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10 things you possibly didn’t know about champagne
We are all familiar with the pop of the cork, the seductive stream of bubbles and the heady sensation as you take your first sip, but how much do you really know about the world’s most romantic drink ?
Here are 10 facts to drop into conversation next time you’re clinking glasses:
1. Dom Pérignon didn’t invent champagne
Possibly the most well known “fact” about bubbly turns out to be fiction. Dom Pérignon may have created techniques to stabilise the bubbles during the ageing process but he didn’t come up with the méthode champenoise. In fact, the oldest record of sparkling wine being made is 1531, and it’s from nowhere near the region; Blanquette de Limoux was produced in the Abbaye de Saint-Hilaire in the Aude region down in the South of France.
And to add insult to injury for the French, it was an Englishman named Christopher Merret who documented the process of adding sugar to fully finished wine in order to create bubbles, way before Dom Pérignon even came near Hautvilliers Abbey in 1668.
2. Champagne has always had a royal connection (and not just because the royals drink it)
Since one of the most important cities in Champagne, Reims, was the seat of some of the most important Catholic dignitaries in Gaul (as France was called at the time), it may come as no surprise that wine from Champagne was used at the baptism of the First King of the Franks, Clovis I, in 496.
This is the beginning of the long history of Champagne being used by royals in all ceremonies, religious or otherwise; a total of 25 French monarchs were crowned in Reims, starting with Louis VIII in 1223.
3. Waiter, there’s salt in my champagne …
You may find that some champagnes have a saline quality which can be traced to the local Kimmeridgean limestone.
About 155 million years ago there was a low sea shelf in the region of Champagne, where there were lots of sea critters. When the creatures died their skeletons fell to the bottom of the ocean and fossilised. If you look at the soil in the region you can see evidence of these fossils which is what gives some champagnes a certain salinity.
. . . and sugar too!
Even when described as 'brut' most champagnes contain added sugar which is known as a “dosage” and is used by producers to counteract the basic acidity of the grapes in what is a pretty northerly growing region. You can tell roughly how much has been added from the description on the label.
Brut Nature / Brut Zero means there is no added sugar to the champagne; it’s known to be the favourite style of celebs like Kate Moss due to its low sugar and low calorie content (60kcal per glass)
Brut is anywhere between 0 and 12 grams of added sugar per litre, and this is the style that is most commonly found in the big brands or 'grandes marques' (although sugar levels have been inching down over the last few years)
Sec is between 17 and 32 grams of added sugar per litre. Although it means ‘dry’ in French, it is clearly not with almost a teaspoon of sugar in each glass.
Demi-sec has 32-50 grams of added sugar per litre. This means ‘half-dry’, which is even more confusing for native English speakers. Medium sweet would be a more accurate description.
4. The champagne grapes you've never even heard of
You may know that the main three grapes in the Champagne region are chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier, but it is less well known that three other permitted grapes - pinot blanc, petit meslier and arbane. Although the quantities are tiny - less than 1% of the grapes grown in the region they can be found in some blends. Specific houses like Duval Leroy produce single varietal champagnes from these varieties and they are really interesting wines should you ever get your hands on a bottle.
There is also another variety which represents the smallest percentage of grapes grown in Champagne and very few people know of it at all: enfariné noir, or as it is known locally, Gouais Noir. This is a pale red grape that is rubbish for sparkling wines but is widely used for table wines in the region.
5. Champagne doesn’t only produce champagne
The region is also able to produce two types of still wines: Coteaux Champenois and Rosé des Riceys.
Coteaux Champenois are still whites or reds from the region, some of which are blindingly brilliant (like Bérêche et Fils), and others are produced for local consumption.
Rosé des Riceys is made down in the Côte des Bar (see below). Little known fact: the appellation Les Riceys is the only wine growing area in France that has three officially recognised denominations in it: AOC Champagne, AOC Côteaux Champenois red wine and AOC Rosé de Riceys
6. Vintage isn't automatically better than non-vintage
The names you most commonly see on supermarkets such as Moët & Chandon Imperial and Veuve Cliquot Yellow Label, are known as Brut Sans Année (BSA) or a Non Vintage (NV), and represents the house style of each producer or 'maison' as they're called.
Many count their NVs as their pride and joy and consider them the ‘flagship’ of the their champagne house. When you go out to buy your bottle of G.H. Mumm Cordon Rouge for instance, you know that it will taste the same time after time. But that's not that easy to achieve as the grapes will taste different from harvest to harvest. So how do they do it? The cellar masters of each champagne house use a blend of wines from multiple vintages (some up to 20 years old) to create a consistent cuvée.
