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Retail EDUCATION 8 Beverage Dynamics • March/April 2014 www.beveragedynamics.com THE CHAMPAGNE PARADOX – MORE TALKING POINTS FOR YOU BY HARRIET LEMBECK, CWE, CSS ABOUT 25 YEARS AGO, an article was published in Wine & Spirits Magazine. "How Many Bubbles in a Bottle of Champagne?" was written by Bill Lembeck, a research scientist and professional engineer, and chief pourer in my wine classes. [In the interest of full disclosure, he is also my husband.] The article was widely quoted by other wine writers, and at least one winery hung it on the cellar door. The answer to the question was an astounding 44 million bubbles! The reason for the original article came from a friend who had been at a Champagne tasting, where the speaker had asked the audience the same question: "How Many Bub- bles in a Bottle of Champagne?" – a question that you can ask your customers when they come in for a bottle of good bubbly. The answer given by the speaker, however, was not a number. It was a word, and that word was "None." Our friend thought that answer was a cop-out, and asked Bill to try to calculate a real numeric answer, which he did. Why the seeming discrepancy? Because when you look at a bottle of Champagne, you don't see any bubbles. But the 44 million bubbles are really in there! Now you've got some explaining to do! It's a good opportunity to engage your customer about this apparent disconnect, and maybe create an in-store customer contest: the one closest to the correct number wins a bottle of bubbly. Here's what Bill Lembeck explained to me: the potential bubbles are formed by the carbon dioxide dissolved in the Champagne, and are under high pressure (opportunity to speak about careful handling). Bottles of Champagne and other bubblies have from 5 to 6 atmospheres of pressure inside. BUBBLES SCRAMBLING TO ESCAPE Once the bottle is opened, however, the internal pressure is lowered, and the genie gets out of the bottle. Think of the little clown car in the circus. Without the high pressure anymore, the bubbles scramble to get out, and defi nitely become visible. (The initial foam escaping the bottle probably ac- counts for half of the potential bubbles.) Further, when poured into the glass, the customer will see that the bubbles are small where they originate, but as they rise they get larger as the liquid's pressure on them gets lower and lower. There is only atmospheric pressure on the bubbles at the surface of the Champagne, where most of them burst. If you are wondering where that num- ber came from, here's how Bill Lembeck approached the problem. First he had to calculate the total volume of CO 2 trapped in the bottle. Then he had to measure the size of the bubble at the surface of the wine in the glass. Since a bubble is a sphere, if you know the diameter of the bubble, it is easy to calculate its volume. Simply dividing the total volume of CO 2 by the volume of each bubble, he arrived at a total number of potential bubbles. Of course, a few other variables had to be considered, such as the amount of CO 2 remaining in the Champagne, which could be plus/minus a few million bub- bles. It is certain that there are millions of bubbles still available for your pleasure. Christian Pol Roger, on hearing this, said that extensive tasting would be nec- essary, such as different Champagne vin- tages, Extra Dry vs. Brut, Rosé vs. Blanc de Blancs, etc. But Bill Lembeck says that these distinctions will not affect the pressure in the bottle, which is key to this phenomenon. The tasting part will be be- tween you and your customer! Space restraints do not permit reprint- ing all of the original article, but if you would like to see it, please e-mail me and I will send it to you. BD HARRIET LEMBECK, CWE*, CSS** hlembeck@mindspring.com is a prominent wine and spirits educator. She is president of the re- nowned Wine & Spirits Program, and revised and updated the textbook Grossman's Guide to Wines, Beers and Spirits. She was the Director of the Wine Department for The New School University for 18 years. (*Certifi ed Wine Educator, **Certifi ed Specialist of Spirits)