Know Your Sparkling Wines

Hi, I'm Jordan Salcito, you're watching eHow.com. Today, we're talking about champagnes and sparkling wines in general. If you want to spend a bundle, you can, champagne is delicious, but you don't have to. The thing that all sparkling wines have in common, they all have bubbles caused by carbon dioxide. Sometimes that happens naturally, in case with champagne. Sometimes it's added, in the case with Andre and the stuff that you can buy at the drug store. The goal of champagne and sparkling wines, is to capture that carbon dioxide. There are more expensive ways in doing that, and less expensive ways of doing that. Prosecco, example one, is a delicious sparkling wine, that is such a great value from Italy, from northeastern Italy. Crisp region, it's from the Prosecco grape, also known as Glera. And what they do, instead of going through this long process of champagne. They decide to do the second, they have a still wine, they put it all in a tank with some more sugar, some more yeast. And then, they keep the tank pressurized, they create the second fermentation in tank. They keep it pressurized, so that all that CO2 gets captured, and then they bottle it directly from that pressurized tank. So, Prosecco is crisp, it's fresh, its delicious. A second type of sparkling wine, is Cava. Cava is made in the exact same way that champagne is made. It's made from different grapes, it comes from the Penedes region in Spain. Which is on the eastern side, right on the coast. The three main grapes here are, Macabeo, Parellada and Xarel-lo. This is one of my favorite producers, because this house is actually been making Cava, since before Cava was even a region. The major difference between this and champagne, is that this spends less time aging on the lees than champagne does. And also it's made from different grapes. Third example of an alternative champagne, is Cremant. Cremant is a sparkling wine made in France from any region other than champagne, that is made in the exact same way that champagne is made. It can be made from a range of grapes. This is a Cremant de Bourgogne, so this is made from Chardonnay and Aligote. But it's made in exactly the same process that champagne is. Cremant is made in Bordeaux, it's made in De Loire, it's made in De Jura, it's made in many regions in France. And it's really one of the great value wines. So, here I have three different types of champagne, there are many types of champagne, but these are three good examples. Here we have Dom Perignon, probably most you have seen this bottle somewhere. It's one of the great champagne houses, it's enormous. They do a large amount of production, but they're really all about quality. Also, they use the three major types of champagne grapes, it's Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and a grape called Pinot Meunier.Which means Miller's Pinot, because it looks like it has dusted in flour. This is a blend of all three grapes, from one of the major famous champagne houses. This is a champagne made by a small grower-producer. So, whereas Dom Perignon sources it's grapes from lots of places. This producer is a great example of a small, little champagne house that manages it's own grapes, it's own wines. Also, it's grown in a sub region of Champagne called the Cote Des Blancs, means the white slope. Because the slope is actually white from all this chalky soil. Chardonnay, the grape Chardonnay loves chalk, it's like peas and carrots. Chardonnay and chalk, they just go great together. So, this is a 100 percent Chardonnay grape. Whenever you see Blanc De Blanc on the label, that means a white wine from white grapes. So, 100 percent Chardonnay, from the Cote des Blancs, small grower-producer, really crisp, really, really refreshing and very, very mineral driven. The third type that we're going to talk about, is a Rozay champagne. So, in France, France has lots of laws. France has a law that you cannot make Rose by blending red wine and white wine, except in champagne. Champagne is the only exception. So, this is a champagne made from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. And it is a blend of white wine with a little bit of red wine added. It is rare, it is rarer to see Rose wines from champagne. But they're great because they have a little bit of extra fruit, a little bit of extra richness and body. And they make excellent pairing wines for courses like a roast chicken. People don't really think of using champagne for food pairings. They give it as more of a special occasion drink, and it doesn't have to be. Champagne is a great wine that goes with so many types of food. Alright, so let's open one of these. When you're opening a champagne bottle, be careful, there is a lot of pressure in each bottle. This is the wire cage, and every wire cage has about five and a half turns. You always want to keep your hand on the cork at all times. Keep your hand covering the cork, because if this pops out, you do not want it to shoot in anyone's, at anyone. And then, you just very gently twist the bottle and leave your hand still till the cork comes off. Ideally, in a restaurant, you don't want it to make a popping sound. Unless it is a celebration, then you want the drama. Also, another way, we're not going to demonstrate here, my favorite way to open a bottle of champagne, is with a sword or a saber. You take it and you literally run the knife up, there's a little rim, where the two halves of the bottle fuse together. You take a knife and you run it up the side, and the cork pops off and it sprays champagne everywhere, it's fantastic. So, let's try some of this, this is my favorite Cremant from Burgundy. Alsace also makes amazing Cremants. Check out the Alsacation ones, because they put things like Pinot Blanc and Riesling in them. So, this is one of my absolute favorite champagne substitutions. It's made the same way as champagne, from very similar grapes. Mostly Chardonnay, a little bit of Aligote, which tastes very similar to Chardonnay. And it's just lovely and elegant, it's refreshing, it's crisp, it's very bright, it's great aperitif. It tastes like toasted wheat and fresh lemon, a little bit of minerals, wet stone, also some golden apples, some red apples. And it's just a fantastic, versatile wine that, that I recommend as a champagne alternative. I'm Jordan Salcito, thanks for watching. Please come join me for a glass of sparkling wine at Lotus of Siam in New York, or on eHow.com.