Contact details

University Professor of chemical physics at the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne

Author

E-mail: gerard.liger-belair@univ-reims.fr

Key words

Champagne, sparkling wines, bubbles, foams, CO2, dissolved gases, cork, oxydation

Since the past decades, a large body of research has been devoted to bubbles and foams dynamics. Nevertheless, and very surprisingly, physical and chemical processes behind the formation of bubbles in Champagne wines (and more generally in a sparkling beverage) remained completely unexplored until the late 1990s. In the small volume of a champagne flute, each and every step of a fleeting bubble’s life can be found. A bubble nucleates inside an immersed particle, grows while rising through the liquid surface, where it finally explodes in a very visually appealing mechanical process. Each of these steps deserves particular attention, in order to better understand and finally improve the bubbling dynamics in tasting conditions. This is what I strongly believe in since the beginning of my career.

Resume

You will find hereby a resume of my career:

2001

PhD Thesis from Reims University, France

Research topic « A first approach of the physical processes behind the bubbling phenomena found in Champagne wines ».

2002-2007

Associate Professor of chemical physics in Reims University

2007-...

Full Professor of chemical physics in Reims University

Author of more than one hundred scientific or technical articles dealing with bubbling phenomena found in champagne and other sparkling beverages.

I regularly give lectures, seminars and talks devoted to specialists or to a wide audience, in or outside France, including a talk at the New York Academy of Sciences in April 2008.

http://www.nyas.org/Publications/Media/VideoDetail.aspx?cid=76a24492-e330-4214-920b-9108ef5bc1db

Author of several academic or popular science books, including:

- Uncorked, the science of champagne, Princeton University Press, 2004 (translated into 5 languages) http://press.princeton.edu/titles/7811.html

- Bulle de Champagne, Perrin, 2005

- Les vins effervescents, du terroir à la bulle, Dunod, 2008

- Effervescence ! la science du champagne, Odile Jacob, 2009

- Voyage au cœur d’une bulle de champagne,Odile Jacob, 2011

- Champagne, la vie secrète des bulles,Cherche Midi, 2014

Recipient of several awards and recognitions, including the 2004 Award for Professional Scholarly Book in Physics from the Association of American Publishers, and the 2003 « coup de cœur » prize of the Amorim Academy.

Over 10 years of food industry collaboration, with groups such as ARC International, MHCS, Vranken Pommery, Diageo, InBev, etc.

I have a passion for microphotography. My “bubbles” series appeared in numerous exhibition and art galleries.

I share some of my bubbles’ knowledge with a wider audience through several Radio and TV shows, and through press magazines devoted to popular science. You’ll find a selection hereafter:

TV shows

- Interview for the National Geographic Channel (January, 2003).

- Interview for I-Télé channel (October, 2005).

- Invited for the TV show « On a tout essayé » on the France2 channel (December, 2005).

- Interview for the popular show « Mondes et Merveilles », on the France5 channel (December, 2006).

- Interview for the TV News on theFrance 2 channel (December, 2009).

Radio

- « Osmose », France Inter (November, 2006).

- Live show « La tête au carré », France Inter (November, 2006).

- « C’est déjà le matin », France Inter (December, 2006).

- Live on the BBC news (Today – « It’s all about bubbles!») (September, 2009).

- Live show « La tête au carré », France Inter (April, 2015).

Press

- « Le champagne dans tous ses états », in Le Figaro n° 18469 (December, 2003).

- « La science soigne son image », in L’Express n° 2737 (November, 2004)

- « Ohne Fusseln kein Sprudeln », in the weekly german magazine Der Spiegel, vol. 42, p 177 (November, 2006)

- « Le mystère de la bulle de champagne », interview and illustration in the french weekly magazine Le Nouvel Observateur, n° 2198, p 140 (December, 2006)

- « Warum Champagner perlt – und vor allem: wie? », in the daily german journal Die Welt (December, 2006)

- « Trying to clear absinthe’s reputation », interview published in The New-York Times (January, 3rd 2007)

- « Champagne science: study reveals chemical components in bubbles », interview published in The Guardian (September, 28^th2009)

- “Flavor and aroma rise in champagne bubbles”, interview published in The New York Times (September, 29^th 2009)

- « The festive side of carbon dioxide », interview for the Wall Street Journal (December, 18^th 2009). http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126108284326695963.html

- « Champagne fizzics : science backs pouring sideways », interview for the Washington Times (August, 13th 2010). http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/aug/12/champagne-fizzics-science-backs-pouring-sideways/