One of the many Wine-Knows' trips to Champagne
Here are 10 facts that the Champagne-lover needs to
keep close at hand for cocktail trivia in the New Year:
1. The classic Champagne coupe glass (rarely used
now) was modeled from a mold that was supposedly made from the breast of Marie
Antoinette.
2. A
regular serving of Champagne produces about 100 million bubbles before it goes
flat.
3. Champagne
was not “discovered” by Dom Perignon…this monk actually tried to remove the
bubbles in a batch of wine that had “gone bad.”
4. The
Champagne region, France’s most northerly wine district, lies at the northern edge
of the world’s grape growing latitude.
5. Only
the following 3 grapes can be used to produce Champagne: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier.
6. Veuve
Clicquot is named after the widow of a winery owner ("veuve" means widow).
7. The
biggest bottle of Champagne is 40 times the normal sized bottle and is called a
Melchizedek. The second largest bottle
is a Nebuchadnessar which is half the size of the Melchizedek.
8. Your
chances of dying from a flying Champagne cork (which can reach a velocity of 40
miles per hour) is greater than the chance of death by the bite of a poisonous
spider.
9. Only
sparkling wines produced in the Champagne region can be called Champagne (one
exception is California’s Korbel which was grandfathered-in).
10. Two English sparkling wines beat out some of
France’s most prestigious Champagnes in a blind tasting in Paris (refer to last
week’s Blog).
Happy New Year!
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