Talk:Champagne

Article Checklist for "Champagne"

Workgroup category or categories	Food Science Workgroup [Categories OK]
Article status	Developing article: beyond a stub, but incomplete
Underlinked article?	Yes
Basic cleanup done?	Yes
Checklist last edited by	Derek Harkness 11:12, 5 September 2007 (CDT)

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sabrage

There are some pictures available on the reference site, but I'm trying to find some flickr ones. --Robert W King 20:32, 5 September 2007 (CDT)

Soap

Derek, is that true about the soap bit? --Robert W King 08:02, 6 September 2007 (CDT)

Yes, see [1] and I've seen it other places. A perfectly clean glass will not produce a sparkle. The microscopic particles of dirt are required to act as a nucleus for the formation of the bubbles. The same also goes for beer. If you use soap on your beer glasses, you won't get as good a head as if you rinse the glasses in soap-less water. Derek Harkness 09:18, 6 September 2007 (CDT)

That seems to be directly contrary to an article I read in the NYT a couple of weeks ago that bears out my own experience: a *really* clean glass will not generate as much head when pouring a beer as a glass that has already had a beer in it and been emptied (drunk). The bubbles need a little adhersion to gain traction, so to speak. Ditto for champagne, the article said. Lemme see if I can find it.... Hayford Peirce 11:40, 6 September 2007 (CDT)

It's not contrary, I'm saying the same thing. A really clean glass is bad if you want bubles. Derek Harkness 19:05, 6 September 2007 (CDT)

Any chance we can finda reference for this? By that I mean a scientific/more detailed explanation... --Robert W King 19:29, 6 September 2007 (CDT)

Cups, coupes and flutes

Okay, clue me in about the "tulip-shaped" glass.

I always thought that the shallow cup was the same as a coupe, and always pronounced coupe, but that it was pretentious to spell it that way, and so it's spelled "cup".

I've also been led to believe that people in-the-know now use flutes--something to do with concentrating the aroma or something--so now when I go out I see flutes way more often--even at parties--well, the up-and-coming wannabies type parties, but my feeling is that most people still associate champagne with the traditional, shallow-bowl-on-a-stem glass. Aleta Curry 17:06, 6 September 2007 (CDT)

I lived in Tahiti for a long time, where people drank *lots* of champagne but didn't talk about it much, they were too busy guzzling it. What I did read for time to time, however, and what was borne out by my own experience, is that the traditional wine glass (tulip-shaped) is superior for champagne *because* the narrower top tends to keep the bubbles in. I don't recall seeing *serious* French ppl drink champagne from the v. broad, low glasses that are commonly used in the States. The wider the glass, the faster the bubbles are dispersed. A tall, narrow flute, on the other hand, keeps the bubbles tighter and more focused. At home, I have all three, including some flutes that are no more than an inch across and are straight up and down, with no curvature at all. As I recall, my late French wife generally used these flutes if she was choosing which glasses to use. For Americans, and the general run of people, I get out the broad "champagne" glasses. For myself, I use a tulip, probably the larger size rather than the smaller, although I generally just grab whichever one is closer. "Coupe" is just the French word for the broad bowl on a stem.... Hayford Peirce 17:28, 6 September 2007 (CDT)