Category Archives: Sparkling Wine (Champagne)

Sparkling wine is a wine with significant levels of carbon dioxide in it, making it fizzy. While the phrase commonly refers to champagne, EU countries legally reserve that term for products exclusively produced in the Champagne region of France.

Sparkling wine is usually either white or rosé, but there are examples of red sparkling wines such as the Italian Brachetto, Bonarda and Lambrusco, Australian sparkling Shiraz, and Azerbaijani “Pearl of Azerbaijan” made from Madrasa grapes.

The sweetness of sparkling wine can range from very dry brut styles to sweeter doux varieties (French for ‘hard’ and ‘soft’, respectively).

Go With a Glass of Bubbly Champagne

Bubbly Champagne is the most well-known sparkling wine. Champagne has an alcohol concentration of about 10% to 12%. At the same time, some wines are “fortified” with distilled alcohol. Marsala, Port, Madeira, Sherry, and Vermouth, are other good fortified wines. They usually contain about 20% ABV.

What is champagne? 

Champagne is a sparkling wine. But not all sparkling wines are Champagne. A wine only coming from the Champagne region in northern France is Champagne. Champagne or U.S. sparkling wine is typically made from a blend of three grapes: chardonnay, pinot meunier and pinot noir.

Types of Champagne

When you want to make an event special, you don’t look for a nice and reliable glass of red. You toast it with Champagne. Just because you can clink glasses of red with a large group of friends, it does not mean we have to ditch the bubbly Champagne. 

Most people don’t have much experience with Champagne since it is mainly enjoyed on special occasions. This guide to types of Champagne is meant to help you find the right kind of Champagne for all events. Get going and pick the perfect base for your celebrations.

Types of Champagne According to Sweetness Designations

  • Extra brut: bone dry.
  • Brut: very dry.
  • Brut nature: extra bone dry.
  • Dry: somewhat dry.
  • Extra dry: but less dry than brut.
  • Demi-sec: sweet, typically a sparkling dessert wine.
  • Doux: very sweet, also typically a dessert wine.

Does Champagne have alcohol?

Yes, deceptively. Champagne is relatively low in alcohol content and seems like an innocent drink. However, just like any other wine, Champagne contains alcohol.

What does champagne taste like?

Quality Champagne boasts a velvety mouthfeel. It comes with peach, almond, citrus, cherry, cream and toast. You know you’re drinking a quality Champagne when acidulous bubbles burst across your palate. Apart from an exquisite taste, Champagne also displays a subtle aroma.

Which Champagne is best of all?

There are as many good occasions as there are reasons to celebrate with Champagne. Birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, Fridays are great times to pop a bottle of champagne. In fact, any time is a good time to sip a little bubbly. Tipplers typically feel overwhelmed at the plethora of options available. Whether you’re looking for the ideal bottle to serve at brunch or the right cuvée for gifting, take the guesswork out of choosing. Here are a few of our very favorite bottles that are sure to please your palate.

The Best Champagne For All Types of Celebrations

  • Moet & Chandon Imperial.
  • Bollinger Brut Special Cuvee.
  • Pol Roger Brut Champagne.
  • Veuve Clicquot Brut Yellow Label.
  • Ruinart Blanc de Blancs.
  • Billecart-Salmon Brut Reserve.
  • Taittinger Brut Champagne.
  • Dom Pérignon Plenitude Vintage 2003.

What’s the difference between sparkling wine & champagne?

Sparkling wines, as opposed to still wines, are saturated with carbon dioxide gas molecules. It makes them fizzy or bubbly. Sparkling wines are made worldwide using a variety of grapes and production methods. Though Champagne also is a sparkling wine, not all sparkling wines are Champagne.

Why is champagne called champagne?

This wine is named after the region where it is grown, fermented, and bottled. Nestled in the country’s north-eastern corner, Champagne is near Paris in France. According to European Law, wines bottled within 100 miles of this region only have labels legally allowed bearing the name “Champagne.”

