Everything You Need to Know About Champagne: 101 Guide

Vitis vinifera vines were first planted in Champagne by the Romans between the third and fifth centuries. Ever since, Champagne has sat on a French pedestal. It dazzles wine lovers with its prestigious reputation and continued efforts to produce the world’s best sparkling wine. 

For most of recent history, the term ‘champagne’ referenced any kind of sparkling wine made from any country. In fact, it’s illegal for a producer to label a product Champagne unless the grapes are from the Champagne region and all winemaking facets follow appellation wine law. Those laws include (but are certainly not limited to) the use of authorized grapes or using the centuries-old méthode champenoise (or Champagne method) which creates the wine’s famous bubbles.  

The Champagne Appellation

Within the Champagne region, there is only one appellation: Champagne AC. However, within the appellation are 2 cru levels. There are 44 Premier Crus and 17 Grand Crus. 

The cru system is set up in a way that helps in determining the price point of grapes that grow in a particular village. This percentile system, known as Échelles des Crus (or ‘ladder of growth’), sees vineyards with high percentages receive higher prices for their grapes. For example, villages with Premier Crus status have ratings between 90% and 99% and receive their determined percentage of the market value. Grand Crus receive 100% ratings. Less than 9% of the vineyard area in Champagne has received a 100 point rating. 

Authorized Grape Varieties

Given that most people’s perception of Champagne is that of a white sparkling wine, it can come as quite a shock to find out that two out of the three primary grapes used to make it are red. The three classic grapes used to make the various styles of Champagne are Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. Additionally, Petit Meslier, Arbane, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris also grow but only represent 0.3% of plantings. 

Champagne Sub-regions

Champagne is the most northern wine-growing region in France, located at 49°N latitude. It has the lowest average temperatures of any other region in the country, making it the perfect climate to ripen grapes with high levels of acidity, which is a necessity for sparkling wine production. 

About an hour east of Paris are four of Champagne’s five sub-regions: Valleé de la Marne, Montagne de Reims, Côte des Blanc and Côte de Sézanne. Further south-east, approximately halfway to the Burgundy region, is Côte des Bar. 

Each sub-region specializes in growing one of the three primary grape varieties. Valleé de la Marne focuses on Pinot Meunier, Montagne de Reims and Côte des Bar grow mainly Pinot Noir, and Côte des Blanc along with Côte de Sézanne are responsible for most of the Chardonnay production. 

How Champagne Is Made

Most of the prestige surrounding Champagne is due to how it’s made. It’s also why it garners such a hefty price tag. The Méthod Champenoise is how Champagne gets its bubbles. Outside of the region, it’s referenced as the Traditional Method. The method itself is time-consuming and requires a minimum of 15 months of aging for non-vintage bottles or 36 months for vintage versions. 

To make Champagne, a still wine must undergo a second fermentation. Producers will bottle the still wine together with sugar and yeast and top it with a crown cap. Over several weeks, while stored horizontally, the conversion of sugar to alcohol creates CO2. This is what we know and love as ‘the bubbles’. 

The dead yeast cells (called lees) remain in the bottle for a minimum of 12 months. Lees plays an integral role in creating the flavors we typically associate with Champagne, such as brioche and almond.

Following a minimum of 12 months of lees contact in the bottle, riddling occurs. Riddling is another time-consuming factor and for centuries was done by hand. The entire process can take several months. Today, most larger Champagne houses have mechanized the process. Bottles are placed on racks at an inverted angle of 45-degrees. Manually or by machine, the necks are rotated so the lees cells settle in the neck of the bottle.  

To remove the lees, the bottle of the neck is frozen and the temporary cap is taken off. This stage (disgorgement) sees a loss of liquid in the process. The bottles are topped up with a dosage (a wine and sugar mixture), which determines the sweetness level of the final product. Following dosage, the final cork and wire cage are placed on the bottle before a Champagne is stored to age further in the bottle. 

Styles and Sweetness Levels

The number of different styles and sweetness levels of Champagne is often the source of much confusion for consumers. To simplify, it’s a producer’s choice of authorized grapes and vinification options before the secondary fermentation that determines the style. The most common types are:

Brut Champagne: A flagship house blend made from multiple vintages that is dry. It usually includes all three primary authorized grape varieties. 

Rosé Champagne: A wine that can be vintage or non-vintage. The rosé color comes from either a small amount of still red wine added to the blend (d’assemblage), or the juice from macerated red grape skins (saignée).

Blanc de Noir Champagne: A white sparkling wine made from either Pinot Noir or Pinot Meunier. The grape’s skins are separated from the juice as early as possible to avoid any color ending up in the wine. 

Blanc de Blancs Champagne: A white sparkling wine made from Chardonnay (although any of the region’s permitted white grapes are allowed). 

As previously mentioned, the sweetness level of a Champagne is determined by the amount of sugar in the dosage. The terms are usually easily visible on the label.

DRY

SWEET