Champagne is the French region which gave to the world the most recognizable and probably the most important wine. Its territory is divided into four different areas: Montagne De Reims, Vallée de La Marne, Côte des Blancs and Aube Valley.

Grapes grown in Champagne are Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier.
Champagne can be Blanc de Blancs (Chardonnay) or Blanc de Noirs. In fact, even though Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier are red grapes, they can be vinified "in white" in order to give to Champagne more fruityness and complexity.

• The Non Vintage (N.V.) Champagne is often a blend of young and acidic wines together with other that are much more mature and soft.

• Vintage Champagne is made on a single, extraordinary year and requires an ageing period of at least three years.
  

Champagne is part of everybody's life and it is always present when there is something to celebrate. It is a must in every special occasion. The history of Champagne started centuries ago when the English merchants started to add sugar to the still wines produced in this French region in order to 'fortify' them. British merchants discovered that they could preserve wines during the long trips on the ships by fortifying them with Brandy. Porto is the greatest example. It is definetely arguable that the trip between France and England was long, but some merchants decided to add sugar in them as well as a "milder" way to fortify wines.

Generally speaking, wines coming from this region were slightly unstable because of the temperature changes throughout the year. In fact, during the winter, cellar temperatures radically drop down. The result was a delay in the natural evolution of the wine. During the next spring, as the temperature raised, the yeasts which had lain inactive into the wine, started once again to eat the sugars still sitting in the bottles. Therefore, inside the bottle, the carbon monoxide produced by the fermentation had no way out and the wines became slightly effervescent. The fact that english merchants started to add sugars into the wine made these wines even more sparkling and sometimes even explosive. Wines from Champagne quickly became popular during parties and celebrations and they started to be the most popular wines in the world.

Even though the fizz has been 'invented' by english merchants, the real sophisticated tecniques belong to French wine connaisseurs. Was the benedictine monk Dom Perignon which discovered the reason why the bubbles were present into these wines. He told the world that the reason of the bubbles was a second fermentation which had place in the bottle after adding a little amount of sugar into an already fermented wine and allowing the yeasts to complete their job. Today Dom Perignon is a famous name for a Champagne produced by Moet et Chandon.
Even though the background for the production of the bubbles is quite simple, the tecniques used to produced a good Champagne were extremely complicated. In fact, at the end of the second fermentation, a quite consistent amount of sediments is present in the bottle and needs to be eliminated. Nicole-Barbe Clicquot-Ponsardin invented the tecnique of the 'Remuage'. The bottles were manually slowly turned in some special slots called 'Pupitre' until the neck of the bottle was almost facing down and all the sediments collected close to the cap. Then, skilled cellarkeepers uncorked the bottles and allowed the sediments to pop out. Nowdays everything is automated: the bottle's angle is adjusted by machinery and the neck is slighlty frozen before uncorking in order to keep together the sediments. Few small producers are still keeping the old fashioned manual method.

Other articles on Champagne:

-Pol Roger Champagne House

-Types of Champagne