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The Science Behind the Bubbly
Posted by
CmdrTaco
on Sun Dec 31, 2006 07:14 PM
from the happy-new-years dept.
from the happy-new-years dept.
isabotage3 writes "Here is
everything you need to know about champagne in time for New Year's — From how to maximize your bubbles to why bubbles follow certain patterns and then suddenly change, to when the time is right to stop studying your bubbly and drink up."
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Too late... (Score:3, Informative)
Over 10 C (50 F) at midnight in northern Germany, FWIW. Yeah I know, just one data point.
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They were ok and we're safe at home -- no champagne though.
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Last week it actually froze, but that didn't last for too long.
Right now it's between 7C and 12C.
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Because (Score:5, Funny)
Bubble size (Score:3, Interesting)
I recall reading somewhere that higher quality champagne has smaller bubbles
Costco has good prices on Veuve Clicquot (Score:2, Informative)
Wow - $6 cheaper than most places (Score:2)
Worth every penny, too. (Score:2)
Yup. In that price range, I'll take that over Moet any time. The VC is a nice, crispy-dry champagne. Having it with some nice marinated, grilled quail and dove breasts served in endives - a most excellent finger-food configuration.
Insensitive Clod!! (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Arrogant clod :-) (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
Bubbles and cavitation during negative g load (Score:4, Informative)
As divers know, if you reduce the pressure, bubbles will form. An easy way to do this in a glass of champagne, or beer for that matter, is to toast with your good (or not so good) friend by touching the top of his glass with the bottom of yours.
The champagne in your glass with be compressed on impact, and no bubbles will form. The glass on the bottom will experience an explosive decompression in the liquid, and instantly foam up with little left to drink to the amusement of the whole party except for the unfortunate one.
This takes very little force if executed correctly: Both glass and liquid are quite stiff. An impact of 10cm/sec will easily cause a g-load of the bottom glass in the range -2g to -4g. This will of course result in negative pressure in the liquid, and bubbles will form instanty. The liquid will soon be back to normal pressure, and many of the bubbles cavitate, causing additional local pressure waves.
Happy New Year
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European champagne is only sparkling white wine unless it's from the Champagne area of France. (Though I understand some European sparkling whites have their own special appelations.)
American champagne is champagne wherever it's grown. I don't think American champagne even has to contain alcohol.
Why America cheats. (Score:3, Informative)
The US Senate never signed the Treaty of Versailles after WWI, which contained among other things the legal basis for naming wines. So as long as an American winery puts its location on the label, it can use champagne as a generic for sparkling wine.
I, on the other hand, am trying a sparkling rosé this year just to be different. So there!
No shit?!?! (Score:2)
Yes shit? (Score:2)
To keep on a theme, that sparkling rosé that gave its life to make me happy tonight came from Alsace. Now, the bottle is marked as a product of France. So, can we conclude that the Alsace always belonged to France?
Of course, the answer is no. It's been traded back and forth between France and the Holy Roman Empire/Germany multiple time; with the occasional change of name to Elsass-Lothringen. At the time in question, it had ended up with Germany after the Franco-Prussian War; it then became French
Politics suck (Score:2)
My first thought on reading the parent post was not about champagne, but that, while writing up a treaty to end a fucking war, politicians, and no doubt, lobbyists, had to add language for business considerations...
Sadly, it appears to be true. Several sites [wikipedia.org] confirm it.
Given the history here, I am glad the USA didn't sign the treaty. Now Joe-SixPack can buy American "champagne", even if it isn't Champagne.
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I dunno about the rest of Europe, in Italy the local sparkling whites' producers are very proud of their denominations, those wines get often preferred to champagne even on important occasions, especially in rural environments where wine is more of a religion than a beverage.
Then, it's all a matter of taste.
Re:How about: (Score:4, Funny)
->
The science behind the erection
isabotage3 writes
"Here is everything you need to know about champagne in time for New Year's -- From how to maximize your erections to why erections follow certain patterns and then suddenly change, to when the time is right to stop studying your erection and drink up."
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I think it would make an interesting article, indeed.
Parent
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