DIY Network

Bubbly Basics Karen Bussen shares tips for buying the right sparkling wine. From "Home Made Easy" episode DHME-110

Guest Karen Bussen joins host Stephanie Lydecker and shares tips on buying the right sparkling wine and the proper way to serve it.

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	Karen shares tips on sparkling wine.
	Figure A
	Figure B

Bubbly Basics

• What to Look for When Buying Sparkling Wine--The first important thing to know is that not all sparking wine is champagne. Only sparkling wines that are produced in the champagne region of France are allowed to carry the name. The heart of the champagne regions lies 90 miles northeast of Paris near the Belgian border. Champagne is great, branching out and trying other sparkling wines is a lot of fun.

• Italy makes prosecco, Spain makes cava and even the U.S. makes some wonderful sparkling wines.

• Champagne is produced in a unique manner, using only three different types of grapes--Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The lack of color in champagne is a result of the gently pressing method used, that extracts the juice from the grapes, but not the color of the grape skins. The chief difference between the various brands is in the making of the cuvee, or blend of these three grapes.

• Beyond the blend, champagnes are also characterized by their sugar content, giving them the classifications that you will probably recognize--Brut, Extra Dry, Sec, Demi-Sec and Doux. Brut is the most popular style of champagne and is the mainstay of the business. They are typically very dry. Extra Dry champagnes are a little less dry and go well with desserts and wedding cakes. Sec champagnes are slightly sweet and Demi-Sec is distinctively sweeter. Doux is the sweetest of all champagnes.

• Champagne can vary in price--from a really nice high end bottle that costs $150, to the medium priced bottle of Veuve that costs approximately $35-40, down to bottles that run in the $15-20 range.

• Prosecco (figure A) is a wonderful alternative. It is Italy's answer champagne. It is a refreshing, well-made sparkling wine that is also reasonably prices. Prosecco is the name of the grape that is used to make the wine and many of the best examples are 100-percent prosecco. It has a lighter brighter flavor in general and larger bubbles. Because of the method used to make the wine, it is not intended to age. To truly enjoy the freshness and crispness of prosecco, you should drink it within a year or two of bottling.

• Cava (figure B) (from Spain) is also a great alternative. One of the most famous brands is very inexpensive--only $8-10 a bottle.

• Rose--sparkling wine from the U.S. It is festive, light and a little more fruity.

Figure C

• How to Open a Sparkling Wine Bottle--First things first, sparkling wine should be served chilled. No one like a warm glass of bubbly. Removing the cork is really quite easy. First, remove the foil cap and wire cage from the bottle. Slowly rotate the bottle as you remove the wire cage. Once the wire cage is removed, place a towel on the cork. Press down on the cork (figure C) and turn the bottle. Keep the bottle turned away from you and other people--giving someone a black eye usually puts a damper on the party!

• When you open the bottle, you really want to open it slowly--you should hear a "whisper" instead of the "pop" that most people associate with champagne. This is because you want to preserve as much of the carbonation as possible. Have a glass nearby in case the sparkling wine flows out of the bottle.

GUESTS :

Karen Bussen
Author, Simple Stunning Weddings
E-mail: Karen@karenbussen.com
Website: www.karenbussen.com