Champagne owes its taste to finely tuned bubbles: study

The taste of champagne is a result of the complex interplay between the level of carbon dioxide and volatile aromatic compounds dispersed in bubbles, researchers have found.
Gerard Liger-Belair from CNRS (Centre national de la recherche scientifique) in France created a model to minutely describe the journey of the gas contained in each bubble.
It starts from the yeast-based fermentation process in grapes, which creates carbon dioxide (CO2), and goes all the way to the nucleation and rise of gaseous CO2 bubbles in the champagne flute.
It also includes how the CO2 within the sealed bottle is kept in a form of finely tuned equilibrium and then goes into the fascinating cork-popping process.

Researchers also demystified the process behind the collapse of bubbles.
It is based on research conducted by a team from Pierre and Marie Curie University in France, led by Thomas Seon.
When a champagne bubble reaches an air-liquid interface, it bursts, projecting a multitude of tiny droplets into the air, creating an aerosol containing a concentration of wine aromas.
The research was published in the journal EPJ Special Topics.