What is Champagne and how is it different from sparkling wines?

Champagne is a sparkling wine, but not all sparkling wine is champagne.

In order for a sparkling wine to be classified as champagne, it must come from the Champagne region of France. Champagne is in the Northeast of France (about an hour train ride from Paris - 46 minutes to Reims and 75 minutes to Épernay). Champagne is known for its cool climate and chalky soils.

There are three grape varietals that can be used in champagne. They are Pinot Nori, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay. There are five wine producing districts located in Champagne. The districts are Aube, Côte des Blancs, Côte de Sézanne, Montagne de Reims, and Vallée de la Marne.

Champagne is made using the bottle fermentation method. This method is also called the traditional method or method cap classique. I will go into more detail about the bottle method in a future post.

Due to the cool climate and weather variations from year to year, grapes do not fully ripen every year so to achieve quality and consistency most wines are non-vintage (meaning the grapes used are a blend from different harvest years). In exceptional years, the some grapes made be saved in order to make a vintage champagne (a vintage denotes that all grapes come from a single harvest year). Due to the law of supply and demand, Champagne is always priced competitively and vintage champagnes can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars depending on the vintage and the producer.