Mousse [moos] n.
The layer of bubbles that rises to the surface of a glass of champagne or sparkling wine.
Frequently asked questions
When will you open to the public?
We hope to open by Memorial Day of 2020. We want to share our wines with you as soon as we can, but renovating the building, installing the equipment, and making good wine takes time!
Where will we be able to buy your wine?
At the beginning, we plan to only sell our wine out of our tasting room in Jordan, Minnesota. Once the business grows, we will expand to sell in liquor stores and restaurants.
What kind of wines will you make?
We will specialize in sparkling wines - both Champagne-style and Prosecco-style - but we will also be making some hard apple and pear ciders, and a few traditional, or "still" wines for those who don't want the bubbles.
Why did you name your winery Mousse Sparkling Wine Co.?
Mousse [pronounced moos] is the French word for the bubbles that rise to the surface of a glass of Champagne. Just like the "head" on a glass of beer, the "mousse" is the foam that's created by the carbonation in the wine. We want to emphasize the fact that we specialize in all things bubbly, and at the same time tipping our hat to our location in the North, home of "moose" the animal.
Why do you call it "sparkling wine" instead of "Champagne"?
While we will be using the same techniques for making many of our sparkling wines as they do in France, we can't call our wines Champagne because that name is reserved only for wines that come from the Champagne region in France. We refer to our wines as sparkling wines or bubbly.
Note: We do sometimes refer to our winery as a "Champagnery". We realize that we don't actually make true "Champagne" for the reasons stated above, but as a winery that specializes in sparkling wines made in the champagne method, champagnery just has such a clear meaning and a nice ring to it that we can't help but use it to describe what we do.
What's the difference between Champagne, Prosecco, and Carbonated wines?
Each of these styles of wine contain carbon dioxide which create the bubbles, but each is made using differing techniques, and therefore taste different. Any of these styles of wine can be dry, off-dry, or sweet, depending on the winemaker's preference.
Champagnes tend to be richer and more full-bodied due to the longer ageing time in the bottle that they undergo. You might also see wines that say fermented in this bottle, méthode champenoise, or traditional method on the label -- all of these wines have been made using the same techniques as they do in Champagne, France. These wines tend to be more expensive due to the long ageing and more laborious process of making them.
Prosecco is usually made by letting the wine undergo a natural yeast fermentation in pressurized tanks, which creates and holds the carbonation in the wine. This is also called the Charmat or cuve close method. These wines don't spend as long ageing in the winery as Champagnes, so they tend to be a bit fruitier, crisper, and lighter-bodied. They also tend to be in the middle price range, because they're faster to make than méthode champenoise wines, and don't require as much hands-on labor.
Carbonated wines are made by injecting carbon dioxide into the wine in a pressurized tank. This is an "artificial" way to create bubbles in a wine, as opposed to using yeast to create the bubbles. Many bubbly fruit wines (made from fruit other than grapes), as well as most hard apple ciders, are made in this way. These wines tend to be the least expensive of all the bubblies, and are fruity, crisp, and light-bodied.
