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Champagne Information Resources
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Definition
History
Raw Materials
Manufacturing
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Champagne Information - Definition
Champagne is a sparkling wine from the Champagne region of north-eastern France, made by a second fermentation in the bottle.
Champagne Information - History
Champagne was pioneered by Benedictine cellar master Dom Pierre Pérignon at the Abbey d'Hautvilliers, in the late seventeenth century. Sparkling wines from other regions, even when made in the same way, cannot legally be called Champagne, but are known as being made by the méthode champenoise (sparkling wines). Though bubbling wines under various appellations abound throughout the world, true Champagne comes only from the Champagne region in northeast France. Most countries bow to this tradition by calling their sparkling wines by other names such as spumante in Italy, Sekt in Germany and vin mousseux in other regions of France. Only in America do some wineries refer to their bubbling wine as "Champagne."
Raw Materials
French Champagne is usually made from a blend of chardonnay and pinot noir or pinot blanc grapes. California "Champagnes" generally use the same varieties, while those from New York are more often made from the pressings of catawba and delaware grapes. Good Champagne is expensive not only because it's made with premium grapes, but because it's made by the méthode champenoise. This traditional method requires a second fermentation in the bottle as well as some 100 manual operations (some of which are mechanized today).
Manufacturing
Champagnes can range in color from pale gold to apricot blush. Their flavors can range from toasty to yeasty and from dry (no sugar added) to sweet.A sugar-wine mixture called a "dosage," added just before final corking determines how sweet Champagne will be. The label indicates the level of sweetness: brut (bone dry to almost dry-less than 1.5 percent sugar); extra sec or extra dry (slightly sweeter-1.2 to 2 percent sugar); sec (medium sweet-1.7 to 3.5 percent sugar); demi-sec (sweet-3.3 to 5 percent sugar); and doux (very sweet-over 5 percent sugar). The last two are considered dessert wines. The best Champagne is from that part of the Marne valley whose apex is Reims, the center of the industry.
Champagne is made from only three grapes: pinot and meunier (both black) and chardonnay (white). The juice from these grapes is initially fermented in stainless-steel vats. A mixture of wine, sugar, and yeast is added, and it is then transferred to pressure tanks for a second fermentation that yields carbon dioxide and effervescence. It is chilled, sweetened, bottled, and left to mature. Champagne generally has a crisp, flinty taste that varies in degree of sweetness, depending on the type.
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