What is the appeal of champagne?

The appeal of Champagne is that you can drink it as an aperitif. It can accompany your meal on a regular weekday as well. Or whenever you are in the mood for Champagne. It is always Champagne time! A large part of the appeal of Champagne is due to the bubbles spilling over when the bottle is uncorked. 

Why is Champagne so expensive?

The harsh climate of Champagne in France causes the winemaking process to be challenging. These conditions contribute to an expensive price tag on the final product. The average annual temperature of the region is only 52 degrees. The climate is nowhere near as lush and tropical as California or Provence.

Is Champagne made in India?

Moet Hennessy’s biggest champagne house has recently launched its first “made in India” sparkling wine. It seeks to capture a young, urban and increasingly sophisticated market.

Want to Buy One?

Why the Flute & Champagne Became Fast Friends

Why the Flute & Champagne Became Fast Friends

Why the Flute & Champagne Became Fast Friends

Quite often, the Champagne flute is not the best choice for your bubbly drink. The truth is that white wine glass or something similar can enhance your fine Champagne experience much better.

Champagne Down Generations

Imbibers though for generations thought that the Champagne flute radiated elegance. Wielding a bubbles-filled flute was conferred with a dose. A dosage of class. It is not that the flute has eventually lost its appeal. The flute is still widely used and seen as both, sensible and sexy.

However, now winemakers, sommeliers, and regular sparkling wine lovers are increasingly being enlightened to a notion that was once considered taboo. The idea that flute, after all, is not the best vessel for appreciating fine Champagne is gaining ground.

Fast Friendship Between Flute & Champagne

Let us take a moment here to think about why a flute and Champagne in the first place became such fast friends. Is it the narrow design of the flute that was first called to serve as a method of wrangling an unwieldy sentiment? It is well known that Champagne was normally served with, or as, dessert.

And if it was served filled in a glass at dinnertime, the sediment would have collected at the bottom of the glass by the time the drinker was ready to partake.

Modern Day Drinkers Think Otherwise

The flute however has stood the test of time for more than 200 years that disgorgement or the removal of lees from a bottle of Champagne is convenient. But then, the modern-day drinkers think otherwise. For them, it is like we are suffocating our sparkling wine and hindering full enjoyment of Champagnes’ finest expressions.

Champagne After All is Wine as Such

Treat it likewise! Is it not that consuming Champagne from a wider glass instead of in a thin flute allows the drinker to experience more of the aromatic spectrum, though it is easy to regard this sparkling drink as a category by itself? It would be wiser here to remember that it is a type of wine as such.

It is the tendency of Champagne drinkers to ignore the fact that it is indeed a type of wine that is largely responsible for keeping the flute in vogue. Despite this, the glass is fast gaining industry-wide recognition. Champagne in glass allows drinkers to breathe in the flavor along with all of its layers.

Blind Faith When It Comes to Champagne

Nevertheless, a peek into many of the Champagne’s finest houses reveals that the flute dissenter is a must. Modern-day glassware companies now say that they are inspired to take up the fight and design a new glass for Champagne. Many have started and became motivated to take a stand.

They are bent on changing the way people drink Champagne. Eventually, the result is that glasses with wider, yet still constrained lip are coming into the picture. It flares the partway down the bowl before constricting into a bottom that is still slim.

The Ideal Alternate to the Champagne Flute

Yes, it is the Blida! Blida is a type of small, but stemless glass that is used by locals within the Champagne region. They can be painted or come in mismatched styles. They also easily pack into a bag for the beach or the park. Named after a city in Algeria, they are widespread here for drinking tea.

Other Preferences for Consuming Champagne

Some others prefer to drink Champagne from a white wine glass. These glasses have a lip that is slightly smaller in radius than the base of the glass. Carbon dioxide can become too pronounced if the glass is having too much of a bowl.

This is why several glassware companies are now making Champagne glasses incorporating characteristics of both the bowl shape and the thin flute. These are a perfect balance for the sparkling wine.

