1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:07,080 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:11,119 Speaker 1: Lauren Vogo bomb here. Champagne is a celebratory drink, e 3 00:00:11,240 --> 00:00:14,680 Speaker 1: pervescent drink to toast with. But sparkling wine was once 4 00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:18,680 Speaker 1: the scourge of winemakers. The famous Domperignon was actually hired 5 00:00:18,720 --> 00:00:21,840 Speaker 1: by a French wine maker to prevent wine from bubbling. 6 00:00:22,560 --> 00:00:26,960 Speaker 1: So how did we get here? And what makes champagne champagne? 7 00:00:27,600 --> 00:00:30,360 Speaker 1: Champagne is a type of sparkling wine produced in the 8 00:00:30,440 --> 00:00:35,760 Speaker 1: Champagne region of France under particular circumstances. But okay, hold up, 9 00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:39,239 Speaker 1: what's the sparkling wine? Does it contain glitter? Uh? No, 10 00:00:39,479 --> 00:00:43,000 Speaker 1: It's a wine that's carbonated, meaning it contains dissolved carbon 11 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:46,040 Speaker 1: dioxide gas, which bubbles out of the liquid unless it's 12 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:49,040 Speaker 1: kept under pressure. That's why you might burp when you 13 00:00:49,120 --> 00:00:52,760 Speaker 1: drink bubbly or beer or soda. Your stomach is pressurized, 14 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:55,960 Speaker 1: but not pressurized enough to keep the carbon dioxide dissolved, 15 00:00:55,960 --> 00:01:00,000 Speaker 1: so it escapes as a gas. Other sparkling wines shouldn't 16 00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:04,080 Speaker 1: technically be called champagne, and in some countries legally they 17 00:01:04,080 --> 00:01:07,039 Speaker 1: cannot be called champagne, though that's really for labeling and 18 00:01:07,080 --> 00:01:10,800 Speaker 1: marketing folks not for dinner conversations, and the Champagne region 19 00:01:10,840 --> 00:01:14,800 Speaker 1: takes this seriously because it's their livelihood. So what makes 20 00:01:14,840 --> 00:01:18,640 Speaker 1: a real Champagne A lot of things. Actually, it's all 21 00:01:18,720 --> 00:01:24,040 Speaker 1: laid out in the Appalachion delgen controlle regulations and apologies 22 00:01:24,040 --> 00:01:26,360 Speaker 1: from my French. It's it's a set of rules created 23 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:30,440 Speaker 1: by the French National Institute of Origin in Quality, which 24 00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:32,800 Speaker 1: is a regulatory group in France meant to control the 25 00:01:32,880 --> 00:01:36,720 Speaker 1: quality and branding of agricultural products like cheeses and wines. 26 00:01:37,760 --> 00:01:40,959 Speaker 1: For champagne to be labeled Champagne, it must be produced 27 00:01:40,959 --> 00:01:43,120 Speaker 1: from the growing of the grapes to the processing of 28 00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:46,600 Speaker 1: the wine in the Champagne region, and from one or 29 00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:50,880 Speaker 1: a blend of three main grape varieties Chatona, Peino noir 30 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:54,840 Speaker 1: and Pinomonier. There are all kinds of rules about how 31 00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:57,320 Speaker 1: you handle the grapes, how they can be planted and pruned, 32 00:01:57,440 --> 00:01:59,720 Speaker 1: how much fruit can be produced per hector, how much 33 00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:02,040 Speaker 1: can be obtained from the fruit by weight, and how 34 00:02:02,080 --> 00:02:05,680 Speaker 1: it can be fermented and stored. The process of making 35 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:10,760 Speaker 1: the wine is called the bold ChimpanA or traditional or classic. First, 36 00:02:10,840 --> 00:02:13,400 Speaker 1: you produce bottles of still wine that have undergone a 37 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:16,800 Speaker 1: primary fermentation. That means that you take grape juice called 38 00:02:16,880 --> 00:02:20,400 Speaker 1: must in the industry and add sugar and yeast to it. Yeast, 39 00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:23,519 Speaker 1: of course, is a microscopic organism that, among other things, 40 00:02:23,760 --> 00:02:27,919 Speaker 1: eats glucose and excretes carbon dioxide and ethanol. The carbon 41 00:02:27,960 --> 00:02:30,280 Speaker 1: dioxide is released from the liquid as a gas, and 42 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:34,080 Speaker 1: the ethanol is the alcohol in the finished wine. When 43 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:36,480 Speaker 1: the pH level hits a certain point on the acid 44 00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:38,600 Speaker 1: end of the scale, you strain out the yeast and 45 00:02:38,639 --> 00:02:41,720 Speaker 1: bottle the wine. So how do you get the bubbles. 