Other Wines: Sparkling Wines

Sparkling wines are thought to originate from Northern France in the Champagne region, however it was the English love for these slightly sparkling wines that really began to examine exactly why champagne would sparkle. In a paper published in 1662 by the English scientist Christopher Merret discovered that by adding a little bit of sugar before bottling, virtually any wine could be made to sparkle. This sugar, or dosage, is what gives the yeast some fuel for them to consume when they re-activate and thus re-ferment the wine already in the bottle, producing the carbon dioxide necessary for a sparkling wine.