What’s with the bubbles appeal?

Melvyn Minnaar

Whether you like it or not, you love champagne. It’s the one consumable that has skilfully extended its pleasure appeal to the realms of uncompromising charm and seduction - for which many are prepared to pay ridiculous prices.

Whether this is sensual (taste, sight and, as some claim, the ‘silent sound’ of those escaping bubbles) or psychological (‘aspirational’, as market fundies call it - ‘conspicuous consumption ... driven by city bonus culture’ is how the magazine Drinks International recently put it), champagne is, for practical and all those other purposes, the ultimate wine.

Paying outrageous amounts of money for a bottle of a grande cuvée is part of that construct. Such is the appeal that South African Airways is running a most witty advertisement for its new African route to Libreville: ‘Gabon consumes the most champagne per capita of any country in the world’. (Wonder what they serve to those ultra-discerning travellers?)

Champagne, of course, is champagne, and belongs to the French, who invented what a sneering Aussie winemaker once said was ‘a brilliant way of turning under-ripe grapes into an ultimate desirable product ’.

And even if they are trying everything possible to increase production (upping the official allowable yield to a substantial 15.5 ton/ha recently), there will only be a limited amount of state-of-the-art fizzy wine from Champagne for a greedy high-luxury market to slurp up. Only 1 250 ha of potential terroir remains unplanted to vines, and the AOC authorities estimate that, at most, the region could produce 420 million bottles by 2011.

After champagne there are the other bubblies. In the logarithm of desire, these decrease, from champagne grande cuvées, at the top, down through crafty, and sometimes astoundingly delicious, bottle-fermented versions in a number of other regions outside Champagne, to the simple bubblies churned out cheaply at cooperatives in all and every place that treats wine in the charmant process or with simple carbonation.

At the top end is the limited-edition versions, made from delicately sourced (single-vineyard) and nurtured base wines (sometimes in extraordinary multiple and complicated blends) (and in Champagne made only from chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier) and, kept for extended periods on fermentation lees, and released in the most glamorous of (bling) packaging.

At the bottom end is the uncomplicated wines (made from whatever wine grapes are available), in which the bubbles give a lift to the simplest of life’s little joys, no more; no less. In-between sparkling wine-making is a free-for-all, with various degrees of success and sensual or cerebral charm.

Some countries have taken up the challenge of champagne most seriously. The most well-established is, of course, the cava tradition of Spain, where companies like Freixenet and Codorníu (founded by José Raventos, who brought the method champenois technique to Spain  in the mind-19th century) turn out thousands of bottles for the appreciative locals. Unique in character, these bubblies flaunt their indigenous heritage in zinging grape varietals like Xarel-lo, parellada and macabeo.

In New World winelands like California, South Africa and Australia, local winemakers, inspired by the tricky business of real champagne-style sparkling wine, have taken their cue directly from the French. Cap Classique - the self-proclaimed official, slightly-pretentious classification for proper Cape versions - will, at its best (and there are outstanding local versions), mirror Champagne and yield poetic local expression.

For many lovers of the real thing - and this does not necessarily include those attracted to the bling, regardless of price - the key is exactly that fabulous fusion and artistry.

It is in this vein that a small producer in England is getting more and more attention - to the amused surprise of many.

Nyetimber Vineyard in West Chiltington, Sussex, is increasingly in the spotlight for producing sparkling wine that is serious about what it expresses. In every way inspired by Champagne, with which it shares latitude, chalky soils, grape varieties, yeasts, detailed viticultural and vinicultural methodology (but certainly not the high yields!), the Nyetimber wines are appealing for being unusual and individual, yet classic: true Sussex wine, in a sense.

Just a day after bringing in the 2007 harvest from the 14 ha (some 90 more have been planted), recently-appointed Canadian husband and wife winemaking team, Cherie Spriggs and Brad Greatrix, share their enthusiasm, creative vision and a preview taste of a yet-to-be-released blanc de blanc 2001. All sense references are to Champagne, yet the wine seems to speak more for the gentle, green English environment.

It’s love at first sight. (Did I mention it will sell at about 30 pounds sterling?)

Melvin Minnaar is the news editor of Grape, SA’s Independent on-line wine website.  He writes about wine, food and art for numerous local and international publications.