What kinds of champagne?
We say "champagne" but there are, in fact, several kinds of champagne. It's the names that tell you which champagne you're talking about. Above all, remember that"il n'est de champagne que de Champagne". Basically, if you're offered champagne from elsewhere, it will have nothing to do with real champagne, which has benefited from an Appelation d'Origine Contrôlée since 1936 and also an Appelation d'Origine Protégée.
Champagne! Photo chosen by Monsieurdefrance.fr: KarepaStock/Shutterstock.fr
Seven grape varieties are authorized for champagne
The varietal is basically the type of grape used. You can mix grape varieties. There are 7 authorized. To make champagne we use 3 main grape varieties: pinot noir, chardonnay and meunier. We can also use a little of four other grape varieties pinot blanc, pinot gris, and the much less well-known arbane and petit meslier (source: comité Champagne). You can also mix harvest years;
Brut, demi sec... What are the different champagnes?
The name changes according to the sugar content. The sweeter it is, the less "lively" the taste. The least sweet is "brut nature" or "0 dosage" champagne, the sweetest is "doux" champagne.
From the driest to the sweetest.
- Champagne Brut Nature: - 3 grams of sugar per liter;
- Champagne extra-brut : from 0 to 6 grams of sugar per liter;
- Champagne Brut: - 12 grams of sugar per liter.
- Champragne extra sec (or extra dry): 12 to 17 grams of sugar per liter
- Champagne sec (or dry): from 17 to 32 grams of sugar per litre
- Champagne demi-sec: from 32 to 50 grams per liter;
- Champagne doux : more than 50 grams per liter;
What is Champagne rosé?
Champagne rosé Photo chosen by Monsieurdefrance.fr: mady70/Shutterstock.fr
There are two kinds of rosé champagnes. They're often a little more expensive than white champagnes, for no objective reason whatsoever, but they're fashionable...
"Classic" rosé champagnes are made from a blend of white and red wines, as for a traditional rosé wine, or champagne rosé known as "de saignée" for which the grapes are macerated for a short time with their skins black, giving a pinkish color to the grape juice.
Champagne: instructions for use
How many people per bottle of champagne?
There are usually 3 people per bottle.
Champagne at a wedding: how many bottles and when?
It can be served with the vin d'honneur or dessert, or both. Here are the average quantities I recommend if you want to have enough without having too much left over;
Good champagne at a wedding is something else... Photo chosen by Monsieurdefrance.fr: Shebeko/Shutterstock.fr
For the vin d'honneur or dessert
- 15 people: 5 bottles
- 20 persons : 7 bottles
- 30 people: 10 bottles
- 50 people:17 bottles
- 100 personnes : 34 bouteilles
- 200 personnes : 64 bouteilles
For the vin d'honneur AND dessert:
- 15 people: 9 bottles
- 30 people: 12 bottles
- 50 people :29 bottles
- 100 people: 59 bottles
- 200 people: 118 bottles
How do you store champagne?
The best place is, of course, a cellar, i.e. away from light and in a cool place, i.e. between 10 and 15 degrees.
How long to keep champagne?
On average, you can keep 5 years. Champagne without a vintage, on the other hand, doesn't keep too long; it should be consumed after purchase. If your champagne is vintage, you can keep it for a long time: 20 or even 30 years. The taste will evolve a little, but it will not lose its bubbles;
How to serve champagne?
As much as we love to see champagne "pop", we have to be careful because we can hurt ourselves. The cork undergoes a pressure of more than 2 bars and reaches more than 40 Km/H when it is expelled. Always hold the bottle firmly;
Even if it's customary to serve champagne in flutes or goblets, it never reveals itself as well as in a classic wine glass. This allows it to "open up";
- Present the label;
- Remove the liner from the label, still holding the bottle;
- Turn the bottle in one direction and the cork in the other, so you have everything under control;
- Tilt the glass in which the champagne is to be poured, and serve gently in batches.
- Keep the bottle cool, either in the fridge or in a champagne bucket lined with ice cubes.
This is how champagne is served: hold the bottle by the base and tilt the glass to make it froth less ... Photo chosen by Monsieurdefrance.fr: Minerva Studio/Shutterstock.fr
What are the names and sizes of Champagne bottles?
Since the Middle Ages, it has been customary to name quantities according to their containers. In the 19th century, the Champagne houses (and Bordeaux to a lesser extent) developed a series of names based on bottle capacity:
- The bottle (75 Cl)
- The magnum (1.5 liter or 2 bottles)
- The Jeroboam (3 liters or 4 bottles)
- The Rehoboam (4.5 liters or 6 bottles) but they are no longer available
- The Mathusalem (6 liters or 8 bottles)
- The Salmanazar (8 liters or 12 bottles)
- The Nabuchodonosor (15 liters or 20 bottles)
- The Salomon (18 liters or 24 bottles)
- The Souverain (26.5 liters or 35 bottles)
- The Primat (27 liters or 36 bottles)
- And the biggest: the Melchizedec (30 liters or 40 bottles).
