All About Champagne! Facts, History, & Best Champagne Brands

Article written by Elisa - Travel Writer & Local in France
This article may contain compensated links. Please read disclaimer for more info.

Although their champagne had little to do with the one we buy for New Year’s Eve, theirs would’ve rather been cloudy, still red known as ‘grey wine.’

Just like in other wine regions in France, it is the monks who contributed a lot to the work of the land and the elaboration (and perfection) of champagne wine in the Champagne region. We all know about Dom Pérignon (1638-1715), that monk in the abbey of Hautvillers, near Épernay, to whom we attribute the famous champenoise method that converts a vin tranquille (wine without bubbles) into sparkling wine.

Other champagne-related names worth remembering are Frère Oudart (1654-1742) – who widely contributed to master this technique and improve the quality of wine, and Dom Ruinart (1657-1709), a native of the Champagne region, who settled in Paris and promoted the champagne wine amongst the biggest names in the city and in the Palace of Versailles.

Champagne’s relationship with luxury was further exacerbated when the most opulent monarch of all, King Louis XIV, tasted champagne for the first time in the Reims Cathedral. It was King Louis XIV who associated champagne with his other obsessions: fashion, prestige, and luxury.

With the French Revolution of 1789, the guillotine started to fall, ending the association of champagne with monarchs and aristocrats. However, it was the revolution that launched the third, and perhaps the most powerful mythification cycle of champagne by intimately linking champagne to the ‘soul’ and virtues of the new French Republic.

Jean-Rémy Moët established champagne Moët in the United States, developing a new clientele, including President George Washington. And when the Russian army routed Napoleon and reached the city of Reims, the enterprising Madame ‘Veuve’ Clicquot opened her champagne cellars to the victors in the hope that it would help her conquer the Russian market.

At the dawn of the first industrial revolution, champagne wine got faster access to different markets. Thanks to efficient rail networks, champagne could be transported further, in greater quantities, and to more places than ever before. The new equipment allowed more efficient production and made champagne more attractive, both from a taste and aesthetic point of view. Champagne quickly established itself as a symbol of France in the world’s eyes.

The champagne wine experienced a worldwide boom at the beginning of the 19th century thanks to the Germans. At the time, French prosperity seduced the Germans who came to settle en masse in the region. Over the years, some were linked to champagne properties through marriage, and others were associated with certain champagne houses. This explains why we find many German names on the champagne labels: Bollinger, Krug, or Deutz.

The only difference between sparkling wine and champagne is the region it comes from. Authentic champagne wine can only come from the Champagne wine region of France. Any bubbly from other parts of the world simply has to settle for the title of ‘sparkling wine.’

The Champagne vineyard is spread over five French departments: Aisne, Aube, Marne, Haute Marne, and Seine-et-Marne (the latest part of current Ile-de-France), with limestone and marl soils. The climate is oceanic with continental influences.

The Champagne region is one of the northernmost vineyards in France. As a result, it has always been subject to violent climatic conditions – waves of frost, hail, and epidemics of all kinds. These hazards have forced the winegrowers to adopt certain methods that would be considered dubious in other French wine regions: if there is a wine in France where ‘anything goes,’ it is the champagne wine.

Blend several wines from different vintages, mix white wine with red wine to obtain a rosé wine, add sugar to a cuvée to improve the taste, look for the standardization of a taste or a style to please the greatest number of people is also part of the history of champagne. But the world loves it, so it works!

Champagne’s denominations are champagne (blanc or rosé), 43 champagne Premier Crus, and 17 champagne Grands Crus which are Ambonnay, Avize, Aÿ, Beaumont-sur-Vesle, Bouzy, Chouilly, Cramant, Louvois, Mailly-en-Champagne, le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Oger, Oiry, Puisieulx, Sillery, Tours-sur-Marne, Verzenay,Verzy.

Champagne wines have categories too, depending on the sugar levels: extra brut (0-6 g/l of sugar), brut nature, brut, extra dry, sec, demi-sec, doux (more than 50g/l).

In Épernay,  the Avenue de Champagne is one of the most expensive streets in the entire world because of the millions of bottles of champagne stored in the cellars beneath it.

The impressive chalk cellars that champagne Duperrey bottles are aged in are actually recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

France has the largest champagne market (of course!). The French consume 162.5 million bottles every year, or about 52 percent of the entire world production of champagne. France is followed by Belgium, Switzerland, and the UK.

33% of all champagne sales are made in November and December.

A 7500ml bottle of champagne contains about 49 million bubbles. A standard-sized glass emits 30 bubbles every second.

The pressure in a champagne bottle is about three times the pressure of car tires.

When popped, a champagne cork can reach a velocity of 40 km per hour.

Without control of the cork, you risk injuring yourself. It is indeed one of the most common domestic accidents in France!

The first glass of champagne has the most bubbles, meaning the first glass will also get you feeling drunk the fastest. Every glass thereafter poured from that bottle will be more potent than the one that follows.

For a long time, champagne was seen as dangerous because bottles had a tendency to explode – hence its nickname ‘Devil’s wine’. In the 19th century, champagne makers wore metal masts to protect their faces when handling bottles. Eventually, stronger glass bottles and metal clasp closures made the stuff more stable.

If you’re drinking good champagne, you’ll be able to see the ‘collerette.’ This refers to the bubble trains traveling up the sides of the glass.

Your champagne will stay more bubbly in a flute glass compared to a coupe glass.

Before modern-day flutes, the ‘coupe’ was the go-to glass for champagne, and this was rumored to have been molded from Marie-Antoinette’s left breast.

One of the weirdest usages for champagne? During the 19th century, high society used it to polish their boots!

Given its location in the northeast of France, the Champagne region was in the direct path of advancing Germans during the World Wars. Instead of fleeing, many locals sought refuge beneath the towns in the tunnel cellars dug by the Romans, taking rare bottles of champagne with them.

Winston Churchill was one of the biggest Champagne drinkers on record.  Between 1908 and 1965, he drank an estimated 42,000 bottles. Pol Roger even made him a special one-pint bottle that was served to him every day at precisely 11 am.

‘Remember gentlemen, it’s not just France we are fighting for, it’s Champagne!’ – Winston Churchill

Marilyn Monroe took a bath in champagne. It took 350 bottles to fill up the tub.

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