The most important brands of Sparkling wines crown it all right now. It is time to consume their wines, toast with them and make a few splurges as those we cannot afford so often during the rest of the year. Joy and happiness among consumers, but just the opposite among producers. The reason of it: to make public the date of disgorgement.
The reason for this concern is purely economic and logistic: in only one vintage you may need to print 3 or 4 different back labels which would reflect the different disgorgement dates on the bottles.
Brands like Veuve Clicquot or Bruno Paillard were already doing it and this last one has been doing it for decades; impressing an air of exclusivity to each of their bottles.
However, for the consumer this is an important data to know. Knowing this date we can know when some particular wine aging is considered finished, which means that from then on that wine is ready to be consumed if desired.
Moreover, it can also alert you to potential unpleasant surprises. For example if you discover that you are about to buy a champagne or a sparkling wine that has been bottled almost forever so, as they are not a keeping kind of wine, it would probably not be very interesting to take the chance and buy it, no matter how good the offer was. It is also true that the cork would give us the final clue, if we find out that it looks like a “t” instead of having mushroom shape.
Many cava (Spanish sparkling wine) houses have been offering this information to consumers for years. Both Agustí Torelló Mata and Can Feixes, among others, provide this information on their bottles, transparency prized for their customers which also contributes to the spread the wine culture.
However, there are those who, after the disgorgement and after providing the corresponding metal bottle cap to prevent gas loss, leave the wine aging for months or even for years. The flavours evolve and fresher hints become more floral. When flavors continue to mature they show us their deeper side with hints of nuts. It’s a different way of knowing our favorite sparkling.
Now, the question that arises is whether Bollinger, uncompromising defender of freshly uncorked, will change their disgorgement methods and will also join this informative fashion or not.
By Marta Burgués, Winefolly