Fizzy Business - Regis College

moment. Crane finished the 10-week program
at the Institute, packed her Impala, and drove
across the country in a beeline.
EDuCATION OF A wINEMAkER
At Davis, Crane was briefly discouraged. The
traditional path into winemaking involved four
years of undergraduate work in fermentation
sciences, two years of graduate school—and
was not welcoming toward women.
“A male professor said, ‘Nobody’s going to hire
you because you’re a woman and you won’t be
able to do the heavy barrel work,’” Crane recalls.
A second opinion from a woman professor on
the Davis faculty was more constructive. Her
advice was for Crane to audit some classes,
persuade someone to give her an entry-level
job, then prove herself from there. “And that’s
what I did,” Crane says. She was at Davis for
all of four months, then landed work as a parttime
tour guide at the sparkling-wine producer
Chandon, in Napa Valley. When the winemaker
there left on short notice, Crane was pressed
into service in the lab—the proverbial break
forecast by the woman professor.
Crane’s time in the lab provided the immersive
education in winemaking that she’d hoped
for when she hopped in her Impala and headed
west. It also introduced her to a small circle of
California winemakers specializing in sparkling
wine, or champagne. Of thousands of California
winemakers to this day, Crane estimates only
10 are in the fizzy business in earnest.
Once in the club, Crane’s ascent was steep.
From Chandon she was hired away by a Napa
sparkling-wine producer, Gloria Ferrer, to
build their fledgling facility from the ground
up. When the French champagne-producing
family Taittinger decided to establish a base of
operations in the region, Crane’s name topped
their list.
That was in 1987, nine years after her
first industry job as a tour guide. Crane and
Taittinger, which still owns 50 percent of
Domaine Chandon, remain happily entangled
23 years later. “It’s been a very good match,”
she says. “They’re interested in nothing but
the very best quality; that’s what I’m interested
in too. There’s no point in spending your life
doing something that’s not as good as it possibly
can be.”
Sparkling tipS
• most wine lovers know to fill a
glass to its widest point for swirling
and the release of aromas.
But what about straight and narrow
flutes? to enjoy a sparkling
wine’s enticing aromas, only fill
your flutes one-third full.
• For top quality, the tinier the
bubble the better. Bubbles help
release the wine’s flavor and
aroma—so more is better, and
tiny bubbles translate to a creamier
texture on the palate.
• you say champagne, i say sparkling
wine. Why? Because using
the name of the place where the
grapes are grown is the birthright
of that region, in this case the
Champagne region of France.
• For optimal taste and cork
removal, sparkling wine should
be served at 40-45 degrees F.
you can chill it in the fridge for
two hours or pop it in the freezer
for 20 minutes. But the classic,
stylish, 10-minute method is in
a wine bucket filled with ice
and salt.
• Brut to demi-sec, dry to
sweet, sparkling wine
styles depend on the
amount of sugar that’s
added to balance the
wine. Brut has almost no
sweetness and is very
food friendly. Demi-
sec pairs nicely with
dessert and fruit.
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