46 00:02:42,320 --> 00:02:45,840 Speaker 1: That's done by creating a secondary fermentation inside each bottle 47 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:50,079 Speaker 1: by adding in a bit more yeast and sugar. Whereas 48 00:02:50,120 --> 00:02:53,279 Speaker 1: the carbon dioxide was a byproduct in the primary fermentation, 49 00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:56,720 Speaker 1: it's the whole point of the secondary fermentation. To keep 50 00:02:56,760 --> 00:02:59,400 Speaker 1: it in the bottles, you seal them tightly with crown caps, 51 00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:03,400 Speaker 1: the kind that beer is sealed with. When the winemaker 52 00:03:03,480 --> 00:03:05,680 Speaker 1: thinks it's good and sparkly. After a couple of months 53 00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:08,680 Speaker 1: at least, the caps are removed and spent yeast, called 54 00:03:08,680 --> 00:03:11,600 Speaker 1: the lea's is taken out in a process called riddling. 55 00:03:12,280 --> 00:03:14,040 Speaker 1: Each bottle is then topped off with a bit more 56 00:03:14,040 --> 00:03:16,400 Speaker 1: still wine and usually a bit more sugar to taste. 57 00:03:16,840 --> 00:03:20,440 Speaker 1: This edition is called the dossage. Then hefty corks are 58 00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:23,040 Speaker 1: inserted and backed up by a wire cage cap to 59 00:03:23,080 --> 00:03:27,040 Speaker 1: hold in the now highly pressurized contents. Champagne's run about 60 00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:29,880 Speaker 1: five to seven atmospheres inside the bottle a k a. 61 00:03:30,080 --> 00:03:32,480 Speaker 1: Five to seven times the pressure that we experience just 62 00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:35,800 Speaker 1: hanging out around sea level, so being inside the bottle 63 00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:38,520 Speaker 1: would be like diving fifty to seventy under water about 64 00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:41,800 Speaker 1: a hundred and sixty two thirty feet, which is deep. 65 00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:43,560 Speaker 1: It's also about the same pressure as is in a 66 00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:47,720 Speaker 1: semitruck tire. The final product must then be aged for 67 00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:50,920 Speaker 1: at least fifteen months for a typical blended champagne, or 68 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:54,120 Speaker 1: at least three years for a single vintage champagne, and 69 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:57,880 Speaker 1: it must have a minimum alcohol content. But the very 70 00:03:57,880 --> 00:04:00,720 Speaker 1: first sparkling wines probably didn't have and in the Champagne 71 00:04:00,720 --> 00:04:05,200 Speaker 1: region and were very probably accidents of unintentional secondary fermentation. 72 00:04:06,240 --> 00:04:08,920 Speaker 1: The first historical record of sparkling wines being made on 73 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:12,400 Speaker 1: purpose was in sixteen sixty two, when an English scientist 74 00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:15,200 Speaker 1: named Christopher Merritt presented a paper to the Royal Society 75 00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:18,279 Speaker 1: about how some wine humans of the time were adding 76 00:04:18,320 --> 00:04:20,920 Speaker 1: sugar or molasses to finished wine barrels to create a 77 00:04:20,960 --> 00:04:25,279 Speaker 1: second fermentation. And thus bubbles ciders were very popular in 78 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:27,240 Speaker 1: England at the time, and that's how they were made. 79 00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:31,200 Speaker 1: But this wine thing was a curiosity before then. Sparkling 80 00:04:31,200 --> 00:04:35,159 Speaker 1: wine was an accident and a dangerous accident. Legend and 81 00:04:35,360 --> 00:04:38,360 Speaker 1: or history has it that the monk Dampaignon was assigned 82 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:42,880 Speaker 1: to stop this levin du Jab the Devil's Wine. The 83 00:04:42,920 --> 00:04:46,120 Speaker 1: temperatures in the Champagne region get cold enough early enough 84 00:04:46,440 --> 00:04:49,960 Speaker 1: that cellared