Fridge full of chosen sparkling wines lacks the correct service. Not to impose rules, but to preserve the potential of this style of wine.
Think that in order to have a sparkling-style wine on hand, it often takes 12 months or more of maturation and yeast work, so if a few small details are not followed in a single touch, we will finish the work of many months.
That said, sparkling wine/champagne is a second fermentation of the wine in the bottle or in stainless steel tanks. We also saw that the noble job of yeasts is to transform sugars into alcohol, C02 and aromas.
And toast us with the perlage, the polka dot necklace, perfectly integrated into the sparkling wine. Let's face it, the great charm of this style of wine. It happens that the wrong temperature, wrong glasses and wrong behavior make us lose more than 50% of the quality of the sparkling wine. There is no point in spending, in some cases, a hundred reais, to lose everything in a few seconds.
HOW TO FREEZE SPARKLING
The day before you open the sparkling wine, place it in the fridge. Anywhere. What takes time to freeze the drink is the cooling of the glass of the bottle, which is much thicker than normal due to the pressure exerted.
CAUTION: Do not leave for too many days in the refrigerator, unless it is exclusive. Corks are porous and permeate the odors of a refrigerator.
Then, hours before serving, place them in a container that can be a champagne bottle or even a bucket with ice and water. Soon they will be on point. If you are going to use the freezer to freeze them, one more detail.
CAUTION : Unless you want to remove, in some cases, the stoppers with forceps, avoid freezers, as they freeze the stoppers causing them to lose their elasticity. Then they harden and soon we see the bizarre scene of bottles on people's legs almost giving up on taking them out. In these cases, I recommend a steel wool sponge to help.
TEMPERATURE
It is known that a sparkling wine should be served chilled, something around 04 to 08 degrees. The lightest and most refreshing ones are colder, the more complex (with more tannins) are hotter. Icy tannins bitter.
REMINDER : By visualizing the color of the sparkling wine, most of the time you have its style, without having to drink. The more transparent and “white” they are, the lighter and refreshing they will be. The more rosy they are in the red, the more complex they are due to the tannin load. Thus, hotter should be served.
HOW TO REMOVE THE ROLL
First, be very careful. Pressure of 19 pounds sometimes makes sparkling wines a weapon. Remove the capsule, release the cage and carefully, always with the help of a cloth or napkin, remove the cork. Minimum possible movement, minimum possible popping noise.
REMINDER: The popping noise, the foam coming out and the shaking are signs that the C02 formed by the yeasts in one or two years is being lost in seconds, sparkling wine shocks no one deserves it.
When serving, have previously chilled glasses or put just a little of the sparkling wine in each glass and then complete the glasses. The temperature difference will cause foaming, a sign of C02 loss and sparkling wine quality.
In order to have a perlage like this, in addition to a quality sparkling wine, here are the tips.
THE BOWLS
Please prefer transparent ones, whether plastic, glass or crystal. Colorful and ornate glasses hinder the visualization of the perlage (a necklace of polka dots looking like pearls) that good sparkling wines make and the observation of the color of the sparkling wine.
CUP STYLE
Preferably the flute style, as in the photo above, long and thin, they retain the perlage better and make it come off slowly. If placed in white wine glasses, the perlage is lost and aromas are gained.
CAUTION: Regardless of the style of the cups, a unique care. Detergents are deadly enemies of marbles. Therefore, before serving the sparkling wine, wash the glasses only with hot water, otherwise, you will put away the work of a year of care.
REMINDER: Finally, no wine can withstand discord and disaffection. Wine is joy and sharing.