Fried Chicken & Champagne

Welcome, welcome. I'm John, and today we're diving into the effervescent world of sparkling wine and more specifically champagne. And by the end of our time together, you'll understand the three main methods used to create those magical bubbles in your glass and what makes champagne unique and why it pairs perfectly with a surprising dish, which is the American favorite, fried chicken. So let's start with the simple truth. Not all sparkling wine is champagne, but all champagne is sparkling wine. And so what is it that sets it apart? Well, it comes down to place and a process. There are three main principle methods in order to put bubbles in the wine. And each of these creates a distinctive style with different levels of complexity and with cost. So let's start with the simplest method, direct carbonation. This is literally injecting carbon dioxide in the still wine, just like from a soda fountain. And it creates large bubbles that dissipate quickly, little or no secondary flavor development, and is the least expensive of the sparkling wines. And you're going to find this method is used for budget-friendly options. And honestly, it's best for mixing cocktails rather than drinking straight. So moving up in quality, we have the tank method, which is called Charmant. And this is how most Prosecco is made, along with many other popular sparkling wines are in that $15 to $25 range. And here's how it works. The still base wine undergoes a second fermentation, but instead of individual bottles, it's in a big pressurized tank. And after that fermentation is complete, the wine is filtered under pressure and bottled. And this entire process is just a three to six week process. So this is going to be less expensive and quicker than bottle fermentation. It's going to create a fruitier, fresher style, and there's going to be less yeasty character. And then it's going to produce slightly larger, less persistent bubbles than champagne method wine. And this works particularly well with fruitier grapes like Galera, which is used for Prosecco. And so finally, we have the traditional method that was called the method Champenois, outside of Champagne. And this is the most labor intensive and expensive approach. And so let me walk you through this. So first we start with a base wine, typically high in acidity. In Champagne, this is going to be typically a blend of wines from different vineyards, varieties, and even years to create a specific house style. And this base wine is bottled with a liqueur de tirage, which is a precise measure of yeast and sugar and clarifying agents. And it's perfectly calculated to create the proper pressure in the final wine. So the bottles are sealed with a crown cap like a beer bottle and laid horizontally for a second fermentation. And as that yeast is consuming, the sugar produces alcohol and carbon dioxide. And since it's sealed, the CO2 can't get out, and it begins to dissolve into the wine under pressure. So once that fermentation is complete, and the dead yeast cells are slowly breaking down to release compounds that are like brioche, toast, biscuit flavor. Frankly, it's the same sort of thing that you would see in bread. In Champagne, this is at least 15 months for non-vintage, three years for vintage wine, but some might age for longer. For example, Krug and Bollinger use basically a six to seven year period. But you can have longer than that too. And the longer it stays on the leaves, the more that bready yeasty character will come out. After aging, the bottles undergo riddling, a process of gradually tilting and turning the bottles until the sediment collects in their neck. And traditionally, this was done entirely by hand in A-frame racks. And they had skilled workers who would give a slight turn, increasing that angle daily. A master riddler could do 40,000 bottles a day, and it was basically a six to eight week process. Not a big surprise. Machines have replaced that for the most part. Some premium houses still use traditional hand riddling for their top couvets. And finally, there's disgorgement. This disgorgement is the freeze in the neck of the bottle, which contains all of the sediment from the yeast, and then pop, and out pops that kind of plump. And this method is creating the finest, most kind of persistent version of any sparkling wine that you find in the world. It's then a dosage is put on it, which is a mix of sugar, which we'll talk about in a minute. And then a cork is inserted along with the cage in order to make sure that it is safe, because it is under a lot of pressure. So now this champagne method, which is used not just exclusively in champagne, is the most complex, most expensive method in order to make sparkling wine. But with it comes complexity of character, comes the fruitiness, and comes kind of this distinctive high-end effect. Now, of course, it doesn't only occur in champagne. It occurs in other places, but only the stuff that's made in the champagne region of France is in fact allowed to be called champagne. So let's zoom in on that region for a second. This is a northeastern part of France that is pretty much the most northern place where you can grow grapes in