bottled wine would stop fermenting in winter before 85 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:53,000 Speaker 1: the yeast was done doing its thing, and then when 86 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:55,200 Speaker 1: the weather warmed up again in the spring, the bottles 87 00:04:55,200 --> 00:04:59,200 Speaker 1: would undergo a second fermentation, dramatically raising the pressure inside 88 00:04:59,200 --> 00:05:02,159 Speaker 1: the bottles and making them go fizzy and then making 89 00:05:02,200 --> 00:05:06,920 Speaker 1: them explode. And this was actually a weird and huge 90 00:05:06,960 --> 00:05:09,880 Speaker 1: and scary problem. It was common to lose four to 91 00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:13,279 Speaker 1: ten of a seller due to bursting, and bad warm 92 00:05:13,320 --> 00:05:16,520 Speaker 1: fronts could lead to thirty of your bottles breaking, or 93 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:19,680 Speaker 1: entire sellers could be lost. A single bottle going off 94 00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:22,600 Speaker 1: could start a chain reaction around the cellar. The workers 95 00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:25,400 Speaker 1: had to wear heavy iron masks and padding for protection 96 00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:29,719 Speaker 1: when they go down. A couple of technological innovations sorted 97 00:05:29,760 --> 00:05:33,880 Speaker 1: this problem out a glass quality and corkage. Let's talk 98 00:05:33,920 --> 00:05:36,760 Speaker 1: glass quality. The British worked out how to make glass 99 00:05:36,800 --> 00:05:41,760 Speaker 1: was super hot whole fueled furnaces by six twenty three. Traditionally, 100 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:45,080 Speaker 1: charcoal had been the safer and cooler fuel of choice, 101 00:05:45,120 --> 00:05:47,599 Speaker 1: but it was commonly produced from oak trees at the time, 102 00:05:47,880 --> 00:05:50,880 Speaker 1: and King James the First Navy, needed oak for its ships. 103 00:05:51,560 --> 00:05:54,679 Speaker 1: The higher temperatures and cosmetic but useful additions of iron 104 00:05:54,680 --> 00:05:58,000 Speaker 1: and manganese to the glass made the bottles much stronger. 105 00:05:58,880 --> 00:06:01,320 Speaker 1: This led to that boot in the popularity of sparkling 106 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:04,840 Speaker 1: ciders and Merrit's observance of on purpose sparkling wines by 107 00:06:04,880 --> 00:06:08,320 Speaker 1: sixteen sixty two. The wire cap that hooks under the 108 00:06:08,320 --> 00:06:10,559 Speaker 1: bottle's lipped and secures the cork wouldn't come along until 109 00:06:10,600 --> 00:06:13,400 Speaker 1: eighteen forty four. Until then, corks were held in with 110 00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:17,279 Speaker 1: tied string to varying effect. The invention of the riddling 111 00:06:17,279 --> 00:06:19,880 Speaker 1: process in the early eighteen hundreds by the Vu Clicko 112 00:06:20,040 --> 00:06:23,840 Speaker 1: Champagne house also made sparkling wines quicker, easier, and thus 113 00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:27,800 Speaker 1: less expensive to produce. As for why we toast with it, 114 00:06:28,400 --> 00:06:31,480 Speaker 1: that's a little trickier, but it has to do with war. 115 00:06:32,480 --> 00:06:35,360 Speaker 1: Because of the Champagne region's location, it's seen a lot 116 00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:38,120 Speaker 1: of battles in its time. The tradition of French kings 117 00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:40,799 Speaker 1: being coornated in the Champagne region started after a battle 118 00:06:40,839 --> 00:06:43,599 Speaker 1: there in the fifth century CE, and the tradition of 119 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:47,159 Speaker 1: celebrating the Champagne's wines grew from there, alongside the science 120 00:06:47,200 --> 00:06:54,760 Speaker 1: that made the drink possible. Today's episode was written by 121 00:06:54,800 --> 00:06:57,320 Speaker 1: me and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is a 122 00:06:57,320 --> 00:06:59,600 Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. For more 123 00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:01,760 Speaker 1: in this a lots of other effervescent topics, visit our 124 00:07:01,800 --> 00:07:04,320 Speaker 1: home planet, how stuff Works dot com. And for more 125 00:07:04,320 --> 00:07:06,840 Speaker 1: podcasts for my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, 126 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:09,560 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.