Champagne

Champagne is the sparkling wine of the delimited region east of Paris, protected under the AOC Champagne, with its heart in the Montagne de Reims, the Vallée de la Marne, the Côte des Blancs and the Aube. Its sparkle came about through the second fermentation in bottle, a method perfected in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and later codified as the méthode champenoise. It is carried today by the grower-producers, the cooperatives and the great houses, who share a single appellation and a common discipline of blending.

Champagne is a sparkling wine made from Chardonnay, Pinot noir and Pinot meunier (Vitis vinifera), pressed whole-bunch and fermented once to a still base wine. The cuvée is blended from several vineyards and, in most cases, several years, then bottled with sugar and yeast for the prise de mousse. After long ageing on the lees the sediment is gathered by riddling, expelled by dégorgement, and the wine is topped with the liqueur d'expédition that fixes its style. The styles run from brut nature and extra brut through brut, extra-dry, sec, demi-sec and doux, with blanc de blancs from Chardonnay alone, blanc de noirs from the black grapes, and rosé.

Champagne is drunk with oysters, shellfish, smoked salmon, fresh cheeses, gougères and fried or delicately salted food, and the brut styles also stand beside white meats and cream sauces. Its high acidity cuts fat and salt, the bubbles lift the palate between mouthfuls, and the low sugar of brut keeps the wine from competing with the dish. Demi-sec suits fruit desserts and brioche, where the wine must be at least as sweet as what it accompanies.