The main differences between a non vintage and a vintage champagne are two main things: grapes and ageing. In vintage champagne, grapes can come from any part of the region, as long as they are 100% from the declared vintage, and they have to be aged for 3 years as opposed to 15 months for a non-vintage. The time and care that is taken over vintages can mean a superior, more complex champagne but some champagne houses' non-vintage is in the same class.
7. Champagne is big business…
We all like to think of our wines being made by gnarled artisanal winemakers but Champagne doesn't work quite like that. Larger groups virtually monopolise the UK champagne market. For example, the multinational conglomerate Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH) owns Moët & Chandon, Dom Pérignon, Krug, Veuve Cliquot, Ruinart and Mercier - and is estimated to account for about 20% of the total sales of champagne by volume.
You may see the letters NM on some of these larger brands; this stands for Negociant Manipulant, and signifies that the grapes used in the wine are bought from many different sources and produced in house. These houses do often own their own vines but the majority of their grapes will come from other growers. In the production of LVMH brand champagnes, 75% of their grapes come from external growers.
If you see the letters RM on a bottle, this means the Champagne is produced by a house that uses only their own grapes in their finished wine. This Recoltant Manipulant produces what is known as a “grower Champagne”, and some of them are considered among the best in the region. Some wines worth looking out for are those from the houses of Henri Giraud, Vouette & Sorbée, Ulysse Collin and Egly Ouriet.
8. But aren’t a lot of sparkling wines made using the Champagne method?
Technically yes, but they can’t use the C-word. Outside of Champagne the Méthode Champenoise must be called the “traditional method”. And don’t forget that Prosecco is produced using an entirely different technique called the charmat method which has no second fermentation in bottle but instead in huge tanks, which makes the process faster and more cost effective.
So what is Méthode Champenoise? After the still wine is made, it is put in bottle and a solution is added called the liqueur de tirage that contains wine, sugar and yeast. The sugar and yeast react together to produce more alcohol and carbon dioxide, the latter of which dissolves into the Champagne, and produces its famous bubbles. This process takes a minimum of 15 months for non-vintage champagnes. The leftover yeast is removed, and the cork is inserted, ready for further ageing or consumption.
9. Why champagne corks are such a strange shape
Corks are synonymous with Champagne; the unique shape, the classic pop, it’s all part of the experience. The weird thing though about the cork is that before it is put in the bottle, it has the same uniform shape that corks from other still wines have. The next bottle of champagne you buy, you should keep the cork after you open it and watch it regain its original shape.
The wire cage keeps the cork in place, and makes sure that it doesn’t pop out while it’s sitting on the shelf. There are about 6 bars of pressure in a bottle of Champagne, which is enough to take an eye out, so this cage is key for safety. It’s also a good reason to keep your champagne chilled; it's less likely to burst explosively out of the bottle if the wine is cold! (If you want to see how to open a bottle of champagne check out this video)
You may be one of those people that collect the decorative caps of champagne bottles, but very few people know the purpose of these caps. Dry style champagnes are a relatively recent trend; before this, Champagnes had a much higher sugar content. This meant as the bottles were laying in the cellar, rats would come and nibble at the sugary corks, resulting in hundreds of shattered bottles (and probably a few lacerated rats). The cap was introduced to stop the rats from getting into the bottles. Now that a drier style is more common, and health and safety standards have been raised ever so slightly, the cap is only there for decorative purposes!
10. There's a part of the champagne region no one talks much about.
Côte des Bar, in the Aube region, is situated well to the south of Reims and Epernay. It doesn’t have the same reputation as the rest of the region for quality but it’s a very interesting place for champagne production, since this is where land is cheapest. This has new producers to get established bringing their innovative practices and fresh ideas to the region.
Surprisingly, for an area that is not spoken of much, Côte des Bar makes up around 20% of the wine producing area of Champagne. The area almost exclusively plants Pinot Noir due to its slightly warmer climate; the champagne house Drappier, which is based in Urville, claims that pinot noir is the grape that “runs through their veins”.
The best match for caviar - vodka or champagne?
For those of you who are lucky enough to be serving caviar this New Year's Eve I just dug this post I wrote back in 2009 out of the archives. Is champagne or vodka the better pairing? (I must confess the *research* was fun ...)
"One of the highlights of my recent New York trip was an extraordinary caviar tasting at Petrossian where I had a chance to taste for the first time the new farm-reared caviars that are coming out of the US and other countries such as Israel and China.
