The Science Behind Champagne (Explained With An Experiment)

Hey everyone, I'm Johnny from Wine Night In and today we're going to be talking about this Little Beauty Champagne. Specifically, I'm going to be answering the question that I get on almost every single tasting that we do, which is how is it made, how do they get the bubbles in it and what makes it different to other steel wine. We're going to be going through that and I'm going to be doing a science experiment, proper Blue Peter style. What can go wrong, eh? Right, okay, let's get going. Okay, so if you're new to Wine Night In, hit like and subscribe and all that kind of stuff. Check us out on Instagram and go to winenightin.co.uk and you will see that we do wine tastings in your home. We bring the vineyard tour wine tasting experience to your kitchen and living room and it's an amazing event. So anyway, let's crack on. So, Champagne, Cremon, Carver, English sparkling wine, Cate de Classique, all of these use the Champagne method or the classic method, which involves a second fermentation and I'm going to be doing a proper Blue Peter style experiment in a second. But first, in order to make this, we first have to make an ordinary bottle of wine. And in this case for Champagne, that consists of blending three grape varieties, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. You make your steel wine from that. Beautiful. You've got that wine. And now here comes the second fermentation process and here comes the science experiment. We've got, we have got our bottle of wine. Okay. Our bottle of wine and our wine, which in this case is lukewarm water. So our wine goes into our wine bottle and then to create the secondary fermentation process, winemakers take sugar and I'm sure they don't spill it all over their counter, but you never know. They take sugar and they take yeast and they put it into the bottle of wine. Okay. Like so. Again, I'm sure they make less of a mess, but maybe not. After the shake. So what happens from here? The yeast starts to eat the sugar. Yum, yum, yum. And that is the secondary fermentation process. Now a byproduct of that fermentation process is the creation of carbon dioxide, which builds up in the bottle and eventually sort of absorbs into the wine and creates those beautiful, lovely bubbles that we love in this little burger. So to show this and represent the creation of the carbon dioxide, I have a balloon. Okay. So we're going to put a balloon over the top and what we're going to do is we're going to leave that for about 10 minutes and we're going to see what happens and we're going to talk about it. Bing! And as if by magic, look at what we have got. Proper Blue Peter style. You're welcome BBC. Right. I've always wanted to say, and here's one I've made earlier. So here is one that we made earlier together. And what we can see is that through the last sort of 10-15 minutes, the fermentation process has happened. The yeast has eaten the sugar and has given off carbon dioxide, which has created a pressure in our bottle and ultimately has filled our balloon with gas, which is awesome, right? It's worked and I can't believe it. That has actually worked. I've done a thing. So if we bring this back to here, our bottle of wine has been capped and had that secondary fermentation process and has been sat like that for a period of a few months for that to happen. Okay. Now I don't know about you, but my champagne isn't cloudy and doesn't have dead yeast all in it. So there's a very clever way that those rascals over in France get rid of the dead yeast because once they've eaten all the sugar, the yeast dies and it starts to collect and then lays on the bottom of the bottle. All right. Now we've got to get that out, that dead yeast. We now call that dead yeast lees. So we've got to get that lees out of the bottle. You will have seen, hopefully, maybe if you haven't, Google it, videos of riddlers, guys that are riddling, they're turning the bottle over a period of time, over months and months with the goal of not shaking it up so that the lees then goes into the bottle, but just very slightly tilting the bottle with the ultimate goal of getting the bottle this way up so that all of the dead yeast, the lees, is in the neck of the bottle. At the end of the process, what they do, they stick that neck of the bottle in a solution that freezes the neck, which means then that forms a plug. They can take the plug out and then they can put a new cap on top of the wine bottle, which then means we're left with this lovely bottle of champagne. Now, because of that pressure, they have to put a big old cork in it and then, of course, the cage, because there is, as we can see here, multiple bars of pressure, which is why we get that beautifully satisfying when we open the bottle and that's why they put the cage. So that is how it's made, that is the secondary fermentation process and what a thing of beauty it creates. Now, because of the yeast, the dead lees and that being sat in the wine over a period of months or years, that's what gives champagne that sort of bready croissant note, that bakery smell. Next time you open a bottle, give it a smell and think croissants and it's all because of the yeast that was in the wine in that secondary fermentation process. Now, this is very different to the way that Prosecco is made. Prosecco is made with a secondary fermentation process, but in a big giant steel vat, so not individually in these bottles, which is why Prosecco is cheaper because it's made on a bigger scale and why sparkling wine, champagnes and cremons can be more expensive. We've done it, I'm well happy with that. I'll say again, like and subscribe, go to winelighting.co.uk and check us out. We do this as an activity. We've got a really great selection of six sparkling wines and we do this as an activity. It's loads of fun. Check us out. Thank you very much for watching. I hope this has been fun. I've really enjoyed making it and I'm going to clear up before my wife and family get home. Thank you very much. See you on the next one. Cheers.