How to choose champagne for the New Year 2017: control purchase of the product

What a New Year without champagne? The charming game of bubbles in the glass and the tickling taste in the language of the hundredfold increase the joyful sensation of a wonderful night. But just do not save on your favorite drink, because low-quality wine is tricky and will necessarily spoil the holiday. Let's go through the trading hall and together we will learn how to choose the right champagne.

How to choose a good champagne: Look at the bottle and the price

The saturated green color of the glass is the first thing we will pay attention to, as a light bottle lets the sunlight pass to the drink, under which the best champagne will lose its original taste and even start to taste bitter. Around the punt (a mound on the bottom), there should not even be traces of sediment. Let's look at the neck: it should not be wrapped with foil, but with a special golden or silver film with a perforation that allows you to see the cork. Serious manufacturers always cork champagne cork, and not a plastic stopper, since the latter can let in air. And in the right store, the bottles lie on their side, so that the cork is wetted with wine and kept tight. Sugar is the only thing that is added to quality champagne. When choosing a variety, it is necessary to take into account the tastes of the guests: most prefer semisweet. Gourmets will come up with more refined brut, and in extra-brut they do not put sugar at all, so even diabetics can afford such a drink, but they will have to get used to the taste. Equally important is the question of price. The present sparkling wine is kept in bottles that are laid on one side with a certain degree of slope and are turned over by special technology. Such a product can not be cheap, so we leave without attention any name with a price tag below 500 rubles of domestic production and below 20 euros - of imports.

The label will help you choose high-quality champagne

Having chosen a bottle that is very attractive for the price and content of sugar, we will carefully review its label and look for the following inscriptions.

1. Year of harvest. If it is specified, the drink is made from a particularly successful batch of grapes and is aged for three years. The absence of the year indicates not a low quality, but a shorter endurance - less than 12 months.
2. The name of the wine house and the year of its foundation. It is not necessary to purchase wine spilled in unheeded settlements, since only a large production that values ​​reputation can afford to follow the correct and rather laborious technology of making this sparkling wine.
3. The words "Methode classique". The classic method involves the secondary fermentation of wine in bottles, in which a unique taste is created by natural processes without the participation of any chemical additives.
4. GOST. For "Russian champagne" - 51165-98, for "Soviet champagne" - 13918-88. The abbreviation TU (technical conditions) and any other GOST figures indicate incomplete conformity with quality.
5. The strength of the drink is from 10.5%. The lower figure indicates non-compliance with the technology of growing grapes and producing wine.
6. A two-letter abbreviation, for example ND or RM. This is how the wine-making companies of France label their product. The presence of such an inscription indicates that we are holding in hand authentic French champagne.

And of course, the label should be perfect: a crookedly pasted, washed out paper gives out a fake with a head, while self-respecting wineries have equipment to give the bottle a truly elegant look.

Attention: fraud! Do not choose sparkling wine soda - it's not real champagne

Is not it true that the words "sparkling" and "sparkling" are very similar? Unscrupulous manufacturers use our inattention and instead of champagne they offer an artificial pop. And all within the law: the label honestly says that the wine is sparkling, but the inscription is so small that not everyone will notice it. Other options for the designation of an unnatural product: "carbonated", "fizzy", "fizzy". The carbonated wine drink is made from a mixture of grape wines of the lowest quality and saturated with carbon dioxide with the help of special apparatuses. Such a product does not pass the stage of long aging and, therefore, does not possess stability, as a result it must be stabilized chemically. The most effective and at the same time the most dangerous preservative of wine pops is sodium benzoate, which can cause disturbances:

• water-salt metabolism;
• concentration and memory;
• processes of growth and restoration of skin, nails, hair;
• functioning of the digestive system;
• the work of genes responsible for the correct division of cells and thereby provoke the development of a cancerous tumor.

In addition, flavors, colorants and sweeteners are added to the carbonated wine for presentation and acceptable flavor. The amount of sugar in a glass of such wine can exceed the daily rate.

To distinguish a sparkling wine drink from champagne it is possible on the following grounds:

• sediment at the bottom of the bottle, especially noticeable if powdered raw materials were used;
• staining the bottom of the cork - in this champagne there should be not only chemical dyes, but even natural berries contained in the skin;
• stop playing bubbles 15 minutes after removing the cork;
• the presence on the label of a list of different ingredients - the genuine product contains only sugar (except for ultra-brut) and sulfur dioxide (semisweet varieties).

What can tell about yourself champagne?

We remove the wrapper and bridle, carefully uncork the bottle and estimate the smell. Champagne should exude a delicate, pleasant aroma with barely noticeable fruity shades. If the neck is pulled with alcohol, vinegar or yeast, the wine is best poured: carbon dioxide will accelerate the absorption of these substances into the blood and multiply the damage from a poor-quality drink. We pour golden liquid into a tall glass and take a closer look at the bubbles: the smaller they are, the better and tastier the product. At the same time, they should climb up their slender strings for several hours. Now we know what the true wine of aristocrats should look like. The right choice will make it possible to brighten any party with bright colors and not be afraid of the consequences. You just need to remember that champagne can not be confused with other drinks, because in this case, even the most high-quality drink can darken the morning after the holiday.