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Champagne is a sparkling wine originated and produced in the Champagne wine region of France under the rules of the appellation, which demand specific vineyard practices, sourcing of grapes exclusively from designated places within it, specific grape-pressing methods and secondary fermentation of the wine in the bottle to cause carbonation.
The wine region within the historical province of Champagne in the northeast of France is best known for the production of champagne, the sparkling white wine that bears the region's name. EU law and the laws of most countries reserve the term "champagne" exclusively for wines that come from this region located about 160 kilometres (100 miles) east of Paris. The viticultural boundaries of Champagne are legally defined and split into five wine-producing districts within the historical province: Aube, Côte des Blancs, Côte de Sézanne, Montagne de Reims, and Vallée de la Marne. The city of Reims and the town of Épernay are the commercial centers of the area. Reims is famous for its cathedral, the venue of the coronation of the French kings and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Sparkling wine is a wine with significant levels of carbon dioxide in it, making it fizzy. While it is common to refer to this as champagne, European Union countries legally reserve that word for products exclusively produced in the Champagne region of France. Sparkling wine is usually either white or rosé, but there are examples of red sparkling wines such as the Italian Brachetto, Bonarda and Lambrusco, and the Australian sparkling Shiraz. The sweetness of sparkling wine can range from very dry brut styles to sweeter doux varieties.
Dom Pierre Pérignon, was a French Benedictine monk who made important contributions to the production and quality of Champagne wine in an era when the region's wines were predominantly still red. Popular myths frequently, but erroneously, credit him with the invention of sparkling Champagne, which did not become the dominant style of Champagne until the mid-19th century.
Moët & Chandon, also known simply as Moët, is a French fine winery and part of the luxury goods company LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE. Moët et Chandon is one of the world's largest champagne producers and a prominent champagne house. Moët et Chandon was established in 1743 by Claude Moët, and today owns 1,190 hectares of vineyards, and annually produces approximately 28,000,000 bottles of champagne.
Dom Pérignon is a brand of vintage Champagne. It is named after Dom Pérignon, a Benedictine monk who was an important quality pioneer for Champagne wine but who, contrary to popular myths, did not discover the Champagne method for making sparkling wines.
Louis Roederer is a producer of champagne based in Reims, France. Founded in 1776, the business was inherited and renamed by Louis Roederer in 1833. It remains as one of the few independent and family-run maisons de champagne. Over 3.5 million bottles of Louis Roederer champagne are shipped each year to more than 100 countries.
Heidsieck & Co "Monopole" is a champagne house located in the Champagne region of France.
Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin is a Champagne house founded in 1772 and based in Reims. It is one of the largest Champagne houses. Madame Clicquot is credited with major breakthroughs, creating the first known vintage champagne in 1810, and inventing the riddling table process to clarify champagne in 1816. In 1818, she invented the first known blended rosé champagne by blending still red and white wines, a process still used by the majority of champagne producers.
Cloudy Bay Vineyards is a winery based in the Marlborough wine region of New Zealand, with vineyards in both Marlborough and Central Otago. Established in 1985 as one of the earliest wineries founded in Marlborough, Cloudy Bay attracted international acclaim for its first Sauvignon Blanc wines in the 1980s and was instrumental in establishing New Zealand's international reputation for white wine. It was acquired by Champagne house Veuve Clicquot in 2003 and is now a LVMH brand.
The Champagne Riots of 1910 and 1911 resulted from a series of problems faced by grape growers in the Champagne area of France. These included four years of disastrous crop losses, the infestation of the phylloxera louse, low income and the belief that wine merchants were using grapes from outside the Champagne region. The precipitating event may have been the announcement in 1908 by the French government that it would delimit by decree the exact geographic area that would be granted economic advantage and protection by being awarded the Champagne appellation. This early development of Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée regulation benefitted the Marne and Aisne districts to the significant exclusion of the Aube district which included the town of Troyes—the historic capital of the Champagne region.
Jean-Rémy Moët (1758–1841) was a French vintner and merchant seaman who helped bring the Champagne house of Moët et Chandon to international prominence. He inherited the house from his grandfather and founder Claude Moët.
