Metodo Classico
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Vini & liQuORi WINE COLUMN secondary fermentation. The secondary Behind the BuBBles fermentation causes carbonation, and winemakers in Champagne went to great by Anthony GiGlio lengths to avoid this until someone realized the effervescence was enjoyable and worth “Champagne?” When you’re asked this at parties, there’s a good harnessing. Yet it wasn’t until the beginning chance that what’s being passed around in the flutes is something of the 19th century, in the estate of cheap that’s not only not Champagne, it’s probably not even made like Madame Veuve Clicquot, that the process Champagne. The word Champagne has become a common misnomer was streamlined. for any wine that sparkles, even the cheapest bottles, despite the fact To make Champagne, the winemaker that true Champagne is made in a costly and time-intensive process starts with conventional still wine, usually called méthode traditionnelle, and only wines made in this method in a combination of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. The still wine is then bottled with France’s Champagne region can legally bear the name. the addition of a small amount of sugar The Champagne that we know and love evolved over the centuries and yeast, which kickstarts the secondary in winemakers’ cellars, where, as temperatures fluctuated between fermentation and subsequent carbonation. winter and spring, wine would occassionally undergo an accidental The wine is then aged in the bottle, which 22 • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012 ILLUSTRATION BY TERRY ALLEN LC0212_Wine_r1.indd 22 01/12/2011 12:09 PM Vini & liQuORi WINE COLUMN is the most important aspect of the in aroma, flavor and overall texture. Many suggested bottles Champagne method (in Champagne, the of the metodo classico wines made there are Champagne might be the household wine must spend no less than 18 months aged more than two years in the bottle, name for sparkling wine, but Italy’s aging in the bottle), because the longer the rare even for Champagne, which gives them metodo classico wines make an outstanding and affordable alternative wine stays in contact with the spent yeast a lively mousse (the French term for the for occasions calling for bubbly. and sugar, called lees, the more the wine frothiness of the wine when it is poured into takes on the method’s characteristic aroma the glass), with fine perlage, or bubbles. of brioche and rich flavor of pear and While Virgil and Pliny the Elder noted herbs. While they age, the bottles are kept the region’s still wines as far back as on special racks where they are incrementally the 13th Century, they weren’t known as aldo raInoldI BruT rosé, tilted until they are vertical and neck-down, Franciacorta until 1957, when Guido valTellIna, 2007 This nebbiolo-based wine is a pale pink thanks to cold, at which point the necks of the bottles Berlucchi released a Pinot Grigio that short maceration. It then ages on the lees are frozen and the lees removed, called he called Pinot di Franciacorta. Franco for three years before disgorgement. This is a lively, delightfully aromatic brut that makes disgorgement. A small amount of sugar, Ziliani, a winemaker working for Berlucchi, a delicious companion to seafood. $35. or dosage, is added and the bottle recorked pursuaded Berlucchi to let him make with the signature wire cage to keep a metodo classico wine, which debuted in the cork secured against the pressure of 1961. Its popularity was instantaneous. the carbonation. When Franciacorta was granted DOC Winemakers outside of Champagne have status in 1967 it became the first DOC to had great success with méthode traditionnelle. specify that its sparkling wines must BellavIsTa, gran Cuvée BruT, In Italy, it’s called metodo classico and shines be metodo classico. With its elevation to FranCIaCorTa doCg, 2005 Made from 72% Chardonnay and 28% at the hands of skilled winemakers, particularly DOCG status in 1995, regulations Pinot nero, this elegant Franciacorta in Franciacorta and Trentino. required that the wine be made of 85 is matured for 7 months in small oak barrels and is cellared for up to 72 For Italy, the sparkling revolution started percent Chardonnay, 10 percent Pinot months in bottle. $69. in the late 1840s when Carlo Gancia, Nero and five percent Pinot Bianco. If a winemaker from Piedmont, ventured across the wine is rosato, it must contain at least the Alps from Torino to Reims, the