Pop Champagne III

2008 to the curb! It is time for a New Year. As for me, I welcome it...

Obviously this is the night where countless corks will take flight and sail into the New Year. Nothing - nothing - nothing is better than Champagne for this occasion.

I have but one recommendation for tonight...

Now, granted you can have whatever you like...


and "you can pop bottles all night" (thank, T.I.)...but I think you should try and make sure you buy a bubbly that is prepared Méthode Champenoise. Sometimes the label will state "French Method" - this always makes me giggle - I am so juvenile - or the label might read "Fermentation in this bottle."

Why?

Because I think this process is a pretty good approach to us and who we are and what we should celebrate today...

First, you start with your base wine (la cuvee). This is where we start with the grapes that we have...what is surviving our winters...where we are just us...where we just have to be "brave and leave our doubts."

Next, life happens...you take the base wine in the bottle and things start being added...sometimes it is sweet...sometimes not so sweet...

but it all has to be added...because this is the tirage and it is a slow fermentation in a sealed bottle...it is a cool time, but this is where the sparkle of Champagne is produced so that we can "be walking on air"


as the wine ferments the yeast cells split open and start spilling their guts...and from this sharing we get our flavor...


but here comes the riddler...riddling (le remuage) is where your bottle is literally turned completely UPSIDE DOWN and placed in a rack...then daily someone is going to come by grab you, shake you, roughly twist you back and forth, and put you right back on the rack - but at a slightly different tilt...here you start "looking for a reason why you set my world in motion...






but it "all just a bunch of matter" because with every twist and turn the dead sediment rises to the top of the bottle which gives us an opportunity to remove it...

of course, it does require an icy-cold salt bath to freeze the sediment so that the bottle can be uncorked and the sediment removed...but my point is it is removed...

Finally, we get our dosage...this is where the last bit of wine, sugar or brandy is added to polish off our sweetness level...some of us will be very dry others very sweet...but we all find ourselves in the range...

From here our bottle is corked one last time, wired down for security and ready for just the right moment to pop the cork! Here our adventure continues or begins (I guess depending on your perspective)...regardless, remember it takes a while to get going (much like this video)...but worth it...



So, shawty, get ready and...



hey, lolli lolli lolli, let me see you "pop that body...
because as Barack Obama says yeah, it is time for a change..."


Alright you shiny wonderful people, drink your shooting stars
and go get your glow on tonight...

Happy New Year!