Description
Book SynopsisSparkling wine has delighted humanity for nearly 500 years. It has become essential at celebratory meals, a toast to new marriages, new babies, new jobs, and is even used to launch ships, but there’s more to it than the fizzy and festive. In Fizz!, Anthony Rose takes an in-depth look at sparkling wines around the world, exploring how and where they are made, and why they are such a joy to drink.
The first part of Fizz! delves into the history of sparkling wine, including early accidents and experiments in sparkling winemaking, its nineteenth-century surge in popularity (and associated debauchery) and the breakthroughs in vineyard and cellar that ensured Champagne’s place among the great wines of the world. Rose then goes on to detail fizz-making techniques, from the traditional method to pet nat, and explores the terroirs and grapes suited to producing the wines, from the Champagne trio of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Meunier to the native varieties producing compelling effervescence worldwide.
Following a look at the science behind the bubbles, Rose begins his global quest in search of sparkling wines. Travelling Europe, from Portugal to Moldova, he samples Cava from Spain, proves there’s more to France than Champagne, finds out why southern England makes some of the world’s best bubbles, discovers Sekt secrets of the Germans and explores Italy beyond the Prosecco that began the new fashion for fizz. Journeying further afield, Rose recommends the best fizz from California, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, tastes some of South Africa’s Cap Classique and even finds sparklers of note in Japan and China.
This comprehensive celebration of sparkling wine is rounded off with thorough appendices, making it essential reading for wine lovers and students of wine.
Trade ReviewThe best and most up-to-date 388 pages on the world of sparkling wine that it is possible to find in 2022. - Tom Stevenson, The World of Fine Wine
Rose writes well. Neat, dry, accessible, factual. This is a useful textbook ... If I were writing the WSET exam on sparkling wine, I would get this book and thumb it numb. - Tamlyn Currin, jancisrobinson.com
This is an academic book which will be of huge value to a student and will please the completist. - Adam Lechmere, Club Oenologique
Fizz! Is a brisk guide to a huge topic ... I particularly appreciated the complexities of bottle fermentation laid out so clearly. Very handy for reference. - Henry Jeffreys, timatkin.com
It should be essential reading for all WSET students, not least because of the breadth of coverage and the clear explanations of everything you need to know about production methods and the increased spread, and popularity, of fine sparkling wine throughout the whole wide world of wine. It is equally manageable for those merely interested in enjoying, and exploring further, perhaps the fastest growing and most successful wine style of the 21st Century. - David Crossley, Wide World of Wine
Brimming with facts and insight but never dull, the text zips along and is as “enchantingly ephemeral and enduringly exciting” as most of us find a glass full of bubbles to be. - Claire Harries, The Wine Merchant
A comprehensive work that translates the complex world of fizz into a subject anyone can appreciate. Entertaining, witty and erudite, the writer’s characteristic dry wit takes the reader on an effervescent journey through anything that bubbles. The impressive research weaves history, science, personalities and personal anecdote to make this a great read. - judging panel, Guild of Food Writers awards