The Flute is not Dead Yet

Don’t kill the flute! Although some people have taken a hard line that Champagne should never be served in a flute, there are others who are quite flexible. Flutes as such send a festive signal. There are occasions that call for a flute. Flutes are ideal when Champagne is consumed instantly. The narrow flute in such instances helps the still-common coupe glass lose bubbles even more rapidly.

However, this may not be true when Champagne is served in a soiree setting where glasses of bubbles are poured and are left sitting for a time before being passed around. Use them in settings where you are concerned that the wine may lose much carbonation while you would like to retain its satisfying effervescence for a longer period of time.

Matter of the Type of Champagne

Then there is the type of Champagne or sparkling wine that you are serving matters. Try opting for a white wine glass for blanc de blanc Champagnes. Another for a rose Champagne unless it is a vintage release. The thumb rule is that allow the aromatics of the wine to fully express itself.

This will work best and you can count on the results. Remember, not every sparkling wine can stand up to the test of increased scrutiny. Stick to the traditional flute for prosecco, cava, and crémant.

Celebrating with Champagne

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Celebrating with Champagne

Champagne is sparkling wine which is produced from grapes grown in Champagne region of France. Primary types of grapes which are used for producing Champagne are Pinot Meunier, black Pinot noir & white Chardonnay. Secondary fermentation of Champagne happens within the bottle so as to create carbonation of wine.

Sparkling wine in fact was originally accidentally created when due to pressure the bottle exploded or corks popped out. Champagne sales now have hit an all-time high with 338.7 million bottles sold in 2007.

Right to be Called Champagne

There are a comprehensive set of rules & regulations for wine produced within this region of France to be called Champagne. Some of these include codification of suitable places to grow these types of grapes and a lengthy set of requirements which specify aspects of viticulture, including pruning, vineyard yield, degree of pressing and the time wine must remain on lees prior to bottling.

Limiting release of the finished product to market is also taken into account in order to maintain prices. Only when wine grown in this region adheres to these specifications has the right to be called Champagne.

Celebrating with Champagne

Other Sparkling Wines Produced Worldwide

Although sparkling wines are produced worldwide, they cannot be termed Champagne unless it is produced in this specific region of France. The term Champagne is legally protected by Madrid system under a treaty. Majority of sparkling wines produced globally do not use Champagne as labels.

Several producers of sparkling wine use other terms to define their product like Cava in Spain, Spumante in Italy and Cap Classique in South Africa. Sekt is a common type of sparkling wine in Germany. Even other regions of France manufacturing wine cannot use the term Champagne and use terms like Cremant.

However, regardless of origin or legal requirements for labeling, Champagne is a generic term which is used for sparkling wines. Nevertheless, all sparkling wines produced in Soviet Union are still known as ‘Shampanskoe’ which in Russian is termed for Champagne.

Champagne Etiquette

Usually served in a Champagne flute featuring a long stem with a tall & narrow bowl alongside thin sides and an etched bottom which tends to disperse nose and over-oxygenate wine, Champagne is always served cold at 7 to 9 degrees centigrade. Champagne is often chilled for 30 minutes in a bucket of ice and water before being served.

Usually, this is to make Champagne less gassy and can also be opened without any spillage. Other attributes to Champagne etiquette include opening bottles, pouring the wine and spraying Champagne.

While pouring Champagne involves avoiding bubble formation, spraying Champagne is an integral parts of sports celebration at Formula 1 grand Prix events. Another practice which is known as ‘Shoey’ involving drinking Champagne from shoe was initiated by Australian sports competitors in the year 2015.

More on Champagne

Over one hundred Champagne houses and 19,000 vine-growing producers in Champagne region of France manage about 32,000 hectares of vineyards. Moreover, the type of producer manufacturing Champagne can be identified by abbreviations on official number of the bottle.

However, most Champagne sold nowadays is non-vintage; meaning that it is a blended product of grapes taken from multiple vintages.