Video Transcript: How to Open Champagne
Written By: Anonymous on Mon, Jan 14th 2008
Brian Freedman: Welcome to the Classic Wines Minutes brought to you by ClassicWines.com; I am your host Brian Freedman, and I am joined today by Charles Curtis, Director of Wine and Spirits Education Moët Hennessy, and by Randy Torban, one of our team members at ClassicWines.com.
Now, a number of you wrote in with that burning issues that you have question, you've been dying to have answers about champagne. Randy is going to be posing them to Charles and I, but before we come to the pressure of answering these, I think Charles we need to open up a bottle of champagne, show our viewers how you actually open a bottle, how you pour a glass, and maybe that will help us with those questions a little bit.
Charles Curtis: Great, a little champagne will always help.
Brian Freedman: Alright. So, what do we have here?
Charles Curtis: This is the Veuve Clicquot 1988 Rare Vintage. Now, almost all champagne have a pull tab near the top of them. So, 01:20 grab the pull tab, remove the foil. Once the foil is off keep you finger over the top of the cage, six-and-a-half turns.
Brian Freedman: Now, while he is on turning, it's very important to keep your finger on top of the cage because there's as much pressure as there is in a car tire, I believe.
Charles Curtis: There is. There is six atmospheres of pressure. Hold the cage and the core together, turn with the other hand here slightly, press against the core so it doesn't slip out too quickly, and it should make a 01:50 just like that.
Brian Freedman: This is a pro. He was aiming that right at me.
Charles Curtis: When you're pouring remember it's not a glass of beer. You should pour gently and slowly into the middle of the glass.
Brian Freedman: Okay. You're really changing a lot of what most people tend to think about champagne. I mean usually we're accustomed to the big pop when you pull out the core, foaming the glass over it. So, it really is a much more gentle 02:15 process.
Charles Curtis: You want to preserve the freshness of the champagne and the vivacity of the bubbles at any cost, and so you're very gentle with the champagne.
Brian Freedman: Okay. Well, this is definitely a great way to start. I think now we're ready for Randy to begin the champagning quizition.
Randy Torban: The first question is from Mike L from Atlanta, Georgia. Mike asks, "Why is it so important to 02:41 champagne?"
Charles Curtis: The truth is that champagne, properly, comes only from the champagne region of France. So, delimited area, containing 323 villages, about 80 kilometers east to Paris. It's made from outside that region, it's sparkling wine, and it's not champagne at all.
Randy Torban: Okay. Well, thank you for that answer. The second question is from Zack M from Philadelphia. Zack asks, "Are there any foods that are just completely wrong to go with champagne?"
Charles Curtis: 03:08 I haven't had them. Champagne is one of the most versatile wines out there. You can have it easily with your appetizers, with your main course such as lamb or fish, you can have it with the cheese course, or even with dessert. It's wonderfully versatile, one of the most gastronomic wines on the planet.
Randy Torban: Excellent. Well, Heather S from San Diego, California asks, "Is it really true that you can stop the bubbles from champagne coming out of the bottle by place a teaspoon on top of it?"
Charles Curtis: Well, the truth is the best solution to a bottle half full of champagne is to drink more. However, if you really can't finish it and you put up spoon in the middle or over night of the neck of the bottle, it will in fact retain some of the freshness from the day before. Although, the best advice I have to offer is to drink up.
Randy Torban: I agree. Okay, well the next question is from Aaron C from Morristown, New Jersey and he wants to know, "Why does it bubble?"
Brian Freedman: It's a great question. No, it's not some pour in term with the straw standing over the tanks out there in France. Basically, what happens is when you make wine, the yeast metabolizes the sugar and it produces alcohol as well as carbon dioxide. If you would actually stand over a fermentation tank, you would see it sort of gurgling away and you would actually -- the carbon dioxide is wafting off the top into the air. Champagne is put through a secondary fermentation in the bottle. Bottle is sealed. Carbon dioxide has nowhere else to go. It gets driven back into the wine 04:36 champagne.
Randy Torban: Excellent. Kady H from Tennessee wants to know, "What grapes are champagne made off of?"
Brian Freedman: Judging by this Rare Vintage 88, delicious ones. The real answer is very simples, it's Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, and Chardonnay, or some combination of one or all three of those.
Randy Torban: Very good. And the last question comes from Laurey S from Miami, Florida who wants to know, "Can you really saber a bottle to open it?"
Charles Curtis: Only if you're very careful. The best way to saber a bottle is to remove the foil and the cage. This bottle has had everything removed. There is this seam on the bottle, you place your thumb on the seam, the saber or an ordinary kitchen knife along the seam and you run it very gently up to the seam.
Brian Freedman: I was going to say, sometimes you need to give it a little TLC. Clearly you know what you're doing Charles. That's a great way to start off the party and notice also that because the champagnes was cold enough, all of the wine didn't go flying out of the bottle and that's the trice you were saying that it has to be really, really chilled.
Charles Curtis: Exactly. Keep it in the ice until right before you're ready to do your party trick and you won't have any difficulty.
Brian Freedman: Just make sure no one is standing in the way of the cork. Well, now we have two bottle of champagne open. I think it's time that we get to work on these. Charles, thanks so much for joining us.
Charles Curtis: You're welcome. Thanks for having me. Cheers.
Brian Freedman: And Randy, great to have you aboard as well today.
Randy Torban: Thank you.
Brian Freedman: I am Brian Freedman, and remember you can find all of these wines on ClassicWines.com. Keep your mind open for champagne, great with food, great for parties, wonderful at any time of the day, morning or night. From all of us here at Classic Wines, cheers.
