Champagne is a sparkling wine that only comes from the Champagne region of France. Champagne is often a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier that gets its bubbles from a second fermentation in a bottle.
Where does Champagne come from?
All authentic Champagne wine comes from the Champagne region of France. Legally, for a sparkling wine to be called Champagne, it must be grown and made in this region that’s about two hours outside of Paris. Any other bubbly made outside of this region is a sparkling wine, even if it has the word “Champagne” in the name.
Many people think the first French sparkling wines were made in Champagne, but that distinction goes to the region of Limoux. Monks were the first winemakers in France, and a monk at the abbey in Saint Hilaire created the first effervescent wines. But, it was the monk Dom Pierre Perignon in Champagne, who created the demand for these sparkling wines by marketing them as a distinctive luxury beverage. He also figured out how to make white wine from purple grapes.
Perhaps you’ve heard Perignon’s famous quote about tasting Champagne: “Come quickly, brothers, I am drinking stars.” When Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin (a.k.a. the Veuve Clicquot) took over her family’s Champagne business after her husband died, all champagnes were cloudy wines. She figured out how to clarify Champagne and make it the crystal-clear wine we know and love today.
What is the best Champagne?
The best Champagne is the one that appeals to your palate and pairs with what you’re eating. Champagne comes in many different styles and sweetness levels, so you’ll want to try a few to find the ones you like best. The choices include Blanc de Blancs made from 100% Chardonnay; Brut Rosé, often a blend of purple and white grapes; and rich-tasting Blanc de Noirs made from purple grapes. You can also find Champagnes with different levels of sweetness ranging from bone dry Brut nature, which is great for people following a keto diet to popular Brut Champagne, to demi-sec dessert styles, such as Moet Champagne Nectar Imperial.
What is the best cheap Champagne to buy?
To find the best values in authentic French Champagne, look to smaller wineries rather than prestige houses. Many connoisseurs prefer grower Champagne or “farmer fizz” made by Champenoise families who grow their grapes and bottle their own Champagne.” Total Wine & More’s buyers visit Champagne countryside regularly to discover incredible values in Champagne, including Chateau LaForge, Comtesse Gerin, and Champagne GF Duntze.
How is Champagne made?
Champagne starts as a still wine blend–usually Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier—and it develops bubbles during a process called ‘Methode Champenoise’ or the Champagne method.
Here’s the most common way of making Champagne:
- The winemaking process starts with picking grapes at the right time. For Champagne, grapes are picked earlier than for still wines because the winemaker wants fruit that has higher acidity and less sugar.
- The grapes are de-stemmed, and then both white grapes like Chardonnay and Pinot Gris, as well as purple grapes Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, are gently pressed to extract the juice. The skins are thrown away.
- Next, each type of juice (Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, etc.) is fermented separately to create a base wine. The juice goes in a big tank or wood barrel, and yeast is added to start fermentation. As the yeast eats the sugar in grape juice, the sugar is converted into alcohol. This step is called the primary fermentation.
- Once the fermentation is finished, the winemaker tastes each type of wine. Then they create a blend of those wines, plus some older wines from previous harvests, so the final assembled blend fits the flavor profile they want. This step is called assemblage.
- The blend is bottled, and each bottle is topped off with a mixture of wine, sugar, and yeast, called the liqueur d’expedition. Finally, the bottle is sealed. As the yeast eats the sugar, it creates alcohol and CO2 gas bubbles, which are trapped inside the wine. This second fermentation inside a bottle is what makes this wine made under the Methode Champenoise or Champagne Method. The yeast cells in the bottle give the wine aromas and flavors of bread crust, toast, and nuts.
- After the wine has aged long enough, the bottles are carefully turned and tilted downward, so the yeast settles in the neck of the bottle. Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin, the Veuve (widow in French) Clicquot, invented riddling, the process to clarify Champagne.
- Once the yeast has settled at the top of the bottle, the neck of each bottle is frozen and then opened quickly to remove the yeast, in a process called disgorgement.
- The Champagne is topped off with a mix of little more wine and sugar called the dosage (or just wine in a dry Brut nature Champagne) to round out the flavors and give the wine the desired level of sweetness.
- Then each bottle is sealed with a mushroom cork and a metal cage. It’s aged for a short time to allow the wine to overcome the shock of bottling, and then it’s sent out for sale.
Why is Champagne so expensive?
French Champagne is of the highest quality, and it has to be made in a very specific area under particular conditions. Therefore, French Champagne is more expensive than other styles of wine because of the quality and long and labor-intensive process used to make it. In addition to the detailed process of grape selection, even the least expensive Champagnes are aged a minimum of 15 months, and vintage Champagnes are aged as much as three or five years.
What’s the difference between Champagne and Sparkling Wine?
The easiest way to say this is that Sparkling Wine can be made anywhere in the world and in many different ways. Champagne can only be made in one very select region of the world, where the grapes must be grown, and it has to follow certain criteria when being made.
Want to know more about the difference between bubblys? Head to our Sparkling Wine 101 Guide.
What are the popular brands of Champagne?
Total Wine & More carries all the most popular brands of Champagnes. With such a wide selection of French Champagne, you can be sure to find a few that you’ll like.
Some of our most popular brands of Champagne are:
Browse our full selection of Champagne wines and take home a couple bottles of the best Brut Champagnes from France.
Want to learn more about Champagne?
Visit our Guide to Champagne and Sparkling Wines to learn more about all the best styles of sparkling wines and Champagnes including our favorite Brut and Rosé Champagnes.
