Bubbly: An Overview

What makes Champagne Champagne?

Champagne is made from as many as three varieties of grape: chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier. Sparkling wines made exclusively from chardonnay grapes are known as blanc de blancs ("white of whites"), while wines made entirely from pinot noir grapes are known as blanc de noirs ("white of blacks"). Large Champagne producers buy most of their grapes, while some small vintners both grow and produce their own Champagne. Rosé Champagne is produced when unfermented juice is allowed to steep with grape skins, or a small amount of red wine is added before bottling. Whatever the blend, the best sparkling wines employ the méthode Champenoise: Grape juice is fermented in stainless-steel vats or wooden casks, blended and bottled. A mixture of yeast, water and sugar is added, and in-bottle secondary fermentation produces carbon dioxide, giving these wines their fizz.

Ninety percent of the Champagnes shipped worldwide in 2006 were non-vintage (NV). Non-vintage sparkling wines are made from a blend of vintages, which enables producers to make wine with a consistent style year after year. Experts say that non-vintage bubblies can be exuberant, with juicy acidity and the yeasty, toasty aromas characteristic of Champagne. Bruce Sanderson of Wine Spectator believes that non-vintage Champagnes offer better value than their vintage counterparts.

True Champagne is produced only in the Champagne region of France; however, many French Champagne producers, including Mumm and Louis Roederer, have offshoots in northern California. A few players, including the LVMH group (which owns Dom Pérignon and Veuve Cliquot, among others) and Allied Domecq (which owns Mumm and Perrier-Jouet), control more than a third of the Champagne market.