Media attended a sparkling wine tasting with a difference at The Stack in Cape Town in October. Over a tasting of new releases of Graham Beck MCC, Pieter “Bubbles” Ferreira demonstrated “there is life beyond the flute” - and how the same sparkling wine looks, smells, tastes and performs differentially in a traditional and contemporary flute, competition show glass and designer champagne glass.
This was a lesson in the new sparkling wine-speak. Champagne terminology appeals to the inner nerd in all wine geeks - rolling over the tongue as effervescently as a glass of Cap Classique. Over a power-point presentation of the latest French research, we stared deep into our glasses to spot the visible evidence of “vortexes”, “nucleation sites”, “fliers”, “clusters of disintegration”, “the dead zone” and “the free surface”. This was starting to sound like an apocalyptic post-nuclear scenario not wine tasting.
Since selling off the silverware - Graham Beck’s still wine brands - the company has refocused on its sparkling wine operations - and stemware. Company CEO Chris du Toit announced, “Over the next five years, we are making a total new investment of R150 million in our cellar, including Madiba Five, which will increase total production and storage capacity to 250 000 cases and eventually six million bottles. We aim to make Graham Beck the leading sparkling wine brand in the world”. Beck also plans to extend lees time from 17 to 24 months on all non vintage MCCs - and to extend plantings of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in Robertson to 50 ha.
“I was born with bubbles in my blood,” frothed 'Bubbles' Ferreira, who joined Graham Beck Wines in 1990 - and must be one of the longest-serving winemakers at any Cape cellar. “You have to use all five senses to taste sparkling wine. You can’t hear a still wine. Does the glass - the specific stemware - have an influence on how we enjoy bubbly? Is it simply a matter of aesthetics - or are there other dimensions?” All present raised a flute to their ear, entranced by the fizzy snap, crackle and pop.
Over graphs and psychedelic time-lapse photography of bubbly vortexes in different glasses, Ferreira spoke about how only 20% - amounting to an estimated twenty million bubbles in every glass - of the dissolved CO2 in a bottle of bubbly performs in a glass. How they count the bubbles, no-one knows - or why the rest dissolves into thin air. Some questions about the meaning of bubbles are imponderable. The “avalanche” of bubbles rise into “clusters of disintegration”, dispersing into a dead zone in broader mouthed glasses - rising only 2,9 cm in a coupe, but 7,4 cm in a flute.
Over a tasting of Graham Beck Brut Non Vintage in a traditional flute and a Riedel overture flute, Ferreira demonstrated how a slightly curved bowl unlocks and enhances the aromatic appeal of sparkling wine, especially when frivolously fruity. It better enables the bouquet to reach the nose with minimal oxygen - while the thinner the rim, the more the glass disperses the flavour all over the tongue. The bigger and more transparent the bowl, the more light reaches the wine, the deeper the colour.
We moved onto “the laser spot” - what you might call the g-spot of sparkling wine. Ferreira pointed out the etched laser point in the ring of a good champagne glass, “the nucleation site” which produces a concentrated stream of fine bubbles - “the chain of pearls” (the bead). We’d moved onto a comparison of Graham Beck Blanc de Blancs 2012 in a traditional flute and in a Riedel Veritas glass used for show judging and at the Beck tasting centre in Robertson. We were looking out for “a fog of droplets”.
The highlight of the tasting was comparing Graham Beck Cuvee Clive 2009, the cellar’s flagship which spends five years on its lees - in a hand-blown Lehman Jamesse prestige glass (no snitch at around R350 per glass) with a tulip rim. “Size does matter” says Ferreira of the elegant glass designed by Reims champagne sommelier Philippe Jamesse to create a “reflection-free bowl” and “stretch” the wine to offer a longer effervescent mousse, enhancing the nuances of aroma, tertiary taste and texture. Sommeliers reckon older vintages with very fine bubbles go well in a Burgundy glass.
The tasting continued over a superb food and sparkling wine pairing prepared by chef Warwick King at The Stack, a contemporary new member’s club opened by experienced hotelier Nigel Pace (ex Cape Grace). While the “minimalist” bone-dry Graham Beck Brut Zero 2011 - dubbed “the skinny jeans” one by Ferreira, was brilliantly complemented by tempura oyster, pickled ginger and apple; the co-pressed Graham Beck Brut Rose 2011 was enhanced by a sublime cured salmon with lemon yoghurt. The Beck Blanc de Blancs 2009 - “the most awarded MCC in South Africa - including Best Sparkling Wine in the World at the IWC” - was enhanced by a dish of duck breast, confit and parfait, garnished with citrus and asparagus.
I’m delighted to report that all the glasses, expertly poured at The Stack, met Ferreira’s high standards of “dishwash protocol”. After seeing time-lapse photographs of how bubbles attach to free-floating micro-fibres (called “fliers”) of poorly washed wine glasses, I resolved to spring-clean all my glasses on my return home. I also learned a new party trick. While pouring Beck’s Bliss Demi-Sec NV with dessert, Ferreira said it is acceptable practice to decant a sweeter sparkling wine. In fact, a century ago all sparkling wine was made much sweeter for the sweet-toothed tsars.
The presentation was based on pioneering new research by Guillame, Jamesse, Liger-Bellaire et al. When it comes to aesthetics, there’s nothing new under the sun. The first coupes made for champagne were porcelain - a design based on the “mastor”, meaning an udder or breast cup made from terracotta in Greece in 500BC, 2500 years ago. Just goes to show sparkling wine is mother’s milk to fans of the bubble. Cheers!
Of course, you can experiment with bubbles and stemware at home too. There are loads of MCCs to choose from on the market. At the Amorim MCC Challenge 2016 - competed by 113 entries in one of the fastest growing categories of wine in South Africa - it was estimated there are now over 220 MCC producers making over 300 brands. Current annual domestic sales are estimated at 3,5 m bottles - showing 20% annual growth with 2,5m exports and 700 000 champagne imports, excluding fast-growing prosecco and cava. The South African wine industry celebrates 45 years of making MCC in 2016 since Simonsig made the first bottle-fermented wine in the Cape - and is now acknowledged as one of the finest examples of the sparkling wine category in the world, and as a key aspirational lifestyle brand for new consumers.