Champagne, sparkling wine, sparkling wine, creaming all have a common characteristic: the bubble. Fine, medium, thick, one thing is certain: at the opening of the bottle, those in the room know that it is time to celebrate something. Champagne is the great star of sparkling wines, the best known in the world.

A bubble effect

By Caroline Maurin, spring season 2022

Champagne, sparkling wine, sparkling wine, creaming all have a common characteristic: the bubble. Fine, medium, thick, one thing is certain: at the opening of the bottle, those in the room know that it is time to celebrate something. Champagne is the great star of sparkling wines, the best known in the world. Classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2015, the Champagne appellation defends that only what is produced in Champagne can be called Champagne.

These fine bubbles and freshly worked vines in the north of France, make this name unique to the world. Dom Pérignon learned the treasures of the Cathar country, including the mossing, more precisely at the Abbey of Saint Hilaire (Languedoc) in order to return with a beautiful technique to apply on the chardonnay of Champagne. And what an idea! Probably the most beautiful wine in the history of wines since it is one of the most consumed wines in the world.

The origin of the bubble

But speaking of bubbles, it's not just Champagne that controls it. In France, we have other names that produce sparkling wines: cremants. There are eight appellations of controlled origin: the cremant of Loire, Burgundy, Alsace, Bordeaux, Die, Jura, Savoie and Limoux.

Limoux, where Dom Pérignon had gone for sumptuous discoveries. In this region, the first bubble was born in 1531: the Limoux Blanquette. Very sweet, its production was made under the so-called " ancestral" method. Mauzac, an indigenous grape variety from the region, was harvested very ripe in order to have the maximum sugar for optimal fermentation.

Very light in alcohol – 6% - the wine was filtered by a cloth handle that allowed to remove the maximum yeasts in order to stop the fermentation of the wine, that is l'ancestral in action. The name Blanquette de Limoux has existed since 1938 and was the first known designation of Origin Contrôlée du Languedoc, being also one of the first in France. A bubble to taste as an aperitif or dessert to enjoy all these aromas of apples and green apples typical of Mauzac DNA.

Place at the Bollicina

Speaking of bubbles, let's go now to another sparkling wine very much consumed in France: the Prosecco! Italian origin this sparkling wine was first a quiet white wine, without bubbles from the Prosecco grape variety, like the Municipality of Prosecco in Trieste. This grape variety is also known by other names: Glera in the municipality of Conegliano or Serpino or Serprina.

It was from 1901 and, following the evolution of the method of production of sparkling wines and with the creation of the experimental school of viticulture and oenology in Conegliano, that Prosecco began to be produced with a double fermentation, "Charmat" method, in order to transform the still wine into sparkling wine.

Since then, it has been known by its fresh and of course, sparkling all over the world. It was in 1963 that the region of Conegliano Valdobbiadene was positioned in the world of wine as the reference region for the production of sparkling wines in Italy. A way they found to defend the typicality of local viticulture. So she became the Capital of Prosecco.

Serve fresh, in "pool relax" mode or fun in spritz mode!

What about tonight?

• The Tordera
  Treviso, Italia
• Cuvée Brunei Brut
  (8g sugar/L)
• Convention Agriculture
• Glera, Bianchetta
  and Verdiso
• 2 to 3 years

Perfect on a seafood risotto!

thin bubbles
beautiful foam

sweet and fruity
persistent bubbles

• Limoux
• Cuvée Esprit de Bulles
• Reasoned agriculture
• Mauzac
• 1 to 2 years

Perfect on an apple pie!

thin bubbles
very persistent

• Champagne EPC
  Avize
• White White Brut
• Convention Agriculture
• Chardonnay
• 3 to 5 years