Monks know a thing or two about alcohol - no joke here. A Frenh Benedictine Pierre Perignon from Abbey of Hautvillers on August, 4, 1668 thought of adding carbon doxixe to grape juice. This was how a drink known to us as champagne emerged.
However the sparkling beverage's official birthday had yet to be awaited because back in the times a rare container suited the drink's bottling. Pressure inside a bottle equaled 6.3 kg per square centimeter which isalmost three times higher than in a car tire! Only as late as in 1800 a pharmacist - history retains a memory of him as of Francois de Chalone - invented modern solid bottle made of dark glass.
Sparkling profile:
Speedof a cork flying out of the bottle is 14 meters per second with its hieght reaching 12 metrs.
Wire that holds a cork is called muselet and it has standard length of 52 cm.
A bottle contains about 200-250 million bubbles on average. It is exactly the ability to keep bubbling for ten hours after being uncorked that determines qualityof champagne to a large extent.
Experts recommend women not to drink champagne while wearing lipstick because it contains substances that stifle certain taste properties of the beverage.
Treaty of Versailles, signed in 1919, not only regulated lives of millions of people after World War I, but also regulated use of the word 'champagne'. In compliance with the agreement, it could only have been applied to wine produced in the province of Champagne. Nevertheless, in many countries, for instance, in USA and USSR, legislation had loopholes allowing producers to turn a blind eye to the rules.
According to sugar contents the beverage is divided into: brut (up to 0,3%), extra dry (3%), sec (5%), demi-sec (8%) and doux (10%). There are other kinds of 'extras'. Extra brut, for instance - no sugar is added to it at all.
It is hard to imagine car races without champagne and pedestals with its spraying. The first one to "congratulate" his opponents as well as broader public with finish this way was Dan Gurney. He won "24 Hours of Le Man" marathon in 1967... to get a bottle of our sparkling 'hero of the day' from orchestrators. Since then this tradition has been scrupulously observed even during competitions in Islamic countries - special alcohol-free fizzy drinks are made for the occasion.
Grapes for champagne production has to be either white (Chardonay) or red ( Pino noir or Pino Meunier ). It is customary to gather it when acidity level is higher than sweetness level. By the way, in the province of Champagne maximum allowed harvest constitutes 13 tons per hectar - it is forbidden to gather more for beverage production due to inevitable quality loss.
Foil that crowns a bottle's neck wasn't there in the first place to appear only in 19th century and its initial purpose wasn't beauty at all. It was aimed at scarying rats that used to scurry around vaults and drop bottles.
Hussars and movie heros liked and still like to impress ladies by opening a bottle with a sabre or by making a cork pop spectacularly. Nevertheless, should taste qualities be of more importance to you, our advice is not to follow their lead. Open a container as 'quite' as possible and the sparkling one won't lose carbon dioxide. It is considered to be really classy if the sound of an opening bottle reminds a whisper or an inhale. Make sure yourself!
In a local history museum in every country you visit, you will certainly notice similar archaeological finds - fragments of clay products. Pottery, born millennia ago, but “living” even today, can rightfully be considered one of the most tenacious one. The uniqueness of clay was noticed by our distant ancestors who lived in caves ...
What do you imagine when you hear the word "abbey"? I'm sure most people will first of all think of Westminster. But what if I said that in fact it is no longer an abbey? So what makes these medieval buildings so special? Let's look at the example of buildings from different European countries.
Ice cream with a taste of horse meat, pickled insects, fish with deadly venom, etc – Japanese cuisine has things to surprise, amaze and shock you with. And truth be told, enumeration of these dishes doesn’t help my appetite at all. But we are not after exotic stuff. True culinary tourism is an attempt to comprehend mindset and feel national distinctive color through traditional cuisine – not try most exotic dishes.
Composers of antiutopias predict hundreds of sorrows to the people of the future who are from times to times forbidden to celebrate weddings, however, it seems, everything is not so terrible. In Chinese province Yun Nan near the foot of Himalayas the matriarch tribe mosuo resides that is not familiar with the concept of marriage at all.
