A sparkling wine should ideally have a fresh acidity. The whole idea of drinking bubbles is that it should be refreshing, right?
The bubbles themselves help, but in Champagne they have always claimed that it is (among other things) the unusually high acidity that makes a champagne rise above other sparkling wines (although they have always also considered it necessary to mask it with the addition of sugar, so called dosage).
So what happens now, when temperatures rise in the summer and are more like the Mediterranean than northern France?
On average, the alcohol content has increased by 0.8 percentage points in 20 to 30 years, while the total acidity has decreased by 1.3 grams/litre. However, it is still high compared to most other wines.
The pH in Champagne is normally low (~pH3) and has not changed much so far, but it will increase, according to the Comité Champagne, which could change the stability of the wine.
While it used to take 90 to 100 days between flowering and harvest, today it is 83 days (average over the last ten years). This can affect the typicality of the grape varieties.
What also happens is a greater difference between “technological ripeness” (sugar/acidity balance) and aromatic and phenolic ripeness. “Tasting the berries is therefore extremely important nowadays,” says the Comité Champagne. This is nothing the champagne producers cannot handle. There is no reason to worry.
Read more: vitisphere
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Travel: Come on a wine tour to Champagne and Burgundy with BKWine. (PS: We’ve written a prize-winning book on Champagne and one on Burgundy.)
