turning the bottle a bit every day till it is vertically upside down, or done automatically by machine. By hand the process can take 2 months, by machine or gyro-palette the entire process can be accomplished in about 1 week.

Once the wines are positioned vertically upsided down with the yeast in the neck of the bottle the champagne is ready to be disgorged.

Disgorgement This process involves removing the dead

yeast/sediment in the neck of the bottle. Most often this is achieved by submerging the neck of the champagne bottle into a cold brine, thus quickly freezing the dead yeast matter that has collected in the neck. Once the crown cap is removed, pressure from the dissolved Co2 expediently pushes out this yeast plug, and voila, the champagne has been disgorged. 

Dosage Before the champagne is re-corked, a measured

amount of champagne and cane sugar will be added to the finished wine. This is known as the “liqueur d’expedition”. The amount of this mixture, known as “dosage”  will in effect determine the final sweetness level and style of champagne. In certain instances, no liqueur d’expedition will be added, resulting in a wine with zero dosage. Brut style champagnes are next on the dryness level with residual sugar falling between 5-15 grams per liter. Brut champagnes are amongst the most popular style of Champagne in the United States.. 

Re-corking We are now in the home stretch! The fermented,

blended, fermented, aged, riddled, disgorged and dosaged sparking wine is finally ready to be bottled and manipulated for the last time. After a cork is inserted, a protective wire cap is placed over the bottle to help secure the cork and bottle.

The wine is then shaken vigorously, in order to help integrate the wine with the liqueur d’expedition.

The finished wine will now rest anywhere from several weeks to several months (and in some cases longer) before it is sent out into the big bad  world of wine shops, restaurants and connoisseurs.

Voila! The finished product at Leclerc Briant

The martini is a cocktail made with gin and vermouth, and garnished with an olive or a lemon twist. Over the years, the martini has become one of the best-known mixed alcoholic beverages. H. L. Mencken called the martini "the only American invention as perfect as the sonnet“.

Cocktail

The traditional method of preparation is to pour gin and dry vermouth into a mixing glass with ice cubes, stir, strain into chilled cocktail glass, and garnish with a green olive or a twist of lemon peel.

Commonly used ingredients 55ml (11 parts) gin 15ml (3 parts) dry vermouthPreparation Pour all ingredients into mixing glass with ice cubes.

Stir well. Strain in chilled martini cocktail glass. Squeeze oil from lemon peel onto the drink, or garnish with olive. (On the rocks: Pour all ingredients over ice cubes in old-fashioned glass, garnish as above and serve.)

Tonic And Tequila is a non-standard highball beverage also known as a TnT, Teqtonic, or Equalizer, when accompanying Moonshine. The drink is made with a 2:1 ratio of Tonic water to Tequila and is served with lemon or lime wedges on ice.

Ingredients Tequila: 6 cl Tonic: 12 cl 2 Lime or lemon wedges Ice, depending on the desired temperature of the

drink.

A Bloody Mary garnished with lemon, carrot, celery, and pitted manzanilla olives

This fruity, blended Piña Colada is typical of many rum-based cocktails.