Lighthouse - this word evokes beautiful associations: sea adventures, storms, huge ships. And we do not want to dispel these thoughts, but rather to add fuel to the fire. There is a great amount of them in the world, they are striking by their beauty and inimitable. Today we are sharing with you the quintet of amazing lighthouses!
Each of us wants to escape rush of a city from time to time and lie low somewhere far from everything and anything. And it better be a place where one can listen to whisper of waves, feel light breeze and forever make friends with inimitably loud silence that muffles every disturbing thought…
Austrian tour operators launched an unusual touristic tourdesigned for fans of singing style called yodel. Hikers wander through the Ziller Valley, a broad trail narrows opening the way for only the most avid travellers, then track leads upwards. Tourists look into the interactive station shaped as a giantsonorous walk-in cowbell, then they go around thelargest alpine horn and head to place...
First exhibition of paintings in the world’s most visited museum the Louvre was opened on 1793. But its building was well-known far beyond France, though the edifice was not used with such lofty cultural purposes.
A mini toast, a slice of cheese and a sip of strong coffee. "That is not a buffet!" a waiter will pronounce indignantly, looking at the disgruntled tourist’s face. The generous Ukrainian soul cannot understand how locals manage to eat their full with that. Therefore, before going to a new country, you need to know exactly whether in the evening you should prepare a couple of sandwiches to indulge them in the morning,...
The New Year in Ukraine did not always start with a Christmas tree, and instead of Santa Claus and Snow Maiden, guests were waiting fora minx girl - Malanka and motor-boy Vasyl accompanied by the retinue. All the follies were out of hand: the ridiculed riddles carried a sacred content, dictated by the logic of the myth of the duel of spring and winter.
Christmas arrives with a warm overjacket on its shoulders. At night it brings warm light of the first evening star and in the morning it wakes you up with shine of white but warm sun. If my great-grandmonther’s grandmother had been asked about her Christmas feelings, I believe, her words would have been identical to mine. Because together with a bowl of kutia,...
Vitamins, development of resistance to cold, correct day regimen... That's all good and useful, especially when the winter weather swirls in, but sometimes we all have to pamper ourselves and at the same time to be protected against germs and colds. And the best way to do it is to sip some mulled wine.
A little son came to his father and suggested to run away from mom and granny to the North Pole? Now, do not indulge into tragic speeches of severe frosts, pitch darkness of the polar night and hungry polar bears! Give a conspiracy wink to a little brave one, and give him a real man's job for his school winter holidays that is to learn how to build an igloo, night shelter in ever-frost lands.
The cold season brings not only such important things as wrapping into a reindeer sweater, drinking hot chocolate and once again reviewing Christmas comedies. Thus, sport has not been canceled yet, so OUTLLOK compiled top five ski resort bucket list for you to cheer up and get out of your winter sleep.
They build ice hotels and carve ice fountains pouring white wine, make samovars and even kerosene lamps. Photographers went even far and got the hand to use dry ice to create the effect of smoke and fog in picture. In the spirit of holidays, OUTLOOK prepared for you a selection of the world most popular ice arenas.
In those days when the Persian soldiers were second to none, and both the Roman Empire and the Arabian Peninsula were conquered by their power, skilful fingers of winner nation craftswomen created their first masterpiece. The carpet called The Springtime passed into history as the most precious of all time. It symbolized powerful rule of the Persians, and its beauty told about the divine origin of the king Khosrow I.
It is said, the easier it is, the better we feel, however, is it always like that? We know that not all the nations follow this principle. OUTLOOK has found out the strangest, toughest and hard in articulation international languages and would like to share it with the readers.
OUTLOOK often tells about the kitchens of the peoples around the world, but when it comes to Italy, writing about the country should be a crime. Each of its twenty regions has its own culinary world with the subtleties and specialties. Let the title of gastronomic capital of Italy be Bologna, its official capital - Rome, too, has something to boast about. We are telling you what is remarkable about Roman cuisine...
Anton Sak moved to France so as to get high education. He has been studying at Chemistry Faculty of Le Mans Université. Today he will tell us about Le Mans, the wonderful old French city with the special brightness. It is unknown for tourists; however, it is the interesting destination in the route of avid traveler.
