French champagne: types and names

In ancient times, French champagnewas present at our tables only on special holidays. However, now in any supermarket you can safely, without any difficulty, find a few bottles of such champagne, and various brands: from little-known to powerful trading companies that provide their services in the alcohol market not for the first decade.

In general, today any champagne has ceasedto be a luxury item. Now it is often purchased for Sunday family feasts or about the premiere of the concert. In short, the use of French champagne ceased to be something solemn and turned into a kind of "festive" routine.

But in any case, all lovers of thisa noble drink it would be useful to get acquainted with the types of French champagne, its brands, and other equally important criteria for its evaluation and selection.

A bit of theory

The main feature of champagne, distinguishing it fromother wines (that is, wines that are not called bubbly) is the process of bubbling out the carbon dioxide present in the beverage. Therefore, wine seems to be "hissing". In general, carbon dioxide, which occurs during fermentation, does not present any danger, as it is formed naturally.

Probably, many people asked themselves the question,why it is "French champagne". The names of these drinks are a direct reference to the place of production. Everyone at least once heard about the very famous province of Champagne, located in France and famous for its sparkling wine, called champagne.

Production of champagne: how and from what?

The method of champagne is the mainprocess in obtaining champagne of any kind and kind. A distinctive feature of this method is the passage of the fermentation process directly into the bottle. The rest of the sparkling wines pass this stage in a classic way - in barrels. And only then there is a process of bottling such bottles.

Nowadays the main product for obtaining French champagne is the following mixture of grape varieties: Chardonnay (white) and Pinot noir (black).

In view of all of the above, we can dothe following conclusion: champagne should be called only sparkling wine, obtained in the province of Champagne, during the production of which the method of champagnization was applied.

However, if the gas bubbles are formed in the barrel, then the wine obtained in this way can be called bubbly. But if carbon dioxide was added, then this wine is called carbonated.

Classification of French sparkling wines

"Types of French champagne" - not the mostan unequivocal statement that could be used, since it would be problematic to separate such a large group of drinks of different types and taste properties using only one criterion.

Based on this, you can conduct a basic sorting by the following qualities:

by the amount of sugar in the drink;
by the year of the harvest of grapes;
by the variety of grapes;
by type of the manufacturer;
by type of bottles used.

Separation of French champagne in sugar content

Brut nature - natural brut, is one of the most expensivevarieties of sparkling French wines, because to create such a drink using the highest quality grapes. The amount of sugar in this wine is incredibly low and is only 6 grams / liter.

Brut - brut. French champagne brut is considered one of the most popular. This wine contains about 15 grams of sugar per liter of beverage.

Extra sec - Very dry, is a sparklingFrench wine, the sugar content in which does not exceed 20 grams per liter. However, the production of wines of this kind is limited due to lack of demand from buyers.

Sec - dry champagne. French semisweet sparkling wine is the second name of this drink. And the amount of sugar in it is from 17 to 35 grams per liter.

Demi sec - semisweet. A fairly sweet type of champagne, which is only for the amateurs. In this wine, from 33 to 50 grams of sugar per liter.

Doux - sweet champagne. This sort of sparkling wine is a category of dessert, that is, containing a large amount of sugar wines (not less than 50 grams per liter).

Separation of French champagne for the year of the vintage

Non-vintage (vint) - champagne that does not havespecific year of release. For example, when you get a cuvé, wines from different years are used. And an obligatory condition for the production of such champagne is its compulsory endurance after replication, not less than for 12 months. This kind of French champagne wines can not be better characterizes the style and level of Champagne House.

Vintage (vintage) champagne. It is also called millesime. This is a French sparkling wine, having a specific year of harvest and released only in a favorable year for wine production. Adding extraneous "reserves" is permissible, but the percentage of such impurities should not exceed 20%. Minimum exposure of such champagne is 3 years.

Cuvee de prestige - prestige of the cuvée. It is characterized by the use of only those grape crops that were fortunate enough to be born in the best "grape" years. In addition, such champagne is produced from the harvest of one year's grapes and is kept for at least five years. Prestige cuvée usually gets its own name, as this champagne is the best in the whole Champagne House.

Separation of French champagne in grades of used grapes

Blanc de blancs - «from white to white». Such an inscription on the bottle indicates that the champagne sold in this bottle is produced only from Chardonnay (white grape variety).

Blanc de noirs - «from black to white». Such a label designates wine made from grapes, whose varieties have dark skin and light flesh.

Rose - French rose champagne. It has acquired such a color due to the short amount of time spent in the must of the skin of classic red grapes. Less often this color is obtained by mixing white and red sparkling wines.

Collection - collection champagne. A characteristic feature of such sparkling wine was the amount of its release. The party of this champagne is limited to several tens of thousands of bottles.

Cuvee - Cuvé. This is champagne from the juice of grapes, obtained after the first, weakest pressing of the press on berries.

Taille - Taye. This is champagne, for the manufacture of which the next 500 liters of grape juice left after the outflow for the cuvé variety.

Grand Crus - Grand Kru - champagne from the harvest of grapes grown on the best vineyards of Champagne.

Premiere Crus - premium kru - champagne from the harvest of grapes, obtained on the second in quality after the Grand Cru vineyards.

Storage of French champagne

All bottles with sparkling wine should be stored in closed rooms at a temperature of 8-16 degrees Celsius. The effect of direct sunlight is unacceptable.

The bottles with champagne are best kept in a horizontal position, regardless of whether they were open or not.

The best French champagne and its brands

"House Perignyon." It is one of the most prestigious brands of French champagne. Today, the company "Moet" and "Shandon" took control of the production of this champagne.
"Prince Champagne", represented by the company"Tatinger", brought to a new level the idea of people about such a refined drink as French champagne. The brands, also represented by this company, are appreciated by buyers around the world. However, true connoisseurs with a certain amount of finance prefer it to "Prince Champagne."
"Widow Clicquot" ("Madame Clicquot") - famous inall over the world French champagne. The brands presented by this company have no analogues in the world market due to the patented features of production.