At the end of the year, the subject gains volume: which sparkling wine to choose for the toast or accompany the new meal. Especially for those who are going to invest with discretion in one or two bottles, some tips can be fundamental to dissolve doubts in front of the shelves. Before explaining the different types of sparkling wine in the world, we can explain how, as a rule, they are classified. So no one looks flat when someone asks if you prefer a brut or a demi-sec.
Like all wines, sparkling wines are drinks whose natural sugar from the grapes is transformed into alcohol by the fermentation process. Thus, sparkling wines are classified by the amount of residual sugar. With a presence in more than 80% of the bottles available on the market and the bulk of the commercial palate, the brut type is the most common: it means that it has less than 15 grams of sugar per liter of drink.
Too dry for some palates, extrabrut (or nature) has up to 6 grams. The sec, between 17 and 35 grams; demi-sec, between 33 and 50 grams per liter and doux, above 50 grams per litre. Treated sexistly as feminine, the latter two are often recommended only to accompany desserts. Or for those who really like sugary drinks.
Sparkling wines are classified by the amount of residual sugar. The brut type is the most common. There is also extrabrut (or nature), sec, demi-sec and doux
Yes, if there is still any doubt after so much has been published about it, let's remember that sparkling wine is any and all wine with retained carbon dioxide - hence the foams. And champagne is just the sparkling wine produced in this famous region of France, a place where quality, plus years of fetishism and expensive land justify the high prices of each bottle. In other regions of France, sparkling wines are called rémant or mousseaux.
In Champagne, the classic method of production emerged, also called “champegnoise”: with the carbon dioxide released in the bottle itself, in a second fermentation. In the other method, called charmat, the gas is released in large stainless steel vats called autoclaves.
There is also the so-called Asti method, used for the production of sweet sparkling wines in Italy. It consists of a single fermentation, interrupted when 7% to 10% alcohol is reached, with residual sugars of up to 80 grams per litre. Nothing less than ten times more than a brut sparkling wine.
In the Champagne region emerged the classic method of production, champegnoise. Another method is called charmat. There is also the Asti method, used in Italy
Champagnes are usually made with pinot noir and pinot meunier (red) and chardonnay (white) grapes. Prosecco is produced in the Italian region of Veneto, with the grape that gives the drink its name (although Brazilian producers appropriate the term when vinifying with the same grape). From the Franciacorta region in Lombardy, Italian pumanti also come out, with a complexity comparable to that of champagnes.
In Spain, Cavas are sparkling wines produced using the champenoise method, with native Maccabeo, Parellada and Xarel-lo grapes. In Germany, there are os sekt, some with great acidity and good aroma.
But you don't have to drool over foreign bottles, which are usually more expensive. It is a consensus among international critics that Brazilians are among, year after year, among the four best sparkling wines in the world. They are young, ready-to-drink wines, with freshness and acidity - in addition to the very aromatic, sweet and concentrated muscatels from the São Francisco Valley, where there is also no shortage of bruts with sugar almost reaching the limit of classification due to the high concentration of sucrose with constant sunshine. The high sugar content is also responsible for the strongly fruity character of the wines from the São Francisco Valley.
In general, the best results are found with sparkling wines produced, in the South or Northeast, by Charmat. This is the case, for example, of Chandon, which offers a sparkling wine with great acidity and a lot of creaminess made only by the charmat method. Or the excellent Cave Geisse, perhaps the best Brazilian, with an unusual perlage and creaminess and balance, or the also gaucho Dal Pizzol, correct, refreshing and with slightly toasted notes, indicating slow and careful fermentation.