What do you know about champagne?dicovering the world famous french wine.

Spoon or saber or manual opening style, no matter how, thousands of champagne corks have been blown this summer. If you too have been struck by the French charm for this wine, here is the article for you.
Find out the essentials about this wine, the most famous bottles, the history and what is the best champagne to give.

What Champagne is?

It is a sparkling wine, coming from only one specific area of ​​France called Champagne. This area is in the north east of Paris and has Reims and Epernay as its reference cities.
The birth of this wine bears the signature of a man, the Benedictine monk Dom Perignon, cellarman of the Hatvillers abbey, near Epernay. Although various documents would show that sparkling winemaking was known in other Benedictine abbeys in the Marche and Brescia, it was the French monk who codified the method in 1670.
The friar needed to solve a serious problem of wine conservation. In other words, as the temperature increasing in springtime, the yeasts present in the wine was restarting the fermentation. The double fermentation also caused the breaking of numerous bottles. How to solve the problem?

Gasbusters.

The first obstacle to overcome was related to the container, the bottles were then very fragile. But the glassmaking technique was changing. From England industry, coal replaced wood-burning ovens. The much more powerful charcoal oven could produce much thicker and more resistant glass.
Once the first problem was solved, it was necessary to understand how to “catch the stars”. Dom Perignon decided to use wooden corks anchoring them to the neck of the bottle with a cage. This revolutionary invention allowed the friar to succeed in the enterprise. The Champenois method was born. All classic method sparkling wines are produced today with this method, not only the Champagne ones.

Which grapes are used?

You must know that the vines used for champagne are mainly Chardonnay, Pinot noir and Pinot Meunier. Grown on marly, clayey and calcareous soils with a strong chlorine base. The base wine can be made with a single grape variety, or with a mix of the varieties listed, chosen by the producer based on the final result he wants to obtain.
For example, if you want to create a fresh, light, and elegant champagne, you will use only Chardonnay. If you want to make a more long-lived and full-bodied champagne, you will mainly use Pinot Noir.

How many champagne producers do you know?

Instinctively you will not get to list more than 6. However, know that the extensive area of ​​over 33,000 cultivated hectares has about 5,000 producers with their own label. In addition, 14,000 growers are suppliers of third-party producers. There are 5 major reference macro-areas: Aube, Cote des Blancs, Cote de Sèzanne, Montaigne de Reims, Vallée de la Marne. Each area has a different microclimate and soil composition, it is not surprising that the Champagnes are all different from each other.

Are you already dizzy? Let us simplify and come up with some names.

Do you want a champagne of exceptional quality? A delicate and fresh to combine with an aperitif based on raw fish, canapés or flakes of Parmesan likewise cheese or a sliced ​​salmon with dill? The best choice is a Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru from the Cote de Blancs. Thanks to the chalky soil and the position, the Chardonnay vines here express their potential to the fullest, giving life to very elegant champagnes. Recommended producers: Agrapart, Bruno Paillard, Roeder, Taittnger, Jaques Selosse

For dishes such as risotto with porcini mushrooms or rice flans, baked game in white or important fish, a Blanc de noirs are the right choice. Especially if coming from the Vallée de la Marne area. Recommended producers: Philipponnant, Delouvin Nowack, Demiére, Eric Taillet.

The best champagne for the classic paired with strawberries? A White or Rosé with a Brut or demi sec dosage based on Pinot Noir.

We keep in mind that Rosé are among the most expensive champagnes in the world, one of the first in the ranking is certainly the Champagne Brut Rosé “Armand de Brignac” Magnum by Cattier. Rosé Champagne Ruinart Rosé, as well as Krug Rosé, are more affordable and in the public domain. Super trendy and iconic, Il Dom Pérignon Vintage Rosé. For a declaration of marriage: Champagne Perrier Jouet Belle Epoque.

Are you still reading this article? Wow, you are really interested in Champagne! Let’s go deep into the matter.

What do we need to know when choosing a bottle of champagne?

Let us start by reading the label:

• Champagne: it must be indicated to identify the original product
• The producer: the name of the winery
• The name of the champagne: the fantasy name given by the producer to the wine
• The sugar content in the bottle: indicated by the words PAS DOSE ‘(without adding extra sugar <3gr / l) or EXTRA BRUT (rather dry wine <6gr / l) BRUT (dry but more sweet than the previous ones <12gr / l) SEC O DRY (significant sugar between 17 and 32 g / l) DEMI-SEC (sweet taste with sugars between 32 and 50 gr / l) DOUX (sweet champagne> 50gr / l)
• Vol%: alcohol content

Informations about grapes:

• Blanc de Blancs: champagne produced exclusively from Chardonnay grapes
• Rosé: champagne produced with rosé as base wine
• Blanc de noirs: champagne with base wine from red grapes vinified in white
• Vintage or Millesimée (Millesimato): champagne obtained from must obtained from vines of a single vintage. So, on the label we will find the year of the harvest. To clarify, a vintage champagne is not necessarily better than a non-vintage one. But of course, if a producer has wanted to make it with grapes from a specific harvest there will be a reason. Anyway, only time will judge the good choice.
• Cuvée: champagne obtained from a mix of different grape varieties from the same or different vintages.
• Gran cuvée: champagne obtained from a mix of different grape varieties, from the same vintage or from different vintages, but identified as the best of the same or more vintages.

Informations about origin and quality:

• Grand Cru: Only 17 villages on 4000 hectares are classified as Grand Cru. If we read this wording on the label, we know that champagne is produced exclusively from grapes from the best certified soils and climatic conditions.
• Premier Cru: if we read this wording it means that the champagne comes from one of the 44 villages that delimit an area of ​​5000 hectares. These villages have been given a slightly lower score than the Grand Crus so the base grapes are slightly less expensive than the former.
• Deuxiéeme Cru: 255 other villages are without Cru. Some vineyards are in the areas of the most noble, but they have not been included in the two most fortunate lists.

Informations about producers:

• R.M = Recoltant Manipulant: if we read the wording R.M on the label it means that the producer always controls the production process, from the ripening of the grapes to evolution. There are about 2000 producers, including those identified as “Les Champagnes de Vignerons”.
• NM – Négociant Manipulant: there are about 200 producers who use all or part of grapes purchased from other growers. The big houses that produce many bottles belong to this category.
• RC – Récoltant-Coopérateur: there are about 3000 cooperative Companies that exclusively trade wine produced from grapes from the cooperative’s vineyards.
• SR – Société de Récoltants: they are firms united in partnership to trade the wine produced from the company’s vineyards. They are usually companies of the same family.
• CM – Coopérative de Manipulation: there are about one hundred cooperative companies that grow and produce wine and do not sell it directly.
• MA – Marque d’Acheteur (o Marque Auxiliaire o Marque Autorisée): the producer owns the brand but is not involved in cultivation and winemaking. He buys champagne and brands it for his own use, such as a restaurant likewise a board.
• ND – Négociant-Distributeur: The producer indicated on the label is an individual or company who buys finished Champagne, labels it and resells it.

You are ready for your netx ride to the wineshop! Cheers