Champagne Wine: History, Information, Interesting Facts

The first and the second fermentation of Champagne wine.

To start appreciating Champagne, it’s important to understand first what is the ‘fermentation’: a natural process that usually starts soon after the harvest, when grape juice becomes wine thanks to yeasts. These microorganisms metabolize sugar, producing alcohol and carbon dioxide.
In the past, since it was very difficult to maintain the right temperature in cellars, the cold of a harsh autumn could suspend their work, forcing them to enter a sort of ‘hibernation’. At the beginning of the following spring, the natural rise of heat quite often reactivated them, starting a second fermentation, also known as ‘rifermentation’.
Nowadays this ‘accident’, not accidental anymore, is triggered on purpose by adding yeasts to wine. In this respect, it’s important to remember that

the production of carbon dioxide during the second fermentation has a huge importance to make a natural sparkling wine.

Please note that carbon dioxide can be also artificially injected. Problem is that the ‘inflated’ wines usually don’t have a very fine taste and ‘perlage’.

Champagne: the devil’s wine.

If the second fermentation of wine starts inside a sealed bottle, the renewed production of carbon dioxide causes the rise of its internal pressure.
Up to the Seventeenth Century, due to the lack of knowledge and specific technologies, this represented quite a big problem, since it could led to a sudden, violent expulsion of the stopper or, in the worst cases, to a dangerous explosion.
It’s easy to understand that, at that time, this natural phenomenon was not really considered something useful, but rather an impending disaster to be avoided at all costs, an ‘accident sent by the devil’.

Not surprisingly, sparkling wine was nicknamed ‘le vin du diable’ (‘the devil’s wine’).

The real problem, far from being supernatural, was the little experience in controlling the refermentation process and the quality of bottles and caps, unable to resist the stress.
Frequent accidents often caused great damage and forced cellar workers to wear masks and body protections to shield themselves.

Dom Perignon and Champagne wine.

The available information about Dom Perignon are not always very accurate, as it often happens when dealing with a myth. For example, many think that he was an alchemist: something that, in truth, is very unlikely. Despite the lack of reliable sources, it’s possible, with a certain approximation, to figure out who really was the man that, still today, is widely considered the inventor of Champagne.

The assignment in Hautvillers

In 1668 the young Benedictine monk Pierre Perignon was transferred to the Abbey of Hautvillers, in the northeast of France. He was assigned with the important task of managing the vineyard and the cellars. This role was particularly appropriate for him since he already had a very good experience in this field: his parents were wine producers and he had spent a great part of his childhood between the rows.

The British and Champagne.

It’s quite surprising to find out how old and deep is the connection between the British and Champagne. Two English personalities, in particular, had a very important role in the evolution of this wine between the 16th and the 17th centuries.

Champagne wine: places and grapes.

The most famous sparkling wine in the world takes its name from a beautiful region in the northeast of France.
Sweet hills surrounded by ordered rows of vines, give life to an incredibly beautiful landscape: in this charming place, during the centuries, grapes and soil have developed a deep connection. That’s why true Champagne can be produced only here. It’s not just a ‘formality’: the particular nature of the local terrain, its exposure and the climate (all aspects of the ‘terroir’), give to this wine its unique characteristics.

Here follows a brief list of the largest and most famous production areas of Champagne:

The best soil for Champagne wine: a soil rich in chalk.

What makes Champagne so special? What makes its smell and taste so unique?
This famous sparkling wine is the sum of many parts: the nature of the terrain where its grapes grow is one of the most important. It’s stony, whitish, apparently not good for growing a plant … but a grapevine is not any plant, it’s different, giving its best in difficult conditions. Year after year, its roots dig deeper and deeper, taking from the ground and giving to the grapes.
Champagne is the fruit of a soil rich in chalk: something evident when drinking it.

How Champagne wine is made.

The ‘Champenoise’ method, also known as ‘traditional’ or ‘classic’, is used to make ‘natural’ sparkling wines like Champagne.

Sugar and yeast are added to a mix of different wines, the ‘cuvèe’, so as to trigger a second fermentation. Since this process takes place inside a sealed bottle, the wine slowly incorporates the carbon dioxide produced and becomes sparkling.

Here follow a few images showing step by step this procedure (click here for the printable infographic):

Corking Champagne bottles.

From wooden plugs to corks:

Originally the bottles of wine were closed with primitive wooden plugs and secured using wraps made with cloth and wax. Many think that the Benedectine monk was the first to use corks: according to recent studies, this may not be true. It seems in fact that the ancient Romans already knew them, a knowledge lost after the fall of the Empire.

A ‘muselet’ to secure the cork:

Dom Perignon secured corks to bottles using hemp strings, with a procedure requiring great strength and skill. In time, iron replaced hemp: the first pre-formed metal cage, known in France as ‘muselet’, was invented in the Mid-Nineteenth Century.

The Champagne bottle sizes.

The dimensions of Champagne bottles vary, starting from the ‘standard’ (*1), containing less than a liter of wine, up to the ‘Melchizedek’, containing 30 liters.
Here follows the list:

Champagne takes its name from the region in the north east of France where it’s produced. Sweet hills surrounded by ordered rows of vines, give life to an incredibly beautiful landscape. The main cities in this area are Troyes, Épernay and Reims.

Click here to view (and, eventually, download) a printable schema showing the steps necessary to produce Champagne wine.

To really understand Champagne, it’s necessary to deepen the knowledge of the different grapes used to make it:

Over the years many have debated about the right glass for Champagne.
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Music and Champagne.

A funny song about Champagne is probably the best choice to accompany the reading of this article:

Note: join Spotify and listen to the full song.

Terms like ‘brut’ and ‘dry’ indicate the sweetness of a sparkling wine. Here follows a list of these terms and the corresponding amount of sugar:
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Champagne wine calories.

One bottle of Champagne contains approximately 540 / 570 calories.

Even if the ‘flute’ is widely considered the best type of glass to serve Champagne, since its elongated form allows a perfect view of the ‘perlage’ (the bubbles), this sparkling wine is often served in the ‘coupe’. Legend wants that its particular shape was inspired by the breast of the Marquise de Pompadur, the beautiful lover of King Loius XV of France, the ‘Sun King’.

The painting ‘Le Déjeuner d’huîtres’, made in 1735 by the French artist Jean-François de Troy and representing a toast during a nobleman’s feast, is very important in the history of Champagne because it’s the first showing some bottles of this wine (more information here: Wikipedia Link).

The ‘Martinotti’ method, also known as ‘Charmat’, is quite different from the ‘Champenoise’ since the second fermentation starts in a steel tank hermetically sealed instead of a bottle. Please note that this method can’t be used to make Champagne.

When Champagne is ready, the procedure know as ‘remuage’ starts.
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Champagne is the perfect match for many kinds of food, for example shrimps: