Behind the Bar... Champagne

Champagne is a sparkling wine, but a sparkling wine is not necessarily Champagne. To truly be Champagne, it must have been produced from grapes grown in the Champagne region of France. And it isn't some fancy "Champagne" grape (although how cool would that be as a snack?) but rather Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier grapes. Picky, eh? There is actually a lot of history and science backing up the prestige of Champagne.

The Romans planted the first vineyards in that region of France. As the centuries passed, however, the northern Champenois wanted only to compete with the southern region of Burgundy. However, science was against them-- the grapes didn't ripen the same and had a higher acidity and low sugar levels.

In 1531, Benedictine monks bottled wine before the first fermentation had ended, creating the first recorded sparkling wine. Dom Perignon, although he helped solidify the reputation of wines from the region, cannot truly be named the inventor of Champagne. The English scientist Christopher Merret holds that honor for his 1662 paper detailing the methode champenoise: the second fermentation of a finished wine.

Today, any sparkling wine NOT produced in the Champagne region of France cannot legally be called a champagne. Treaties abound, bottles are seized and destroyed... and yet many continue to refer to champagne as a generic term for any white sparkling wine.