ANYTHING BUT MARGINAL
AKING a traditional method sparkling wine is a complicated production process. Not only do the grapes need to be carefully grown in a particular cool climate and picked by hand, but the yeast chosen for the prise de mousse or second fermentation needs to be a certain type. It requires specialist equipment as well as a lengthy ageing process. Overall, it is time consuming and a costly process that pushes up the final selling price of the wine. As Patrick Forbes said, in his 1967 seminal book entitled Champagne: the process shows the “exceptional extent to which it enables man to manipulate grape-juice”.