Petrossian, which was founded in France in 1920, now sources 98% of the caviar it sells from farmed sturgeon and may shortly be selling 100% if no quotas are issued for caviar from the Caspian sea in 2010. (None were given in 2009)
I tasted six caviars selected by Michel Emery of Petrossian with a American food writer David Rosengarten, the wine editor of Saveur. They were served simply with triangles of hot toast made from sweet, slightly milky-tasting bread and interestingly from chilled jars rather than ones put on ice which Emery explains makes the caviar too cold.
With them we tried Petrossian’s own vodka, a super-smooth, five times distilled spirit, two champagnes and, as a wild card, a Rolling Rock beer (David having a theory that beer is as refreshing a partner for caviar as champagne)
1) Royal Transmontanus (California) $69 per 30g
This American caviar had a good flavour but the least definition - fine bubbles that almost created the sensation of a smooth caviar spread in the mouth.
2) Alverta President (California) $107 per 30g
A caviar from an older fish (8 years as opposed to the average 6 years for the Transmontanus) resulting in larger eggs with more definition. Elegant with a savoury depth - David Rosengarten’s favourite.
3) Tsar Imperial Siberian (Florida) $139 per 30g
From the Baeri species of sturgeon, I personally found this a stronger, saltier more obviously ‘fishy’ tasting caviar with more structure and body than the others we tasted. It appealed to me less than the other caviars.
4) Royal Ossetra (Israel) $189 for 30g
Very fine-textured, delicate, slightly nutty with well-defined eggs. Very much what you’d expect from top caviar.
5) Tsar Imperial Ossetra (China) $208 for 30g
For me, given its origin, the most fascinating caviar of the tasting with a very fine texture and subtle, complex flavour. Second only to the Royal Sevruga below.
6) Royal Sevruga (Iran) $364 for 30g
A rare sample of aged wild caviar from the Caspian sea. (It came from the 2008 harvest - none is available in 2009) Smaller, less clearly defined eggs than the Ossetra but with an incredibly intense marine flavour. Wonderful.
The pairings
Having always thought that champagne is the ideal textural match for caviar (bubbles on eggs) I actually found the very pure, fine Petrossian vodka which was served in frozen glass flutes consistently showed off the individual flavours and textures of each caviar. Not least, I think, because of vodka’s mouth-coating oiliness which combined with its serving temperature sets the palate up perfectly
What I hadn’t thought about before was the issue of residual sugar in champagne which proved quite intrusive in the first one we tried - a Nicolas Feuillatte Blanc de Blancs 1998, less so with a lighter, crisper non-vintage champagne from Paul Goerg. The effect was less noticeable with toast but the caviars still tended to make the champagne taste slightly sweet and in the case of the Royal Ossetra (4) a little metallic. Better matches would have probably been a no-dosage champagne like Laurent-Perrier Ultra Brut or a weightier vintage champagne like Krug.
The beers too (we deliberately tried two very light ones - a Becks and a Rolling Rock) proved problematic. The latter was better though the only spot-on match I thought was with the saltier Tsar Imperial (3). But even that was very much a case of ‘you could but why would you?’. Caviar being as rare and expensive as it is it seems perverse to accompany it with anything else but a high quality drink. (It’s also been suggested to me that fine sake works well which I’d very much like to try)
All in all an utterly fascinating (and let’s face it, wildly indulgent) tasting, particularly for the chance to try this new generation of caviars which represent the future for this rare, luxury product.
Petrossian is at 182 West 58th Street (58th St. at 7th Ave.) New York, NY 10019 Tel: 212-245-2214
Photo (not of the original event) © gkrphoto
10 of the best champagne buys under £20
Champagne is once again a Christmas battleground between the supermarkets though I haven’t spotted quite so many £8 and £9 bottles this year (I suspect we may see a few next week). Best avoided anyway: here’s the best of what’s available under £20 this weekend. Note prices may have changed by the time you read this.
The Co-operative Les Pionniers NV £16.99 STAR BUY
Excellent elegant fizz that delivers year after year. Came out top in the recent Which? tasting. If you buy any 4 bottles (or multiples of 4 bottle) you get 15% off. Maximum purchase 12 bottles. Does not apply in Scotland. The vintage is great too at £24.99
Tesco Finest Premier Cru champagne £84 per case (£14 a bottle)
Tesco’s well-publicised problems this year means that they’re extra eager to keep their customers happy. Again a good price for a reliable own brand. Good party fizz
Asda Extra Special Premier Cru Champagne Brut £14
A similar deal from Asda. Further proof that own label champagne is a bargain.
