Champagne

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Champagne

Champagne
© Denzil Green


The grapes used to make Champagne are the same for the most part as those used to produce sparkling wines all over the world. What's reputedly different about the sparkling wine made in the Champagne area of France is the climate and the techniques used; what's assuredly different is that the producers in Champagne have made sure they're the only ones legally allowed to call their product "Champagne."

Some Champagnes are made all from Chardonnay grapes, some are made all from Pinot Noir or Pinot Meunier, though most are made from a blend of these grapes. In addition to being a blend of grapes, most Champagne is a blend of batches of wine made from those different grapes, in different years, by different wine makers. The more expensive Champagnes, called vintage, will be all of a single batch.

Most champagne comes with an indentation (called a "punt") in the bottom of the bottle. This is designed to allow any sediment to settle. Most bottles are also tinted green. The one exception is bottles for Louis Roederer champagne. The bottles are clear, and the bottom is flat.

Many food writers will say outright that it is wrong to prefer sparkling wines produced elsewhere in the world to Champagne. Many people who actually prefer Australian or New Zealand or Spanish sparkling whites have been shamed by them -- and by the Champagne marketing machine -- out of buying and serving them because they're not Champagne. Time to end this nonsense.


Substitutes
Fizzy white grape juice, fizzy wine, white wine, ginger ale, beer.

Nutrition
Champagne tends to have somewhat fewer calories than other types of wine.

Equivalents
1 750 ml bottle will provide enough for 6 to 7 flute glasses.

History
Champagne was the first wine to appear in the cork-stoppered bottles that we are familiar with today. Like all wine, previously sold in casks, flasks and other containers, its sale in bottles was finally allowed by a decree from Louis XV on 25 May 1728. The decree allowed for it to be sold in baskets containing 50 and 100 bottles.

The first merchant to act on this was Nicolas Ruinart in September 1729.

Churchill, who lived to be 91, drank a bottle a day of Pol Roger Champagne. When he died, the Pol Roger family issued bottles with a black border of mourning around the label.

Language Notes
The Romans named the Champagne area of France "campania", because they felt it the flatlands resembled Campania in Italy.

Also called:
Vino de Champana (Spanish) Top...