Canard-Duchêne is a Champagne house founded in 1868 and currently part of the Thiénot group, owner of its own label Champagne Thiénot, plus Joseph Perrier and Marie Stuart.
Henriot is a Champagne producer based in the Reims region of Champagne. The house, founded in Reims 1808, produces both vintage and non-vintage cuvée. Henriot has been under family ownership since 1994 when Joseph Henriot left Veuve Clicquot to manage the estate. Henriot's cellar master Laurent Fresnet, who was named "Sparkling Winemaker of the Year" by International Wine Challenge in 2015 and 2016, has said:
What makes our champagne so special is that it is sourced from beautiful terroirs, mostly Grand & Premier Cru vineyards. Thanks to our independent status, I can dedicate the time and care they require to craft the most luminous champagnes and perpetuate the unique style of the House.
The history of Champagne began when the Romans planted vineyards in this region of northeast France in the 5th century, or possibly earlier. Over centuries, Champagne evolved from being a pale, pinkish still wine to a sparkling wine. When Hugh Capet was crowned King of France in 987 at the cathedral of Reims, he started a tradition that brought successive monarchs to the region—with the local wine being on prominent display at the coronation banquets. The early wine of the Champagne region was a pale, pinkish wine made from Pinot noir.
Grower Champagnes or Artisan Champagnes are Champagnes produced by the estate that owns the vineyards where the grapes are grown. Récoltant-Manipulant is the term in French, and Grower Champagnes can be identified by "RM" on the wine label. While large Champagne houses such as Mumm, Moët et Chandon and Veuve Clicquot may use grapes from as many as 80 different vineyards in the Champagne region to create a consistent house style, Grower Champagnes tend to be more terroir-focused, sourced from a single vineyard or closely located vineyards around a village, and made with grapes which vary with each vintage. Today there are over 19,000 independent growers in the Champagne region, accounting for nearly 88% of vineyard land in the region; around 5,000 of these growers produce wine from their own grapes. Of the Champagne imported into the US in 2014, only 5% was Grower Champagne.
Comet vintages are years during which an astronomical event, involving generally a "Great Comet", occurs prior to harvest. Throughout the history of wine, winemakers have attributed successful vintages and ideal weather conditions to the unexplained effects caused by the comets. Some of the most heralded vintages in the last couple of centuries—such as the 1811, 1826, 1839, 1845, 1852, 1858, 1861, 1985, and 1989 vintages—have coincided with a notable appearance of a comet. There is no scientific basis for any effect of comets on viticulture, but the term nevertheless remains in use.
Jacquesson & Fils is a Champagne producer based in the Dizy region of Champagne. The house was founded in Châlons-sur-Marne in 1798 by Memmie Jacquesson. The house makes the claim it is the oldest independent Champagne house.
Madame Clicquot, née Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin, Widow Clicquot or Veuve Clicquot, known as the "Grande Dame of Champagne", was a French Champagne producer. She took on her husband's wine business when widowed at 27. Under her ownership, and her skill with wine, the company developed early champagne using a novel technique. The brand and company of Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin still bears her name.
The Föglö wreck is a shipwreck of a 19th-century two-masted schooner lying in the waters off Föglö near Åland in Finland. It became famous in the summer of 2010 as several bottles of what was then considered to be world's oldest drinkable champagne were raised from the wreck. However the analysis carried out by Veuve Clicquot in 2018 deemed the champagne undrinkable.
References
- ↑ Hugh Johnson, Vintage: The Story of Wine (New York: Simon and Schuster 1989), p. 334. ISBN 0-671-68702-6.
- ↑ Don and Petie Kladstrup, Champagne: How the World’s Most Glamorous Wine Triumphed Over War and Hard Times (New York: William Morrow, 2005), p. 81. ISBN 0-06-073792-1.
- ↑ D. & P. Kladstrup, Champagne, p. 82.
- 1 2 D. & P. Kladstrup, Champagne, p. 83–84.
- ↑ Johnson, Vintage, p. 335.
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