Heidsieck Monopole Blue Top Brut £16 Asda and Sainsbury’s
A good option if you don’t want a supermarket name on your champagne label. Looks the part.
Heidsieck Monopole 2009 Gold Top £19.99 if you buy any six bottles from Majestic
Part of Majestic’s current 33% off champagne offer which finishes on Monday 14th. I’m sure it will be replaced by some other deal but vintage fizz for under £20 is worth snapping up if you’re near a store
Sainsbury’s Blanc de Blancs £15
I always like this 100% chardonnay champagne and this is a good price
Waitrose Blanc de Blancs £19.99
Another winner in the latest Which? report only narrowly pipped by Les Pionniers (above)
Bredon Brut £14.99 Waitrose
Although it irritates me that this is billed as a £12 reduction (from a price that was way too high in the first place) at £14.99 it delivers. A richer style that works well with food
Veuve Monsigny champagne brut £10.99 Aldi
This has picked up loads of gongs including a silver medal from Decanter. Never been quite so impressed but at this price, you can't complain.
Oudinot Brut in magnum on offer at £40 at M & S
This M & S own label fizz just squeaks in at the equivalent of £20 a bottle - cheap for a magnum. Or buy the standard size bottle for £15.
Christmas fizz under £15 (updated)
If you're looking for a sparkling wine or champagne for a party here's my pick of what's available under £15 in ascending order of price. I've deliberately picked that figure rather than £10 as I haven't found a champagne I really rate under the £10 mark.
To repeat my usual caveat take ‘half price' and 'better than half price' offers with a pinch of salt and remember, in the case of champagne, even a £10 discount can still leave a bottle overpriced.
Asda Extra Special Vintage Cava on ‘rollback’ at £5 until January 3rd
Probably the cheapest drinkable fizz around this Christmas
Cava Brut Heretat El Padruell on offer at Marks & Spencer at £5.99 until December 25th
Much more personality than most cheap cava - attractively fruity rather than yeasty. A good party wine
Aldi Cremant de Jura £6.99
Very decent light, fragrant fizz in a super-smart bottle. A bargain.
Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Prosecco Conegliano on offer at £7.32 a bottle until 1/1/13.
Not amazing but a perfectly pleasant, clean-tasting prosecco that would be great for making cocktails.
Tesco Finest Vintage Cava Brut Nature 2010 565 stores (currently on offer at £7.49 until 1/1/13)
Unusual in that it’s almost totally dry (most fizz has an added sugar solution) so fresher and fruitier than most cavas
Cordoniu Seleccion Raventos (on offer at £7.99 at Majestic)
I much prefer Cordoniu's wines to fellow industry giant Freixenet's and this handsomely bottled smooth creamy cava is a great deal at the price. The only problem possibly being fitting the large unusually shaped bottles in the fridge if you're chilling several down. The basic Cordoniu brut (widely available at £6.99) is also good value.
La Corte del Pozzo Prosecco Brut 2010, Fasoli Gino £9.50 Adnams, £8.55 if you buy a case
Hurrah! A prosecco with personality. gently sparkling but with a deliciously honeyed flavour. (It's made from organic grapes) And I like the rather sexy-looking black bottle.
Jacob's Creek Trilogy Cuvée Brut on a 3 for the price of 2 offer at Ocado at £12.99 a bottle (which makes 3 bottles £8.66 each) Until 11/12. £9.99 Majestic
A surprisingly classy sparkler from Aussie giant Jacob’s Creek made from the classic champagne grape varieties. Better than many cheap champagnes.
Jansz rosé currently on offer at slurp.co.uk (£10.95), Fraziers Solihull (£11.99) and Hennings, Sussex (£12.25) and others - see wine-searcher.com
A delicious Tasmanian rosé which I rediscovered at the recent Dartmouth Food Festival where it was/is the house fizz at Brown's hotel. Really drinkable.
Heidsieck Blue Top Dry Monopole (£14.49 Tesco, £15 Asda)
This handsome looking bottle is one of the best big names you'll find round about this price. Full, toasty and rich - you know you're drinking the real thing.
Sainsbury’s Blanc de Noirs in magnum (down to £29.99 until 1/1/13 = £14.99 a bottle. Note the offer isn't as good on the 75cl size bottle)
A consistently good own-label champagne that totally over-delivers at this price - a richer, more full-bodied cousin of the supermarket’s lighter, more elegant but slightly pricier Blanc de Blancs (though this is now also on offer at £14.98 until 1/1/13) You could happily drink it with a meal.
Tesco Finest Premier Cru Champagne (on offer at £14.99 until 1/1/14).
