As promised in my last post, I said I’d come back and explain some of the terminology I used. So, here I am, explanations in hand.
First, why do I refer to the Cristalino as a sparkling wine and a champagne?
Well, to be honest, Cristalino is NOT a champagne, in Europe, regulations state that a wine made in the Methode Champagne or Methode Champenoise must be grown in the Champagne region of France to be called Champagne. I intermixed the terms because the Cristalino Cava I was talking about was made using the same method as champagne from Champagne, France. And here in the U.S. and in other non-European countries, any wine made in the Methode Champagne, is usually called champagne.
What is Methode Champagne or Methode Champenoise?
Methode champenoise is the secondary, inside-the-bottle fermentation that is used to create Champagne and other high quality sparkling wines. It’s what creates the bubbles in sparkling wines and is an expensive, labor-intensive process. Cheaper bubblies are made by the Charmat process which is a “bulk” process and a cheaper way to create bubbles in a sparkling wine.
What is Cava?
The word Cava is defined as the name of a type of white sparkling wine, produced mainly in the Penedès region in northeastern Spain, 40 km to the south west of Barcelona.
What is brut?
There are three levels of dryness for the sparking wines from the region of Spain where Cava is produced , they are: brut (extra dry), seco (dry) and semiseco (medium). All sparkling wines are defined by a level of dryness, some of the names you will hear are brut which is the dryest (there are drier but you don’t see many, i.e. Extra Brut, Brut Sauvage, Ultra Brut, Brut Integral, Brut Zero). Then there is Extra Dry, Extra Sec, and Seco, this isn’t quite as dry as Brut but is still somewhat dry. Next is Sec and Semiseco, this is starting to get sweet. Then there’s Demi Sec which is probably the sweetest champagne you’ll find. There is one more level called Doux, but it’s so sweet it should be treated as a desert wine.
What is Chambord?
Chambord is a most wonderful black raspberry flavored liqueur. It’s produced in Loire Valley, France and is not inexpensive costing around $30-$35 for a 750ml bottle.
I’ll be talkin’ to ya later!
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