Morning fog over Champagne vineyards. Image by Sherry Stolar. Between each panel, there are columns, each with a stone bust at the top conveying one of the emotions experienced after drinking Champagne: Joy, Love, Genius, and Courage. Mural in Reims, France. A new home. A wedding. A baby. A winning sports match. How many of these were commemorated by popping a bottle of Champagne?
Yet, despite our undisputed taste for Champagne and the positive emotions it brings us, most of us know very little about it. Read on for a brief introduction to the world of Champagne. With deeper understanding, joy and love may just be accompanied by strokes of genius and courage at your next celebration! Glasses of Taittinger ready to toast.
Only sparkling wines from this region can carry the Champagne name. Champagne is divided into five major regions, each of which has its own unique soil types and specializes in specific grape varieties. While there are various styles of Champagne see the list at the bottom of this article , all wines within the Champagne region are permitted to be made with seven grapes: Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Petit Meslier, and Arban.
Champagne starts as a still wine, to which is added a mixture of sugar and yeast. The bottle is sealed and, as the sugar and yeast interact to produce alcohol and carbon dioxide, the carbon dioxide gets trapped in the bottle, creating bubbles. The now sparkling wine is aged in bottle for a minimum of 12 months on the lees, although most are aged longer.
The longer the wine is aged on its lees, or dead yeast cells, the more complex aromas and flavor profiles result wines with longer lees aging often express what are known as autolytic notes of bread, brioche, toast, etc. By a process known as riddling the bottle is slowly turned upside down — by hand traditionally, but more commonly by machine today — sending the dead yeast cells to the neck of the bottle.
