Search Results: champagne
Sparkling Wine Grapes
Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are two grape varieties commonly blended together to produce sparkling wines and Champagne around the world. Pinot Meunier is sometimes added to enhance the character of the wine. Pinot Noir is one of the oldest grape varieties to be grown for the purpose of making wine from as early as the first century…
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Sparkling Wine Production
Most sparkling wines go through two fermentations: one to turn the grape juice into still wine (the base wine) and the second to turn the base wine into sparkling wine. The second fermentation involves adding yeast and sugar to the base wine. The yeast converts the added sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide (CO2 Gas) bubbles. The…
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Gusbourne Estate
Gusbourne Estate is one of the most exciting and ambitious names in English wine. Located in the Garden of England in Kent at Appledore it is a two hundred hectare Estate on a single site with twenty hectares under vine cultivation with Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes. The entire estate consists of south-facing slopes.…
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South African Sparkling Wine
South African wine has a history dating back to 1659. At one time Constantia, a vineyard near Cape Town was considered one of the greatest wines in the world. Production is concentrated around Cape Town, with major vineyard and production centres at Paarl, Stellenbosch and Worcester. The first champagne method wines to be produced in South Africa came from the Simonsig estate…
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Australian Sparkling Wine
Australian sparkling wine production has come a long way in a very short period of time with several notable French Champagne houses investing in production. In just 200 years, Australia’s wine industry has grown from a few small plantings to an industry renowned throughout the world for quality, innovation and depth. In fact, Australia is consistently…
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Cremant
Sparkling wines designated Cremant (“creamy”) were originally named because their lower carbon dioxide pressures were thought to give them a creamy rather than fizzy mouth-feel. The wines must also be aged for a minimum of one year. Though they may have full pressures today, they are still produced using the traditional method, and have to fulfill…
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Napa Valley
Napa Valley is one of the world’s great wine destinations and features more than 450 wineries. Though just 30 miles long and a few miles wide, Napa Valley is home to diverse microclimates and soils uniquely suited to the cultivation of a variety of fine wine grapes. California sparkling wine traces its roots to Sonoma…
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Cava
Cava is a sparling wine from spain produced in Catalonia. It can be white (blanco) or rose (rosado). The macabeu, parellada and xarel·lo are the most popular and traditional grape varieties for producing cava. Only wines produced in the champenoise traditional method may be labelled cavas. About 95% of all cava is produced in the Penedes area in Catalonia, with the village of Sant Sadurni d’Anoia being home to many of Spain’s largest production houses. The…
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Nyetimber
The Nyetimber Estate is the largest vineyard in the UK, with 438 acres and is the only one to produce premium sparkling wine exclusively from estate grown fruit. There vineyards are in West Sussex and Hampshire. Planted near Pulborough, West Sussex in 1988 by Stuart and Sandy Moss from Chicago, the Nyetimber Estate has a perfect…
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