Wine Basics: Champagne Primer and the History of Champagne

Sparkling wines can only be labelled Champagne if 1. the grapes must originate from the Champagne region (northeast area of France); 2/secondary fermentation must take place in the bottle

Champagne substitutes like Cava, Prosecco and Cremant D'Alsace are made using a similar process but different grapes. In the case of Prosecco, fermentation occurs in stainless steel vats.

Wine has been made in the Champagne region since the 5th century. At that time, almost all wine produced and drunk were red wines. The neighboring region of Burgundy was much more suited to producing red wines as the Champagne region did not have the climatic conditions to fully ripen many red wine producing grape varietal. So the wines produced in Champagne were paler, more acidic and lighter in to style (and not as popular to consumers in ancient times).

The person who is most associated with the creation of Champagne is Dom Perignon. However, he was not the person who “invented” champagne. In 1662, an English scientist and physician Christopher Merret, documented the addition of sugar to a finished wine to create a second fermentation, which is still the method used to produce Champagne today.

All Champagnes must spend at least 15 months maturing in the winemaker’s cellars before release. Vintage cuvées are matured for at least three years. In practice, nearly all Champagne houses age their wine longer than what is required: typically 2-3 years for non-vintage wines and 4-10 years for vintage Champagne.

There are different levels of sweetness of the champagne. From driest to sweetest it is Extra Brut, Brut, Extra Sec, Sec, Demi Sec, Doux

There are 4 main areas in the Champagne region: Côte des Bar, the Côte des Blancs, the Montagne de Reims, and the Vallée de la Marne and their are 3 classification levels: Grand Cru, Premier Cru and Autre Cru