Grapevine

Chances are good that during the holiday season, you found yourself holding a glass of champagne. If the festivities were flagging, a question may have crossed your mind: What causes those delightful little bubbles that tickle your nose? In Uncorked: The Science of Champagne (Princeton University Press; 152 pages), Grard Liger-Belair answers this and other questions that have occupied the wine world since the night French monk Dom Prignon invented champagne in the late 17th century. Liger-Belair, an associate professor of physical sciences at the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne, used sophisticated photographic equipment to observe what really happens inside the glass....