Champagne: The Grapes Involved In This Delicious Bubbly Wine

Champagne sales rocket at Christmas, as people rejoice in a chance to celebrate and enjoy the festivities

. No Christmas party is complete without a bottle or two of the bubbly stuff; it's become integral to and synonymous with celebration.

Champagne is named after the region in France in which it is produced, and it is so acclaimed and fiercely protected that a bottle of the wine must be produced in that region, and that region only, to be allowed to feature the word on its label. The Champenois, the French wine producers who make the drink, have been known to sue any company using the region's name on their label when the contents were not produced in the very region denoted.

Many other countries have developed their own ways of making very similar wine products and, although these aren't technically Champagne, they are often used in very much the same way at celebratory occasions due to their high standard coupled with more affordable price tags.

The grapes used in the process of making may be a little surprising to those who don't know. Chardonnay, a white grape, is the first; the other two grapes used are both black: Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. Tiny amounts of some other grapes are often used too, but only in nominal amounts. The black grapes are only pressed very lightly, resulting in white juice.

Within the region itself, there are five sub-regions in which the different grapes are grown to make bubbly. The Montagne de Reims grows mainly Pinot Noir on North-facing slopes, and produces firm and austere wines. Cotes des Blancs mostly grows Chardonnay, and produces much softer wines than the Montagne de Reims.

Cotes des Sezanne also produces primarily Chardonnay, and Aube, which is the furthest South of the five regions, produces mainly Pinot Noir grapes and finally, the Vallee de la Marne is planted with all of the three varieties of grape used, but there is a higher proportion of Pinot Meunier found here.

Each grape fulfills an important role in the creation of flavor and development. The Chardonnay grape gives lightness and elegance, the Pinot Meunier brings character and ripeness, and the Pinot Noir is important for the strength and spiciness it provides.

The two dominant grapes are Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, which typically make up 49 per cent of grape inclusion each, with the remaining percentage consisting of Pinot Meunier. The latter is cheaper than the two former grapes however, and is used more when Champagnes are sold young; three or four years after harvest, because the flavours missing from the young wine are compensated for by the Pinot Meunier, although Champagnes containing a large amount of Pinot Meunier do not keep for very long.

by: Dominic Donaldson

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