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Sparkling wine.
Traditional ways of making sparkling wine start with
the grape harvest season. The harvest season always starts
much earlier in the year, compared to the fun task of picking
still wines later. When the sugars are relatively low, it
helps keep the alcohol level lower, and the secondary
fermentation will give it a huge boost later on in the
process. The acids also help to preserve the sparkling
wine for many months over the duration of the different
stages of the sparkling
wines development. When the grapes are pressed, which
is done immediately, crushing equipment is used to avoid both
changes in the color and oxidation of the sparkling
wine.
How the bubbles are
made.
Ever wonder how the bubbles in sparkling
wine are made? The bubbles that are found in
sparkling wine were very well known to vintner's long
time before they could really reliably capture, maintain and
preserve the sparking effect in the wine bottle itself. It
comes from the carbon dioxide that is a natural by-product of
the fermentation process. Carbon dioxide is released into the
wine to produce the "sparkle" in sparking
wine. You can also get the "sparkling" effect by
adding sugar to a tart, acidic wine. The English developed a
liking for the sparkling wine and imported the wine in
casks and bottles. These bottles were much stronger than those
in France, and were not as likely to burst when the pressure
built up.
Fun facts about Sparkling wine:
- Pressure built up in a bottle of sparkling wine
before disgorging is about 105 pounds of pressure per one
square inch! That is an about three times the psi, in an
average size car tire.
- The longest recorded sparkling wine cork flight
went a distance of 177 feet and nine inches. That's amazing!
- The bubbles that are in sparkling wine were
originally considered by early vintners as a defect. But
later enjoyed and became a welcomed effect.
- Ever drop a raisin into a glass of sparkling
wine? It will repeatedly bounce up and down between the
top and bottom of the glass.
- Sparkling wine was first made in England many
years before it was in France.
- The first recorded sparkling wine party was
recorded in 1472
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