Who doesn’t love a glass of “bubbly” to celebrate?.. Well, actually, I don’t, I find it too dry. This wonderful sorbet however adds sugar to the mix making it sweeter, much more palatable.

True champagne comes from the Champagne region of France, however American laws aren’t as strict as the French so any sparkling wine can be labelled as champagne.

Champagne is made from a blend of chardonnay, pinot noir, or pinot blanc grapes. Benedictine monk Dom Pérignon, celler master at the Abbey of Hautvillers until 1715, was credited for his work in the blending of champagnes and prevention of bottle explosion from carbonation by using thicker bottles and better corks. He did however consider the presence of bubbles a fault and spent his life trying to reduce their occurrence. He believed that pinot noir grapes gave the best flavour and by limiting the contact with the skin of the grapes helped him to produce white wine from red grapes.

In 1662, the English scientist Christopher Merret presented a paper detailing how the presence of sugar in a wine led to it sparkling, and that nearly any wine could be made to sparkle by adding sugar before bottling. This is one of the first known accounts of someone understanding the process of creating sparkling wine and suggests that British merchants were producing “sparkling Champagne” even before the French Champenois were deliberately making it.

Following the death of Louis XIV in 1715, his nephew Philippe II, the Duke of Orléans became the Regent of France. The Duke  enjoyed the sparkling Champagne and featured it at his nightly petits soupers at the Palais-Royal. This sparked a craze in Paris as everyone sought to emulate the Duke’s tastes.

Since then champagne has had it’s ups and downs but it still remains central to many celebrations today.

This sorbet was remarkably easy to make. I made a simple syrup (equal quantities of sugar and water) and then added it to a bottle of champagne. Chilled overnight (more for convenience than necessity, just chill it down however fast or slow you like) and then churned.

It had a soft texture, it melted very quickly, a sign of too much alcohol. Not too much however as it did churn and freeze beautifully.

It had a very light and refreshing taste, perfect for the summer, the flavour a blend of dry and sweet at the same time.