VINIDA - Champagne and other Méthode Champenoise* sparkling wines
While Champagne is very much the gold standard, many places around the world produce excellent sparkling wines using the same approach. But is Champagne, sparkling wine made in the Champagne region of France, really inherently superior?
In the run-up to New Years’ Champagne alternative serious bubbles are very much a timely topic. While Champagne is very much the gold standard, many places around the world produce excellent sparkling wines using the same approach. But is Champagne, sparkling wine made in the Champagne region of France, really inherently superior?
It's a difficult question, not least because there is a wide range of styles of Champagne. Despite it all sharing the fundamental method of production there remain many knobs and levers a winemaker can pull to affect a wine’s style. Some are sweeter, others drier. Some lean and piercing, others rich and powerful. Some serve better as a vivacious summery apéritif, others more serious and gastronomic. Then we have different grape varieties used in different proportions, cooler and warmer vineyard sites, rosé Champagne etc.
Then there is the other side of the equation - alternatives to Champagne. There are many wine regions all over the world producing high quality bubbles in the same way: Spain (Cava and Corpinnat), Italy (Franciacorta and Alta Langa), England (producing many wines considered indistinguishable from Champagne, sharing many aspects of its terroir), other regions of France (many Crémants), and dozens of others.
The plan for this tasting is fairly simple: you will get sparkling wines served in pairs with one of each pair being a Champagne. The bubbles will be paired up on the basis of style, they will be intentionally matched so they’re roughly similar or at least serving the same gastronomic role. That, as well as similar price-points, will make the comparison somewhat fair. It’s meant to allow you to figure out which you prefer and why, which you think are better value than others. We will also cover key aspects of winemaking theory behind sparkling wine that will better equip you to choose from a selection in a wine store.
This tasting will be presented in English by Domen Prešern DipWSET of Roots Vin (domen@rootsvin.dk).
This tasting is open for everyone, but as we sometimes will be very detailed, it does give a better experience, if you have some basic knowledge of wines. A good help is to study this “cheat-sheet” kortlink.dk/2pdep and kortlink.dk/2pdfs, to get a basic understanding of wines, their appearance, aromas, flavours and structure.
It is possible to order a quick snack meal served at 18:10. Options will be sent.
The presentation will be in English
This event is organised by Poul Tang poul.tang@m.ida.dk – 51 71 52 40.
*Méthode Champenoise a.k.a. Traditional Method is one of the several ways of producing sparkling wine. It is universally considered as the best method, producing the higher quality wines.
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