Champagne and bubbles: why size matters
Three bottles of fizz from Besserat de Bellefon, masters of the small, strong bubble
Karen MacNeil, author of The Wine Bible,estimates that a standard 750ml bottle of champagne contains about 100 million bubbles. And those bubbles are not just for visual or sensory impact; MacNeil says they play an important role in the aromatics of the wine.
“Each bubble contains hundreds of chemical components which can affect taste, aroma and feel,” says MacNeil. “When the bubble bursts on the surface of the wine, tiny droplets of champagne are projected into the air, allowing the drinker to smell the wine more acutely.”
The size of the bubbles matters, too. Try comparing champagne bubbles with those in a soft drink. The latter are larger, more aggressive and dissipate quickly.
“In champagne, bubble size and persistency are signs of quality,” writes MacNeil. “Tiny bubbles, considered the best, are the result of a long ageing on the yeasts and the temperature of the ageing cellar [the cooler the smaller].”
Champagne house Besserat de Bellefon, founded in 1843, is obsessive when it comes to making champagne with fine bubbles. In 1930, Victor Besserat was asked to create a champagne with a creamier texture, which he achieved by making the wine with smaller bubbles.