Get better acquainted with France’s favourite C-word
Over the last 100 years the French have successfully petitioned for strict controls on the use of the C-word. Champagne isn’t just a fizzy wine, it’s a brand. The word can only be used on a bottle when the contents were made using the Méthode Champenoise (traditional method) with grapes grown and vinified in Champagne.
What is this method and what makes it so special? Unlike wine, Champagne goes through two fermentations. The first occurs in stainless steel tanks or wooden barrels. The base wine is then transferred into bottles where it undergoes a second fermentation and is left to rest for a long period while yeasty sediment – the by-product of this process known as the “lees” – collects in the bottle.
Most Champagne is made using three grape varieties – one white, Chardonnay, and two red, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, hence the terms Blanc de Blancs and Blanc de Noirs seen on Champagne labels. Blanc de Blancs, meaning white from white, is made using 100 per cent Chardonnay and tends to be crisp and elegant, with a strong backbone of acidity and minerality – delicious with oysters and fish.
Blanc de Noirs, ie white from black, are made exclusively from red grapes Pinot Noir or Pinot Meunier and tend to be fuller bodied with fruitier notes: think strawberries and cherries. These are best matched with chicken, partridge and pork.
There are some other basics to remember. Most leading Champagne houses produce non-vintage and vintage. Non-vintage Champagnes are designed to provide a continuous house style by blending grapes from different vintages. The classic NV blend is 60 per cent Pinot Noir and 40 per cent Chardonnay.
Creating a house style is an art mastered by the Champenois. Vintage Champagnes come from a single vintage or harvest in especially good years. Instead of 15 months ageing on lees, vintage Champagnes have a minimum of 36 months, although the leading vintages tend to be aged for much longer.
Vintage Champagnes have more concentration and purity of fruit, greater depth and balance and can often age for decades. As you might expect, they are much more expensive than their NV counterparts.
Champagne is best served at 7-9 degrees C, and is best enjoyed from a tall glass with a narrow bowl. However, the more adventurous can use a coupe, which, as legend has it, was created from a mould of Marie Antoinette’s left breast and fashioned as a gift to her husband, King Louis XVI. I’ll drink to that.
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