Another reliable stalwart that keeps picking up awards. A lighter, more elegant style than the Blanc de Noirs - a good party champagne
Nicolas Feuillatte brut Grande Reserve (£14.99 Sainsbury's)
I must confess this hasn't been my favourite champagne house in the past but I haven't tasted this cuvée and you can't argue at the price. Tesco has a similar bottling at £14.99.
And for £15 . . .
Just topping the £15 mark, Piper Heidsieck Brut is currently on promotion at £15 at Asda, Sainsbury's has the perfectly decent Etienne Dumont brut for £15 and Duval Leroy's Fleur de Champagne, from the same house which makes Sainsbury's own label fizz is £15.99 at Waitrose.
PS Since I flagged up this post on Twitter a number of merchants and others have posted their own favourites. I haven't tasted them so can't recommend them personally but you might want to give them a go:
@winesonlyadrink "Victoria Sunnycliff brut - one of the best cheap party fizzes I've tasted"
@rieslingnut "Mas Macia brut nature cava from fermi bohigas. 24 months on lees, zero dosage. Target price £10-£11"
@The_Haciendas "We love the Mas de Monistrol Vintage Brut and Rose. Both at £13.99"
@Chris_Giles "Undarraga Rose, a bit of a Majestic bargain at £5.99."
@KieronGailliard "How about a Blanquette - classy and refreshingly different! http://bit.ly/TH6xL1"
@staffanahlgren "Camille Braun Crémant d'Alsace"
@gastrolad "lindauer brut nv usually goes down well" (I agree though prefer the rosé)
@m2comms "Sainsburys TTD Pinot Rosé & also their Marques de Montoya Vintage Cava Rosé (but which has the WORST label/bottle ever!)"
@vivinowines "Cava Marrugat is great for parties http://ow.ly/fOz9z Brut, but not overly dry"
@TonyRodgers70 "How about Txakoli? A little unconventional but bone dry is good at this time of year, what with rich foods etc"
@JascotsWine " favourite party sparkler? - @Simonsig_Estate 's Kaapse Vonkel http://bit.ly/QENdAs"
@koyahPR "J&L Charlemagne 1921 http://bit.ly/Vx0k5U is a delicious sparkling wine and great value at £14.50"
@tenacrewines "Ahem - http://ten-acre.com/wines/prosecco-di-valdobbiadene-frizzante-val-mesdi-frozza-nv/ … "
@portovinowines "there's our 2006 Quinta Romiera , Methode Champenoise from Bucelas. £15 a bottle . Stunning value. http://Portovino.co.uk "
Image ©Kesu - Fotolia.com
Pairing Cheese and Champagne
Cheese and champagne might not sound like natural bedfellows but if you think about the pairing for a moment you immediately realise they have quite a thing going. Many canapés - like gougères and cheese straws - are made with cheese for example and go wonderfully well with champagne but what about individual cheeses?
I had the opportunity to taste a range of cheeses with champagne recently and came to a few new conclusions.
- Mild slightly chalky cheeses work well. The classic example is Chaource, a cheese which is often paired with champagne but a mild but flavourful cheese like Gorwydd Caerphilly is good too. Very mild cheese like Mozzarella is an undemanding but also slightly uninteresting match
- Rosé champagne seems a more flexible partner than ordinary non-vintage. We tried two - a Moet rosé and a Benoit Marguet Grand Cru Rosé and they both showed well, particularly with Mistralou (goats cheese wrapped in chestnut leaf) and a Brie de Meaux. But a stronger goats’ cheese killed the Marguet stone dead so you need to take care.
- An Ossau Iraty sheeps cheese went well with most of the champagnes - the slightly nutty taste and smooth texture of hard sheeps’ cheese seems a good foil to champagne
- Washed rind cheeses as usual are tricky. If they’re not too mature, like the Reblochon and Langres we tried, they may work but if they’ve been allowed to get very mature like an incredibly gooey St Marcellin they’ll slaughter champagne (along with most other wines)
- Strong blues, as might be expected, are quite overwhelming but the creamy texture of Stichelton, an unpasteurised verson of Stilton, made it an unexpectedly good match for an elegant low dosage Jacquesson 732 (though coming mainly from the 2004 vintage it has quite a bit of bottle age)
- Parmesan is probably the ultimate champagne cheese - a case of umami meets umami
In general the stronger the cheese the older and more powerful the champagne you need. A mature Comté for example overwhelmed the fresh-tasting non-vintage champagnes but I suspect would have been great with an older champagne or a Prestige Cuve like Krug.
I shall just have to carry on experimenting ;-)
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