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For Champagne Bubbles, Smaller Is Better
Roland Piquepaille writes "During this holiday season you don't need a special occasion to drink champagne. You can do it everyday, providing you use moderation and common sense. But did you know that champagne taste better when it has tiny bubbles? This is the result of a very serious study published by the American Chemical Society (ACS) and more recently found by the Discovery Channel. And why do you think champagne taste better when carrying smaller bubbles? The answer is pretty obvious. More bubbles are releasing the champagne's flavor and aroma into your mouth. This summary gives you more details. In the mean time, let's all drink champagne!"
It's only Champagne if it's bottled in Champagne, France. Otherwise, it's sparkling wine.
They get you drunk faster.
People say I'm crazy, I got diamonds on the soles of my shoes...
Probably because it's a proper name, not just a word?
Wine = a word.
Champagne = a proper name. (i.e. "California roll")
Scientists say champagne taste is all in the bubbles Ah hell, here's a whole pile of Google links Cheers!
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
If you buy from a good wine shop they should know. Not only do small bubbles enhance the tastes, they result in a creamy (rather than fizzy) texture which is most welcomed by the back of my throat as well as the taste buds, the stomach and the mind.
If you want fizzy wine to be 'a bit different' to get drunk on choose any cheap plonk (Cava fits the bill well and is also tasty), if you want a decent champagne you can get this for ~USD35 at a specialist wine shop or specialist (staffed by those who are passionate about wince, rather than in-between semesters or on remand) wine section of a shopping mall. Non-champagne sparkling wines are also improving in quality (And sometimes are excellent), but don't expect anything too cheap, if it is cheap it'll get you drunk but won't be the amazing experience good champagne can be.
Don't follow the big names either. For example Bollinger only starts getting good well past USD70/bottle, a lower priced bottle can be just as good at much less cost.
karma karma karma karma karma chameleon, you come and go, you come and go.
Yeah, the greater number of bubbles, the better. But that's really because of the increased surface area. If you have smaller bubbles, you're going to end up with more area per unit volume, which will allow for greater diffusion of flavor components, etc. (rate of diffusion is, of course, related to surface area)
Incidentally, I didn't read the article at all. Maybe it focused on this aspect... Just thought I'd add my uninformed (?) pennies...
And these days, Champagne is for people who want to look exclusive and upper class, when truth be told, actually they're tosspots ;) Red wine or real ale anyday...
I'm not sure if you're trolling or what but here goes. Champagne is somewhat unique in that it is a fantastic accompanyment to almost any type of food. It goes well with appetizers, the main course, or dessert. You can have it with dinner, at a party, or even for breakfast. There really isn't any other kind of wine that is as versitile as champagne. You mention red wine in your post. There are great reds, to be sure, but if you are going to be eating a delicate whitefish, you would probably not want to be serving a Cabernet Sauvignon with that since the wine will easily overpower the food. In fact just the other day I caught From Russia With Love and Bond realizes that the chap who is dining with him is not an agent but is an assassin instead because he's inexperienced enough to order a red Chianti with fish. That pairing just doesn't go very well. You want to select a beverage that will enhance and compliment the food, not overpower it.
Champagne is well suited for this purpose because of the bubbles. The 'fizz', if you want to call it that, help cleanse the palatte between mouthfuls so that you can get the full taste sensation from the 20th bite as you did with the 1st. You can also achieve this effect by using a toothbrush during a meal and cleansing your tongue that way (try it when you're alone some time!) but that looks rather silly. I'm not at all surprised that smaller bubbles are better (in fact, I thought that was common knowledge) because smaller bubbles means you can get more contact surface area (more bubbles) on the tongue and that should increase the cleansing effect.
Of course, there are different types of champagne (differing levels of sweetness) but for the most part you really can't go wrong with champagne. It goes with everything. Something that most certainly cannot be said of red wine or ale.
GMD
watch this
As an aside; why, exactly, is this news? It's been common (if specialist) knowledge for over a hundred years that small bubbles implies good champagne (although this is not universal, it's a fairly good indicator).
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Yes! See this about beer
found here
Some countries, e.g. Germany, still have laws prohibiting the use of the term champagne (same thing applies to "cognac", cf. Article 275 of the Treaty of Versailles).
Nowadays, that's hardly more than a weird relict though - think about it: it's not really Kleenex unless its made by Kimberly-Clark. If it's generic it's a just facial tissue product. Same thing...
From Russia With Love
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Actually its not because it is white and sparkling, its more because it is acidic and not overtly fruity that it goes with many foods. A dry Riesling will also go with any food that Champagne goes with, as will some other wines. Some red wines do go well with fish but you have to pick carefully. And ales go well with food but again you have to pick and choose a bit. Though something like Adnams goes with a lot of different foods too.
Things like methanol (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd =Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=3588516&dopt=Abstrac t) and fusel oil (a heavier alchohol) are supposed to aggravate hangovers. They're toxic. Of course so is ethanol, but the effects may be different.
Methanol, by the way, becomes toxic when metabolized by alcohol dehydrogenase. A perfectly valid first aid measure for methanol ingestion is to feed the victim vodka. The ethanol keeps the enzyme busy until the methanol can be excreted unchanged. This *may* be why "hair of the dog" helps, though it could jus be general numbing.
Hangovers seem to be a blend of several problems including dehydration.
I seriously doubt that an american invented roasting a piece of bread over fire.
That's plain toast. French toast is dipped in egg and fried and was first called French's Toast.
You are wrong in your comparison of Verdun to the US Civil War. Of course it is comparing apples to oranges (and I generally agree with you re: historical ignorance). But the facts are:
(According to the official French war history)
French casualties at Verdun: ~340,000
French fatalities at Verdun: ~165,000
US casualties during Civil War: ~1,147,000
US fatalities during Civil War: ~670,000
Estimates vary widely for both Verdun losses and Civil War losses but even the highest estimates for French losses at Verdun come nowhere close to US losses during the Civil War. Of course, that tends to happen during civil wars when deaths on both sides get added to your total.
But like I said, it is comparing apples to oranges.
An EMT friend of mine (not a doctor, but still) informed me that a hangover is caused mostly by dehydration, as you mentioned, and vitamin deficiency. Alcohol dehydrates you and with that also saps out all the water soluble vitamins. He said a surefire cure for a hangover is 2 ibuprofin, like 5 multivitamins and at least 2 summerfest cups(su of mesurment for milwaukee) of water. Its worked for me pretty well, got pretty trashed wed night, took vitamins before bed and felt pretty good in the morning (well, i didn't get up till late afternoon). Also as you mentioned, impurities are also a factor, cheap liquor is a guaranteed hangover. Spring a couple of extra bucks for Kettle 1 instead of some cheap vodka and your head will thank you in the morning.
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."