How do you break out the champagne?
Napoleon's soldiers are said to have picked up this habit to go faster. Champagne can be "sabered", awith a saber (not a sharp one, mind you!) or even with the foot of a glass.
- Before you do anything else, make sure there's nobody in front of you. It's dangerous
- Remove the entire liner from the wirehood, even the paper part;
- Tatez the bottle, you'll feel a sort of "seam" in the neck, that's where you need to strike.
- Tilt the bottle at 45 degrees in the hand opposite to the one holding the saber.
- Slide the blade towards the neck, tapping;
- You may have to do this several times;
- It also works with the foot of a cup that you hold by passing the foot between three fingers;
Nothing could be more chic than sipping champagne from a glass, but it's difficult (and it's also a waste of good champagne)... Photo chosen by Monsieurdefrance.fr: Sasha_PShutterstock.fr
Why do we say "Sabler" champagne
It's an expression and has nothing to do with what's described above. We say "sabler le champagne" to say that we mark a great event because in the old days, before consuming it we put champagne in wet sand in the cellar to refresh it.
What are collectors called?
Champagne wirehood plates are collected by placomusophiles). Some collections contain over 60,000 pieces. The rarest are priced at around 3,000 euros, such as the 1923 Pol Roger Champagne capsule.
A brief history of Champagne
A land of ancient wine: Champagne
Like many vineyards, the Champagne vineyards were born of the know-how of the Romans, who imported their art of working the vines to Gaul. The wine they made in the Champagne region was used in particular to supply the "Limès", a group of forts defending the frontier of the Roman Empire and occupied by legionnaires who had to be watered. This wine, most often white, was also used in the famous foires de Champagne (notably in Troyes) where it watered the merchants who came from far and wide to sell their produce. It was also appreciated by the many ecclesiastics in eastern abbeys. In the late Middle Ages, it began to be referred to as "vin de Champagne"in Paris, where it was appreciated.
Harvesting in the Middle Ages / Image selected by Monsieurdefrance.fr: vendange sur hautain / Wikipedia
Champagne wine with a flaw: bubbles!
Improved with techniques discovered over the centuries, such as the appearance of the glass bottle by the English, and the cork-holding worm invented by the Belgians, Champagne ended up with a defect in the bottles that it didn't have in the barrels: bubbles.Unappreciated, because the corks popped on their own, to the point where Champagne was nicknamed le saute bouchon or le vin du diable, and because they gave the impression that the wine was stale, they were the subject of research by winemakers to try and understand why they appeared.
An English idea: a little sugar
Great lovers of Champagne wine, even with those damned bubbles, the English had the idea of adding this brown sugar that came to them in large quantities from their colonies. By adding a little to the barrels of Champagne they bought in large quantities, they ended up improving the taste of a wine that was considered too green at the time;
And the genius of Dom Pérignon
Dom Pérignon imagined in the early 20th century / Image selected by Monsieurdefrance.Fr : Postcard based on a painting by Armand Guery.
In 1670, Dom Pérignon, celerer of a Champagne abbey, who, in attempting to understand why Champagne made bubbles, is said to have perfected a method for bringing them into being voluntarily and controlling them. It was to him, too, that we owe the foundations of what came to be known as the "méthode champenoise"and which is also used to make other sparkling wines like Crémant. He would have learned all this while studying, at the Abbaye Saint Hilaire, a sparkling wine older than champagne: blanquette de Limoux (nothing to do with the dish, it's just that it's a white wine). A method that was only scientifically explained much later by the work of Louis Pasteur on yeasts;
The 18th century brings Champagne into fashion
At the end of Louis XIV's reign, in 1715,the French began to appreciate sparkling wines and Champagne in particular. It is said that Madame de Pompadour, royal mistress, was fond of it and served it to King Louis XV. It is even said that the first glass of champagne was molded on her breast.
The first depiction of a bottle of champagne in a painting: lunch with oysters by Jean François de Troy (1734).
In 1729, Maison Ruinart was founded in Reims, but it was often foreigners, more likely Germans, who founded the great houses we still know today. The Heidsieck, Moët or Bollinger families set up their houses in the 19th century. Women have a say as they often continue production after the death of their husbands, like Madame Pommery or the famous Veuve Clicquot.Personalities end up making Champagne fashionable in the "Grand Monde". Talleyrand, for example, among diplomats (he served it at the Congress of Vienna in 1814, while giving sumptuous dinners to put himself in the pocket of the diplomats in charge of seeing what was to be done with France after Napoleon's crushing defeat.).
And today?
Champagne is worth 6 billion euros in 2022, the absolute record year for Champagne sales worldwide. This represents 330 million bottles sold. 40% remains consumed by the French (who still love their Champagne) and 60% abroad (and rising). Over 70% of production is sold in restaurants, bars, cafés and discotheques worldwide;
Champagne! You're in Reims Photo chosen by Monsieurdefrance.fr : barmalini/Shutterstock
Don't forget: alcohol abuse is dangerous for your health: consume in moderation.
