Bring in the New Year with a Champagne Toast

Champagne is a sparkling wine produced in the region of Champagne in the northeast province of France. Many countries have imposed restrictions to the use of the name Champagne on other sparkling wine producers, limiting it to the sparkling wines coming from the region of Champagne in France.

To be termed as Champagne these sparkling wines have to be produced in the Champagne region of France using the method champenoise. The sparkle is generated from the second fermentation that takes place in the cask or the bottle after it has been sealed. The carbonated wine can be called as champagne.

Types of champagne

Champagne varieties are numerous. Depending on the type of grapes used in producing champagne, it can be divided into two, namely Blanc de Blancs and Blanc de Noirs. Blanc de Blancs is the champagne made from Chardonnay variety of grapes, whereas the latter is made from the juices of Pinot Noir or Pinot Meunier grapes.

Vintage and non-vintage wines

The second classification can be based on the blending technique employed in producing the champagne. On the basis of it, one can sub-divide champagne as non-vintage and vintage wines. The non-vintage champagne is a blend of the wines of several years to achieve the required style of wine. Typically, most of these champagnes are the blend of around thirty to forty different wines. Vintage champagne, on the other hand, is a perfect blend of wines from a single year released only if the grapes harvested during the year is of sufficient quality.

Varieties of champagne

Depending on the sweetness of the champagne, they are split as: Ultra Brut/Extra Brut/Brut Zero/Brut Nature/Brut Sauvage that does not contain any added sugar, Brut, with 1.5 percent sugar and nearly dry, Extra dry/Extra Sec which has around 2 percent of sugar adding to the sweetness, Dry/Sec containing 4 percent sugar, Demi-Sec with 8 percent sugar in it and Doux, which has around 10 percent of added sugar in it.

Other varieties of champagne are Rosé Champagne and Prestige Cuvées. The Rosé Champagne is made by the mollescence of black grapes that forces it to exude the color from the skin. Another process of making Rosé is by mixing small quantities of red wine from the Champagne region for the color.

Prestige Cuvées, on the other hand, can be made from a blend of vintages or from a vintage. The grapes for Prestige Cuvées are hand-picked from the top quality grapes, which are then carefully pressed and bottled in specially shaped bottles. They are left to mature for five to seven years, offering maximum enjoyment.