the world. And it's probably a 45-minute ride from Paris, so it's pretty accessible too. And because of this cool climate, there are grapes with very high acidity, which is actually perfect for sparkling wine. Now, the region's soils are also very chalky, and that has this distinctive minerality, and it helps the wine retain the acidity. Now, there are only three different grapes that you can use with champagne. The first is Chardonnay. Now, this is going to bring elegance and finesse and some citrus to it. Pinot Noir, which has some structure, some body, some red fruit character. And Pinot Meunier, which has fruitiness and roundness. Most is a blend of all three, but you can find some with various amounts of only particular grape. Those are all allowed, and there are all sorts of requirements that champagne has. A lot of people ask me, why is it always white if two of the three grapes are red? And the answer is because it's squeezed very, very slowly and delicately, and they don't allow skin contact. So the actual juice itself is always clear inside of a grape. Champagne has a lot of different places, giant houses like Krug and Buclefeu, and then they have various growers too. And what's really important is that champagne is kind of the benchmark for which all other sparkling wines are measured. And it's the same reason why people are willing to pay a premium for it. Let's talk about what happens at that very, very end of the process. So what happens is very important in the finished champagne. So after disgorgement, and then that's when that plug of yeast sediment is removed, the producer adds what's called dosage. This is a mixture of just still wine and sugar, and this is going to determine the ultimate sweetness level within the champagne. Now there's a few purposes. One is obviously to replace the amount of wine that's lost when you pop out the yeast cells, the disgorgement, and it's going to fine-tune the sweetness balance, but it also allows the producer to adjust to the house style. So I'm not going to list the sweetness levels, but it's worth noting that most modern champagne is made in the brute style, and that is with less than 12 grams of sugar per liter. And we're seeing a trend toward even drier styles in many years, and you're even seeing some with zero dosage, and that is champagne with no added sugar. So you're also going to encounter some other characteristics. Non-vintage, which is blended from various years to have a consistency to it. You're going to see vintage from a specific year. Rose, which is blending with red wine or having some skin contact. And then you'll have their prestige cuvées, like the Dom Perignon and Cristal. All right, now it's time for the fun part. The champagne and fried chicken, the greatest food and wine pairing ever created. So this pairing works on multiple levels. The high acidity and bubbles cut through the richness and fat of the fried coating. The yeasty bread-like notes of the champagne complement the breading of the chicken, and the crisp minerality refreshes the palate between bites. This contrast between luxury wine and comfort food creates this beautiful tension. So let's try to taste and see this magic in action. Well, we have made it to the eating and drinking part. You probably have noticed that I changed clothes because it's a different day. I needed to get the good stuff. I needed to get the KFC. So we actually have a bottle of Tatinger. And Tatinger, as it's pronounced in English, is a really good kind of important champagne producer. They have a product called Prelude. And Prelude is at the lower end of their offerings as far as price. And the great thing about this particular champagne is that it gives you all the great stuff that true champagne gets, made in Champagne from Champagne Grapes. It's just a little bit younger grapes, and so it is ready to drink right away. It is not aged quite as long as the regular product. And so this is a fantastic champagne that I love to have kind of around. So we're going to pour our champagne, and we are going to break open the KFC. So what were we talking about before? We were talking about the things that go great with Why? A few things. One is because it is fatty. There's something about fatty foods or greasy foods, of course, which this has olive, that is so perfect with champagne. The other thing is actually breading. Champagne, inside all these bubbles, has actually been in contact with yeast cells. And by being enlis, as they say, it will have a toasty, bready type of finish to it. That is really, really great with breads. And so the KFC breading, it's just perfect. This truly is the absolutely 100% most useful wine to have in your house, because it truly does go with almost everything. It goes with your pizza, it goes with your hamburgers, it goes with your hot dogs. You could have it before the meal, you could have it with dessert. But boy, is it perfect for fried chicken. So pick out your favorite brand, eat it with your box of chicken, eat it with family, eat it at home, and drink some champagne with it, and you will have a great night. So I'm just going to sit here, I'm going for a little bit. Cheers, and thanks for coming by.