Why champagne tickles your fancy

A team of researchers has found that Champagne’s bursting bubbles not only tickle the nose, they create a mist that wafts the aroma to the drinker. Not surprisingly this has been done at the University of Reims, Champagne-Ardenne in France. They used high-resolution mass spectrometry to study the chemicals in Champagne and sparkling wines and in the bubbles and the mist they produce.

They discovered that some of the chemicals that impart the special toasty, fruity aromas to the wine are captured by the bubbles and brought to the surface in higher concentrations than in the wine itself. It’s rather like how the bursting of bubbles at the sea surface imparts that special oceanic scent to the nearby air. With champagne, the bubbles drag chemicals along their way through the liquid to the surface and finally burst and eject aerosol droplets into the atmosphere.

So does that mean champagne smells better than it tastes? The lead scientists were tempted to reach that conclusion, but as they are scientists, not experts in the science of smell and taste, they declined to commit themselves so I will do it for them. In my experience, it tastes just as good as it smells – in fact often better!