Bubbly Really Is All About the Bubbles

It turns out the bubbles are indeed the most important part of “the bubbly.” According to a new study, most of a champagne’s flavor comes from its bubbles, which contain up to 30 times more flavorful chemicals than the rest of the drink. It’s a watershed finding, wine experts tell the BBC, and it proves that glasses like flutes, which encourage more bubbles to rise, are essential to the experience.

“In the past, we thought that the carbon dioxide in the bubbles just gave the wine an acidic bite and a little tingle on the tongue,” one connoisseur says. “This study shows that it is much more than this.” (More champagne stories.)