Celebrating an occasion or partying with friends, popping a bottle of champagne is a must. Sipping on it, you always find the taste to be a bit sweet or more strong, but did you ever wonder about the reason as to which it tastes like that?
There are many types of wine like rose wine, red wine, white wine, and more, out of which Champagne falls under the category of sparkling wine. Yes, Champagne is a type of wine, and the taste comes in many types out of which there are brut vs. extra dry.
Let’s add to our knowledge and know more about the differences between brut vs extra dry champagne.
The Champagne Guide
What is a Dry Wine?
Before talking about brut vs extra dry, do you know what makes a wine dry? The sugar content itself, the less the amount of residual sugars more the wine is dry. The sweetness from the sugar depends upon the duration of the fermentation of the wine.
During the fermentation process, the yeast which is used to make wine consumes the sugar. This means that if the wine is fermented for a longer time, the sweetness goes away, but the wine also becomes sweet if the time period is short.
So from the name, it is clear that the Extra dry champagne is not sweet in taste, but surprisingly, it remains sweeter than the Brut champagne. So the sugar residues in both brut vs extra dry champagne are quite low.
This shows that brut wine is also a type of dry wine.
Being bitter, the brutal and extra dry champagne is still among the world’s finest wines.
How is Sweetness Measured?
Most of the sparkling wines have 6 to 12 grams of sugar per liter, making the time of the process important.
The fermentation process of brut champagne takes almost 2 to 3 months, and they contain less than 2 grams of sugar, while that of extra dry champagne, the process can be 2 weeks long or can extend up to 2 months.
The shorter duration lets the sugar content be between 12 to 17 grams, making it sweeter than brut wine but still bitter than all the rest.
The amount of sugars makes the key point of brut vs. dry champagne.
There are many kinds of champagne and sparkling wines from which the extra brut and brut champagne falls under the bitter wine, while extra dry, dry, demi-sec, and doux falls under sweet wines, with doux being the sweetest.
The demi-sec is perfect for people with love for sweet wines with 32 to 50 grams of sugar per liter.
While the level of sweetness is a major difference, other factors are considered when talking about brut vs dry.
Other Factors Adding to the Taste
The sweetness of the wine depends upon the acid levels of the wine. The low acidity level produces sweeter wines, and more acid levels lead to bitter wines, which is generally the brut nature.
The hint of sweetness also depends on the fruits used, the grape being the major fruit, and other fruits that add to the sugar content.
When fruits like lemons are used, the champagne goes off to the bitter end. But at the same time, the use of tropical fruits makes the wine to be sweeter as tropical fruits have high sugar content.
The extra dry wine can refer to champagne and other wines as it includes a few varieties of non-sparkling wine. But when it comes to brut wine, it indicates only champagne originated from the region of France.
In the cases of dry wines, the addition of alcohol helps the wine be sweeter in taste.
The carbonation level is higher in brut vs extra dry, making the brut more sharp and crisp.
Origin
As we know that the brut champagne only indicates sparkling wine, which originated from France, the first wine was cultivated by the Romans in France’s northeast region.
When it was planted, the champagne region was originally pale pink in color and was later processed in all the different kinds of wine that we now see. There are vintage and non-vintage champagnes that last according to how they are stored.
How to Pair Your Wine – Brut vs Extra Dry!
While out dining, you make sure that the drink you order goes well with the food, don’t you? So, here are a few tips on deciding between brut vs extra dry to pair with your food.
Talking about the brut champagne first, it is more bitter and has a sharp taste pairs very well with heavy and savory foods like meat, kebabs, salmon, and more. They are not the best pair for creamy items.
Apart from savory, it also goes well with appetizers with high acid levels due to the level of acid content in the brut champagne.
When it comes to the extra dry wine or champagne, the perfect cuisine for this is Italian. The combination of creamy pasta and this wine is absolutely delicious. The wine being a bit sweeter than brut makes it a good pair even for light appetizers such as cheese.
We all have heard about the most famous dish in France being wine and cheese, and this extra dry wine is definitely one of the best for this combination.
This gives a lot of knowledge regarding brut vs extra dry and the pairing of food.
Modifications
Despite all these wines being fermented in different ways, the taste of the wine is also changed by adding some sugar amounts after the fermentation process occurs.
Many industries modify the taste as per the demands by this method of added sugar, which adds sweetness and enhances the taste of the wine overall, making it more demanding in the markets.
So, the next time you are at a party or ordering a bottle of champagne to celebrate an occasion, you will know quite a lot of details when it comes to brut vs extra dry champagne. And not only that, but you also feel happy inside when you impress your friends while you tell them all about the champagne.
