4 Neat Tricks to Make the Most Out of Sparkling Wine
Sparkling wine is an excellent beverage choice for celebrations and festivities. These bubbly drinks not only quench one’s thirst but also help lift one’s spirits.
Some even say that drinking sparkling wine benefits health, as it is known to offer the following advantages:
Improves cognitive function
Rejuvenates skin
Boosts heart health
Improves gut health
Want to know how you can make the most out of this fizzy beverage? Read on for four tricks you can try to enjoy sparkling wines better and for longer.
Choose a good bottle.
The most obvious thing you need to do to maximise sparkling wine is to choose a good bottle. Follow the tips below to help narrow down your options:
Know the difference between champagne and other sparkling wines
Not all sparkling wines are champagne, but champagne is a sparkling wine.
Only wineries in the town of Champagne in France can produce genuine champagne, so make sure you double-check what you buy.
Besides being an iconic symbol of luxury drinks, champagne is also set apart by the three types of grapes used to make it: pinot noir, pinot meunier, and chardonnay.
No matter what grape it is made from, sparkling wine gets its lovely bubbles from the traditional way of making wine:
Fermented grape juice creates still or “base” wines.
Base wines undergo a second round of fermentation inside pressurised bottles sealed with a crown cap, like those found on beer bottles.
Besides the extensive production process and the rarity of yield, champagne comes with luxury taxes. This is why a bottle of champagne costs more than other sparkling wines.
Of course, if you’re budget-conscious, you can always go with lower-priced bottles like Spain’s cava or the Italian prosecco (from the Veneto region).
Like champagne, cava is also a product of the traditional wine-making method. The only difference is the grapes used to make them.
Since native Spanish grapes xarel·lo, macabeo, and parellada grow in larger fields, wineries in Spain have more grape supplies to make sparkling wine. And higher supply equals lower pricing.
Prosecco from Italy comes from the glera grape. But instead of bottle fermentation for the base wine, the second fermentation occurs in a large tank prior to bottling.
Essentially, this type of sparkling wine is much less handcrafted than champagne. It also comes with simpler flavours because of the lack of barrel ageing and grape blending.
Check the bubbles
Unless you’re having a bottle delivered through a reliable champagne delivery in Abu Dhabi, make sure you assess the bubble size to determine the wine’s quality.
Look for small, effervescent bubbles that come off as fine, light, and frothy in the mouth. The bubbles should be more Perrier and less club soda.
Anyone offering you “champagne” with bubbles the size of a golf ball probably doesn’t know it’s of low quality (and not actual champagne).
Decode the label
Like most foods and drinks, sparkling wine labels also help you know the most important things about the product you’re buying. In fact, you can figure out the drink’s flavour profile even before taking a sip simply by knowing what the words printed on the label mean.
Unlike other alcoholic drinks, sparkling wine comes with a dosage – the mixture of sugar and wine. Without it, the wine would taste quite bitter and tart.
The following sparkling wine styles offer insight into the sweetness scale of your sparkling wine:
Doux – contains more than 50 grams of added sugar per litre
Demi-Sec – 32 to 50 grams per litre
Dry – 17 to 32 grams per litre
Extra Dry – 12 to 17 grams per litre
Brut – less than 12 grams per litre
Extra Brut – no more than 6 grams
Brut Nature – no more than 3 grams per litre
Store it properly.
What good would buying bottles of sparkling wine from the best alcohol deals be if you can’t enjoy them for longer?
Storage is a crucial aspect of maximising bottles of wine, sparkling or not. For your champagne bottle, make sure you follow these best practices in proper sparkling wine storage:
Follow the correct storage temperature. Most experts recommend anywhere between 50 to 55 degrees Fahrenheit (10 to 12.78 degrees Celsius).
Use a proper stopper. Avoid reusing regular wine stoppers. Instead, buy one with dual-sided wings that seal the liquid more tightly and create more pressure in the bottle.
Don’t store the bottles in the food fridge or freezer. Although the ideal serving temperature should be around 47 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit (8.33 to 10 degrees Celsius), you should never flash-freeze sparkling wine to avoid bursting the bubbles.
Pair it with the right food.
The food you pair with your sparkling wine can also make or break your entire drinking experience. Since these sparkling wines have the perfect balance of bubbles, dryness, and fruitiness, you can match champagne and its less expensive relatives with:
Steak
Fried chicken
Fried potatoes with onions
Caviar
Oysters
Macaroni and cheese
Creamy soup
If you’re going for the bubbly cava, consider more savoury pairings and light meals, such as tapas and sushi. Below are some more excellent cava matches:
Manchego cheese, almonds, and olives
Potato chips
Smoked salmon and fried fish
Serrano or prosciutto ham
Although it has a drier profile, Italy’s prosecco can still come with fruity pear, apple, and apricot notes. As such, this sparkling wine is best served with:
Asparagus
Almonds and antipasto
Sushi and Asian fare
Smoked salmon
Shrimp cocktail
Honey-themed meals
Cook with leftover sparkling wine.
If you cannot finish your bottle of champagne, you can use the leftovers to make cupcakes and other types of food or condiments.
The extra fizzy drink can greatly enhance sauces, dishes, and drinks, such as:
Tomato risotto
Eggs benedict hollandaise sauce
Cured fish (for charcuterie boards)
Beurre blanc (traditional French butter sauce)
Champagne truffles
Roasted chicken
Champagne-soaked berries
Enjoy Bubbly Goodness More
Champagne and other sparkling wines offer elegantly bubbly drinks perfect for any occasion (or no occasion at all).
Use this article to pick the ideal sparkling wine, extend the life of your supplies in storage, and choose the right food to pair (or cook) with it.
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