The obvious reason why Champagne shows so well from magnum is that while glass is a storage vessel for whites and reds, it is also, importantly, a fermentation vessel for Champagne. After the vins clairs have been assembled into blends, they are bottled the spring of the following year, with a touch of yeast, sugar and liqueur de tirage, that creates the secondary fermentation, and the bubbles. That much is pretty simple to understand, but there is more to it.
Roederer’s longtime Chef de Caves Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon in a session with the guys at Vinous.
“In tirage, we add a bit less sugar to the magnums than the bottles to lower the pressure under which the wines undergo the secondary fermentation in magnum,” explains Lécaillon. “We do this because the wines really struggle through the secondary fermentation, which takes two weeks longer than in bottle because there is less oxygen. As a result, we have more residual sugar – 1 to 2 grams per liter, as opposed to virtually dry for the bottles, and that produces a lot more glycerol, giving Champagnes from magnum a richer textural feel.”
Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon
These same factors apply to the primary alcoholic fermentation for table wines. Longer, drawn-out fermentations generating glycerol, and, other secondary aromas and flavours.
In a highly commercial winery, cultured yeast, developed to give winemakers fast, clean fermentation to dryness are the go. Safety and economic key criteria.
Ask a Burgundian or Alsatian if they have comfort with their whites taking 12 months to complete alcoholic fermentation and many will nonchalantly reply ‘It’s normal’.
For sparkling production, a fast secondary fermentation in bottles is done and dusted in 10 days to 2 weeks, a slow one may take 2-3 months. Keep in mind, this is a highly toxic environment for the yeast, special super-strong yeast cultures have to be built to do the job.
I tiraged a set of Magnums when I was at Yering Station and dropped the fermentation temp compared to the bottles. This would have undoubtedly further slowed the fermentation in addition to the factors JBL explores above. I didn’t have enough to open bottles and magnums to track and compare the fermentation.
It’s bloody stressy doing your first tirage, get it wrong and you end up with a half fermented wines in bottle or add too much sugar and the bottles will explode! That’s OK when you’re making a couple of slabs of beer, when your knocking out 1 million bottles of fizz it’s not that cool!
Anyway, back to the mag’s. The proof was in the pudding, disgorging, magnums, and bottles of the same wine side by side showed the exact differences described above. They have additional depth in the mid-palate, the aroma and flavour are even more complex and layered.
Looking for a Mag of Champagne? Check these out. If there’s something else you want call us on 1300 811 066 or Request a Wine Here. We have access to an incredible array of tasty fizz!
Champagne | Champagne, France
Brut Nature wines by default have nothing to hide behind so the fruit has to do the talking ... JM's is positively SHOUTING! Based on the 2018 vintage and disgorged in November 2020 with two grams per liter
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William Kelley
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The Fabrice Session 🎧 & 🎥 Inside!
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In the end, all of this is irrelevant. What you have in front of you is a wine of purity, line, length, excellent acid, with lovely ripe flavours, a little pith and grapef
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Blend | Vallée de la Marne, Champagne
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Gift Box
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“Surpassing even the 2012 and 2008, Philipponnat's 2013 Extra-Brut
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Wooden Box
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“Surpassing even the 2012 and 2008, Philipponnat's 2013 Extra-Brut Clos des Goisses looks to be the finest vintage of this cuvée in several decades, at least on first acquaintance. Deriving from only the six core parcels out of the 13 that make up the Clos des Goisses, it's a striking wine, evoking aromas of crisp yellow orchard fruit, Anjou pear, clear honey, bee pollen, stone fruit and iodine.
Full-bodied, layered and vinous, its textural attack segues into a deep, concentrated and tight
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