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Time for toasting
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| Celebrating is synonymous with uncorking a bottle of the Italian sparkling wine, spumante and enjoying this bubbly nectar while toasting with our friends and family. Toasting is a ritual charged with magic and pleasure, especially when indulged in at the end of a meal; it is all the more special with the effervescent liveliness of a sweet spumante. |
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When we uncork a bottle of spumante, we are handling an impetuous beverage that's eager to get out of the bottle, as the pressure inside the bottle is extremely high. This is why be have to remove the cork very gingerly and allow the carbon dioxide to escape gently, otherwise we risk losing some of the precious contents in a frothy eruption. Spumante should be served at between 6 and 9°C and this makes it easier to control while removing the cork, as well as enabling a more thorough appreciation of the flavor and bouquet. Although the thrill associated with the traditional popping of the cork is certainly fun and entirely appropriate for certain kinds of celebrations, a more discreet, silent uncorking operation is much more seemly for the majority of intimate, convivial occasions.
By definition spumante should be clear and brilliant and the finer and more persistent the tiny bubbles, the higher the quality of the selected wine. You should always make sure you keep it chilled in an ice bucket. Your next concern will be selecting the right spumante for the right dish.
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Spumante wine can be made by either the classic or so-called Charmat method. Although these two systems are quite different, they both ensure that the wine is effervescent. While the classic method involves aging the wine in the bottle for two to three years and special hand-executed operations, the Charmat method is a much quicker system of creating effervescence based on the introduction of sugar into the wine, which is subsequently put into large vats that are subjected to great pressure.
Just as there is a great variety of wines, all with different flavors, so is there an infinite number of spumante varieties of every description: dry, mildly sweet, and sweet, depending on the amount of sugar and with various chromatic tonalities. The terminology in this field has been borrowed from the French and so one speaks of extra-brut, brut, extra-sec, demi-sec and doux on a scale of values that goes from dry to sweet. The grapes that are most commonly used for making spumante are Pinot nero, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay, but there are also often small percentages of various local grapes that imbue the finished product with an original character and identity. But in order to fully appreciate the flavor and bouquet, you have to drink spumante from the right kind of glass.
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A TALL FLUTE OR CHAMPAGNE GLASS? |
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If the spumante is dry, it's best to use a tall, tapered glass with a tulip shape, i.e. slightly closed at the top: a flute. This particular shape makes it possible to observe the delightful course of the little bubbles as they stream to the surface, and it also serves to keep the bouquet trapped in the glass, so it can be better appreciated.
If, on the other hand, we opt for a sweet, more aromatic variety, we should drink it from a traditional low, open champagne glass. The open cup shape makes it possible to more fully savor the fragrant bouquet, enjoying all its complex charm. When caring for your glasses, it's always best to wash them by hand, rinsing them in hot water afterwards and then drying them with a clean tea towel. This way you make sure that they won't reduce effervescence the next time you use them and that they won't acquire any flavors that could taint the next spumante you wish to enjoy.
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TINY BUBBLES AND REGIONAL TRADITIONS |
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The effervescence of a dry spumante is especially suggested as an accompaniment to fish dishes or antipasti. Italy boasts a copious array of domestic spumante varieties, beginning with the region of Piedmont in the northwest of Italy and its excellent Cortese di Gavi spumante, great with seafood salads, mollusks and shellfish, robiola and the other traditional local fresh cheeses, like the legendary toma.
The exquisite Franciacorta from the Brescia area in the Lombardy region to the east of Piedmont, comes in three versions, white, satèn and rosé; it goes very nicely with boiled fish, shellfish and soft cheeses. The Riesling and Soave spumante, produced in the areas around Venice and Verona in the Veneto region even further to the east, prove to be a delightful accompaniment to shrimp salad, fish bisque and creamed stockfish. One classic that must not be overlooked is Prosecco di Valdobbiadene, especially when it comes to the luscious Cartizze version, perfect with a casatella (a fresh cheese with a delicate flavor) from around the city of Treviso in Veneto, a fresh piave (a cow's milk cheese with a granular, crumbly texture), or a selection of prosciutto from the Veneto region. Going to the centre of Italy to the region of Emilia-Romagna there is the spumante version of the Pignoletto dei Colli Bolognesi. This is exceptionally good with antipasti featuring egg, cheese and fish, but is also excellent with fish baked in paper or prepared on the grill. Dropping down to the Marche region, the Verdicchio spumante (both the Colli di Jesi as well as the Matelica varieties) goes very well with the local fish dishes, items like squid alla marchigiana, fish soup mariner-style and, finally, the fish bisque Ascoli-style. The amazingly versatile DOC (Denominazione d'Origine Controllata / Quality wines produced in a specific region) Controguerra spumante from the region of Abruzzo to the south of Marche, seems to have been made to accompany fried fish and fried vegetables, and it's equally lovely with the local aged scamorza cheese. A decisive structure along with a higher than usual alcohol content qualify the Campania region's Greco di Tufo spumante as the perfect companion for dishes like baked mussels, stockfish Neapolitan-style and clam chowder.
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If the idea is to introduce the spumante at the end of the meal, you should opt for a semi-sweet or sweet variety in order to marry the sweetness of the beverage with that of the dessert. An excellent candidate in this case would be a Moscato d'Asti spumante, the perfect choice to accompany everything from panettone cake, peach and apricot pie to a simple ciambelle (an unadorned, dry yellow cake). If you decide instead to go with a heartier red spumante, a good choice would be Brachetto d'Acqui, pleasant to sip with fruit salad and mixed nuts. A Recioto di Soave spumante manages to bring out the best in pandoro and pinza (a traditional pastry from the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region in far northeastern Italy, made with milk, eggs and rum), not to mention the way it enhances any number of aged cheeses.
The Moscato spumante from Pantelleria proves to be a noble consort for all manner of baked pastries, especially those featuring succulent almond paste. A sweet Grillo spumante magically complements the rich taste of Sicilian cassata cake, cannoli and pies made from fruit such as peaches and apricots. Further proof that sweetness and tiny sparkling bubbles can be a very winning combination.
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