Champagne

Champagne is a cold, northerly region where grapes cannot ripen enough to produce good still wines. In fact, water is sprayed over vines to protect them from frost. But this region produces a sparkling wine that has become world-famous. Good Champagne has a fresh and delicate taste of grapes. It is dry with some honeyed sweetness, offering layers of different flavours ranging from fruits to nuts to dark chocolate 

Champagne is a blended wine. It uses three types of grapes, predominantly red, grown in various parts of the appellation, and often coming from several vintages. Rarely is there a vintage Champagne - only in extra good, i.e., extra sunny, years 

Champagne comes in a variety of colours from white to rosé. Blanc de Blancs uses white Chardonnay grapes only. Blancs de Noirs uses no white grapes. Pink Champagne is made by mixing in some red wine 

Sweetness ranges from Brut, the driest Champagne, to Extra-Sec, then Sec or Dry and finally Demi-Sec or Rich with two to three times as much sugar per liter as Brut 

There is no 1st or 2nd growth classification. Major labels are Veuve Cliquot, Taittinger, Roederer, Ruinart, Charles Heidseck, Moët & Chandon, Krug and Dom Pérignon. Credited with inventing Champagne, Dom Pérignon, the 17th century abbot of Hautvillers, actually perfected the art of blending wines from the various parts of the region. The combination of blended wines with stronger, non-exploding bottles led to the great success of Champagne 

Champagne, as well as other wines, is available in many bottle sizes. A Magnum is two bottles in one; a Jereboam is four bottles in one; a Rehoboam is six bottles in one; a Methuselah is eight bottles in one; and a Nebuchadnezzar is twenty bottles in one;