capital 15 percent Pinot Nero. Most importantly, of France’s Champagne region, in search of though, the regulations require no less the secret behind the preferred wine of The than 18 months of bottle fermentation (the BerluCChI, guIdo BerluCChI Savoy Court, the Piedmont aristocracy and same as Champagne). Cuvée sTorICa, FranCIaCorTa doCg, nv a small percentage of the the ever-thirsty Parisian bourgeois class. He Now, I’m sure you’re asking: What about all wine that goes into this sparkler is first returned in 1850 with the idea of making the those other amazing Italian sparkling wines aged in oak barrels. This wine is a great value and can serve as a light, fresh, citrusy first Italian “Champagne” and founded such as Prosecco, Moscato d’Asti, Lambrusco aperitivo with hints of tropical fruit. $20. Gancia winery. In 1865 he released his first or Brachetto d’Aqui? While those wines, successful bottling. named after the places from which they hail, secondary fermentation. The secondary The word spread to Trentino, where are absolutely worthy of distinction and hold Behind the BuBBles fermentation causes carbonation, and Giulio Ferrari brought the region’s first their own vaunted place in the pantheon of winemakers in Champagne went to great Chardonnay grapes back from Champagne Italian sparkling wine, they are not metodo by Anthony GiGlio FerrarI, Perlé rosé, TrenTIno-alTo lengths to avoid this until someone realized around 1900, when Trentino was still part of classico wines. They are made using the adIge, 2004 the effervescence was enjoyable and worth the Habsburg Empire. He championed the Charmat process, and undergo the secondary Made from estate fruit, this Pinot nero “Champagne?” When you’re asked this at parties, there’s a good and Chardonnay blend is matured for five harnessing. Yet it wasn’t until the beginning production of metodo classico wine, which is fermentation in bulk tanks rather than in years, and has intense, concentrated notes chance that what’s being passed around in the flutes is something of the 19th century, in the estate of now regulated by Trentino DOC laws that individual bottles. Don’t get me wrong, I love of rose with delightful raspberry, red currant and rose petal aromas. $75. cheap that’s not only not Champagne, it’s probably not even made like Madame Veuve Clicquot, that the process require the grape varieties must be limited to these wines, too, but that’s another story. Champagne. The word Champagne has become a common misnomer was streamlined. Chardonnay, Pinot Nero, the Italian name Today the U.S., according to the San for any wine that sparkles, even the cheapest bottles, despite the fact To make Champagne, the winemaker for Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier—the Francisco-based Wine Institute, is the that true Champagne is made in a costly and time-intensive process starts with conventional still wine, usually same grapes used in Champagne—as well world’s top yearly consumer of wine, and called méthode traditionnelle, and only wines made in this method in a combination of Chardonnay and Pinot as the local Pinot Bianco. 20.5 million gallons of that are the Noir. The still wine is then bottled with Lombardy’s Franciacorta, however, holds sparkling variety. I consider that something ronCo CalIno, BruT rosé France’s Champagne region can legally bear the name. ‘radIjan,’ FranCIaCorTa doCg, nv the addition of a small amount of sugar a special place among wine geeks like to cheer. But the next time you toast with This sparkler is matured on the lees for The Champagne that we know and love evolved over the centuries and yeast, which kickstarts the secondary me because the wines made there on the hills bubbly, raise a glass of metodo classico. at least two years, and it picks up aromas of ripe raspberry and blackberry, and a in winemakers’ cellars, where, as temperatures fluctuated between fermentation and subsequent carbonation. south of Lake Iseo, in the Province of These sparkling wines are certainly a cut palate that introduces pleasant minerality winter and spring, wine would occassionally undergo an accidental The wine is then aged in the bottle, which ANNE WARD SARAH BOTTLES: Brescia, are comparable to great Champagne above most but won’t break the bank. and bright acidity. $35. 22 • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012 ILLUSTRATION BY TERRY ALLEN LACUCINAITALIANAMAG.COM • 23 LC0212_Wine_r1.indd 22 01/12/2011 12:09 PM LC0212_Wine_r2.indd 23 02/12/2011 1:33 PM.