Anthony Rose writes a weekly column on wine for The Independent and teaches wine in schools for the Leiths School of Food & Wine, along with writing for Decanter magazine and much more. The goal in his book, FIZZ! Champagne and Sparkling Wines of the World has been to “…shine a light on this new sparkling wine phenomenon beyond the frontiers of Champagne, focusing on the newcomers, exploring how they’ve carved out an identity for themselves and reviewing their direction of travel, with all the excitement that the genuine prospect of a new sparkling wine world order brings.” (Rose, p.5). I appreciate that he is trying to expand people’s knowledge about sparkling wine to more than just Champagne. There is sparkling wine being made around the world that you may not know about.
Anthony divides the book into two major sections; Part 1, Anatomy of the bubble, and Part 2, Country introductions and profiles.
Part 1: Anatomy of the bubble
In Part 1 he first covers the history of Champagne with all the technical breakthroughs needed to get a sparkling wine that won’t break the bottle. And then how Champagne distribution spread across the world. I was amazed at the volume of Champagne distributed pre-1900. Anthony noted that UK imports of Champagne reached 9.6 million bottles in 1897. Wow.
After he introduces us to Champagne’s history, he gets into the details of how sparkling wine is made, covering the Traditional Method (with second fermentation in the bottle), the Tank or Charmat Method (which is primarily used for Prosecco), and the Ancestral Method with only one fermentation and that being in bottle (think Pet-Nat). It is a long section, and technical, but there is a lot to learn. I learned that the yeast in the first and second fermentation are not the same. It makes sense when I read why. You may need to read this section a little slowly so things sink in.
He covers terroir and climate change briefly but goes more into climate change when he delves into specific wineries around the world. If you wanted to know which grapes are being used for sparkling wines from around the world, his next section covers the primary grapes from Alvarinho to Xarel·lo. There are many other minor grapes, like L’Acadie Blanc, which is made into sparkling wine here in Canada.
From these grapes, sparkling wine from Blanc de Blancs, Prestige Cuvée, Sparkling Rosé, and many more styles can be made. Anthony provides you with a paragraph each on the wide variety of styles.
Part 1 can be thought of as your education into the history of sparkling wine, mainly Champagne, plus how it is made, and the many styles of sparkling wine.
Part 2: Country introductions and profiles
Part 2 covers Country Introductions and Profiles, with France taking the largest number of pages, followed by England, and then Australia & New Zealand. He does cover all major European countries producing sparkling wine. I was impressed with his section on South African Méthode Cap Classique wines. Canada, USA, Chile, Argentina, and Japan are also covered. I didn’t know Japan made sparkling wine and has an indigenous grape as well that is used in these wines. Anthony’s knowledge of the wineries in the book is indicative of his travels.
Being in Britain, he can easily travel to the English grape growing regions, as well as to France, Italy, and Spain. He goes into depth into the English wineries in the Sussex, Hampshire, Dorset, and Kent areas, talking about the soils (e.g. lots of limestone), how the wineries came to be and when, and the wineries’ reasons for oak or stainless steel barrel fermenting, which is interesting. He also covers similar deep detail for the wineries in the Champagne region of France. Note, that he covers major wineries, so if you are looking for a small grower Champagne house, you may not find it.
To assist the reader, he does have a very general sketch of the grape-growing regions on a map for Champagne, which helps people situate the wineries. He does have some full-colour pages in the middle of the book, one of which does cover the geology of England, and you can find Dorset and Kent, but in the England section of the book, he does not specifically point you there to help visualize the wine regions. It could be that the main readers of this book are from the UK, and would immediately be able to visualize Kent vs Dorset, but for someone from Canada, or Argentina, this may not be obvious. I would love it if Anthony put a sketch map for all the countries he covers in the next edition of this book.
I suggest treating Part 2 like an encyclopedia. If there is a country or winery that is of interest, read those specific pages. Reading Part 2 from the first to the last page, although edifying, does take time, and your enthusiasm may wane. If for example, you were interested in Champagne Taittinger, you would find out who founded the winery, the year, and how the winery either changed hands or was taken on by their children over time. He also covers the grape varieties they grow and use to make their wines, the production volume, as well as the range of sparkling wines they produce from a Brut Reserve, a Prestige Cuvée, etc. Anthony then gives brief tasting notes on a few of the sparkling wines most memorable to him from the winery. This same methodology is used for the other wineries covered in the book.
If you are not interested in the details of the wineries in a region, like Bulgaria, there is at the start of each section a few paragraphs to provide you with an idea of the history of sparkling wine in the country, grape varieties, and some primary players. I’d suggest at least reading the introduction to each country. You can then keep this as a reference book as you go out and buy sparkling wines from your local bottle shop. I hope that in the next edition, Anthony has a chance to visit Canada and taste some of our sparkling wines and cover more in his book. Being familiar with British Columbia wines, I would have a few suggestions of wineries that should be considered.
To Conclude
Overall this book gives you background into how sparkling wine came to be, with emphasis on Champagne, the grapes and styles of sparkling wine from around the world, and then a selection on world-wide wineries and their sparkling wines that he has had access to via his travels or speaking with wine-knowledgable people from countries around the world to round out the book. This is a serious book about sparkling wine, so may not be the book to give a friend that enjoys popping a bottle of sparkling wine every now and then, rather if you know someone that works in the wine trade, is a sommelier, or is very serious about wine and has a collection of Riedel glasses for each type of wine they try, then this book would fit the bill.
Where Can I Buy This Book?
You can purchase this book from the publisher Infinite Ideas at this link and of course, it is available through Amazon.ca.
Thank you to Infinite Ideas publishers for providing me with a copy of this book to review.