“Great, complex wines are wonderful, enthralling, —Terry Theise

“Great, complex wines are wonderful, enthralling, life-affirming, soul-stirring, but it’s worth asking whether they are relaxing. Good, simple wines speak to out spirit of play and ease and repose, exactly because they don’t demand our exclusive attention.”

The German sparkling wine, sekt, must be made by the traditional (Champagne) method.

Answer: False.

Only a very small amount of top German sekt (pronounced zecht) is made in tiny lots by the traditional (Champagne) method, usually from riesling, weissburgunder (pinot blanc), or blauburgunder (pinot gris). These wines are crisp and vivid, possessing the clarity and the purity of flute music. However, bargain sekt (which is most of it) is made fizzy as the result of the bulk process during which the second fermentation takes place in large, pressurized tanks, not in individual bottles like Champagne, using lesser German grapes or bulk wine from another European country.

“….it’s not really just the chemistry that makes wine interesting or valuable. There’s a lot more behind the story of wine than chemistry. I know that might be disappointing for some chemists, but the reality is that people love wine. And people love wine not just because of the way it tastes.”

—Andrew Waterhouse
Professor of Viticulture & Enology, University of California at Davis

“Great, complex wines are wonderful, enthralling, —Terry Theise

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