The Two Ages of Champagne – part 2

The Two Ages of Champagne – part 2 The previous article (cunningly entittled  The Two Ages of Champagne – part 1 )  looked at the life of a bottle of champagne up until the time it is disgorged and the lees removed. Unsurprisingly, that period is referred to as ‘ageing on lees’ When the lees are removed during the disgorging process the metal crown cap which has been used to seal the bottle is also removed and replaced by the cork and the wire cage that are so closely associated with our image of champagne. From this point onwards the period of bottle ageing starts and it can last for a very long time until the bottle is finally opened and drunk. On the other hand, bottle ageing can be quite short because a bottle of champagne is ready to drink almost as soon as it has been disgorged, but in practice that rarely happens for a number of reasons. First, the bottles need a short time to settle after the ‘trauma’ they suffer during disgorgement. Consequently, champagne makers pre

by jiles@mymaninchampagne.com (Jiles Halling) · source ↗