Posted by Robyn Lee, September 8, 2008 at 12:30 PM
If you have a flute of Champagne and a raisin and you're really bored, you can plop the raisin into the glass and watch it "dance." This movement is due to the repeating accumulation (causing the raisin to rise) and loss (causing the raisin to drop) of carbon dioxide bubbles on the raisin's irregular surface.
The first time I saw this trick was on the first day of my 7th grade science class, when my teacher showed us a glass of translucent yellow-greenish liquid containing a few dark, bouncing blobs. She insisted it was a glass of urine with swimming bugs in it. While she was probably trying to teach us some kind of scientific property (besides see how gullible 7th graders are), most of us were distracted by the "urine and ants" thing. Thankfully, it was just Mountain Dew with raisins in it. The lessons of the story were that raisins dance in carbonated liquids, and you shouldn't always trust your teachers.
Watch the video of the raisin in the Champagne after the jump.
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Posted by Ed Levine, December 31, 2007 at 3:44 PM
I'm a pretty wine-challenged guy, so I get easily flummoxed when I'm headed to a New Year's Eve party and I've been asked to bring some sparkling wine or Champagne. To my rescue comes my buddy Joshua Wesson of Best Cellars.
Josh has an encyclopedic knowledge of anything wine-related, so he quickly reeled off for me four sparkling wines he said should be readily available anywhere in the country this evening. So if you're headed out tonight in need of a bottle to bring to your hosts, your sparkling wine/Champagne worries are over.
Entry Level: Cava Segura Viudas Brut Reserva, $10
Movin' On Up: Mionetto Prosecco, $13 to $15
Takin' You Higher: Mum Napa Brut, $19 to $20
The Real Deal (entry-level Champagne): Laurent Perrier Brut LP or Taitinger Brut La Francaise, $30 to $35
Although Josh didn't recommend any Best Cellar sparkling wines or Champagnes, if you do live near a Best Cellar location, you would do very well indeed buying any kind of wine you need.
Posted by Robyn Lee, July 18, 2007 at 5:01 PM
While dining in Paris, Dorie Greenspan saw her waiter put a silver spoon in an opened bottle of Champagne before storing it in the refrigerator.
Sticking a silver spoon in an opened bottle of Champagne to preserve the fizz is an old wives' tale, but at least one waiter in Paris (among others) swears by this trick. Research has found (of course there's been research) that spoons don't do a whole lot but are better than recorking, that neither spoons nor corks are needed, as long as the bottle is refrigerated after opening, and that the only way to avoid losing fizz is to drink the whole bottle at once or seal it with a hermetic cork.
One of my friends explained that the spoon acts as a heat sink, thus cooling the inside of the bottle and causing a slower release of carbon dioxide.
Or maybe it's just urban mythology.
Posted by Nathalie Jordi, January 16, 2007 at 3:14 PM
India's Cobra Beer is looking to break into the elusive Cristal market by launching Krait Prestige Champagne Lager, a $12 bottle of beer that undergoes a second fermentation at Belgium's famous Rodenbach brewery.
"Instead of being the guy who brought cheap liquor, you are now Mr. Cutting Edge," remarks WiseBread with an astonishing lack of discernible sarcasm.
Indian beerpagne brewed in Poland, secondarily fermented in Belgium, and released to great fanfare in New York, New Jersey, and California?
I almost feel like I'm living in Blade Runner.
Okay, that's a slight exaggeration. Has anyone actually tasted this stuff?
