Champagne (wine). Champagne and sparkling wines

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Champagne wine is an alcoholic drink, without which no solemn feast is complete, from wedding celebrations to New Year's celebrations. Its divine taste and incomparable aroma turns heads to beautiful ladies of all countries. However, men also like to sip champagne, rightly associating it with luxury and we alth, and, most importantly, with a holiday.

What kind of drink is this - champagne, the price of which can reach up to $ 17.625 per bottle? Let's find out everything about this world-famous alcohol - from the history of its origin to the list of varieties.

Craftsmen from the provinces

The history of this unique drink began about 350 years ago in the province of Champagne, which is located in the north-east of France. On the fertile land of this area, grapes were grown, which were sent not only for export, but also in oak barrels, to later turn into fragrant wine. At first, Champagne winemakers produced exclusively red wines, completely ignoring rosés and whites.

Wine with character

The peculiarity of red wine from Champagne wineries was that they are incomprehensiblyreasons turned out a little carbonated. Bubbles gave the drink a unique taste, lightness and delicate aroma. However, it was precisely because of them that the wine entered the stage of secondary fermentation, as a result of which the barrels in which it was stored were literally torn to pieces. Pouring into glass containers also did not save the situation - their walls could not withstand such a high pressure. For its "explosiveness" champagne was nicknamed "devilish".

Wild weather

Winemakers were guessing about the reason for such strange processes that occurred with their products, and came to only one conclusion: the climate is to blame! The fact is that the weather in Champagne was changeable and unpredictable - warm days were suddenly replaced by cold ones, with thunderstorms and heavy winds. A sharp cold snap stopped the fermentation process, while the wine still had completely unfermented sugar. The fierce cold abruptly replaced the heat, and the wine began to ferment again, and with a vengeance. As a result, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the wine reached an extreme maximum, which led to the explosion of the container and the splashing of the precious drink.

Monk Winemaker

And if the monk Dom Pierre Perignon, who not only loved this drink, but was also a talented winemaker and an excellent taster, had not joined the study of the winemaking process, we would not have known what champagne wine is - winemakers are just tired from the endless struggle with the "explosive nature" of this alcoholic nectar and stop making it.

Exactly the HousePérignon made a huge contribution to the subtle science of champagne production by studying the processes of blending and fermentation. In addition, he became the first winemaker who created white wine from blue and red grapes, and also came up with the idea of pouring his products into glass bottles, corking and tying them with an oiled rope. This method prevented the bottles from exploding and kept them safely for several years.

Secrets of Perignon

By the way, the enterprising Perignon kept the recipe of his champagne in the strictest confidence, but now every sparkling wine factory knows it. How did it happen? Has the great winemaker blabbed out? Not at all!

The fact is that the whole of France was literally obsessed with champagne - it was the favorite drink of all the inhabitants who could afford it. However, no winemaker could make sparkling wine perfect - the way Dom Pérignon did it. Man, alas, cannot live forever, and the famous winemaker could not go to a better world, leaving his people without their wine. So he asked his friend, Abbé Jean Godinot, to write down every nuance of the secret technology. After the death of Monsieur Perignon, Abbé Godinot published a book that described in detail the entire process of making champagne, starting with the choice of grape variety and ending with the type of glass from which bottles should be made for storage and transportation. So the last will of the talented winemaker was fulfilled.

Valuable export

After a time the production of champagne in Francethey put it on a grand scale, and the royal inspectors monitored the observance of the bequeathed technologies and the quality of the drink, based on a specially drawn up state standard - in other words, the GOST of that time.

Champagne, supplied from France to different countries, pretty soon fell in love with the whole of Europe. The magic drink came to the Russian Empire in 1780 thanks to Philippe Clicquot, a French winemaker, who ventured to send Catherine the Second a modest gift in the form of a batch of champagne of his own making. The Great Empress and her entourage were extremely pleased with the taste of this drink, and soon direct deliveries of champagne from France to Russia were established. However, this process was interrupted - a revolution began in France, followed by the endless Napoleonic Wars, which also affected the Russian Empire.

Champagne Woman

It was only in 1814 that it was possible to establish a constant supply of sparkling wine to Russia, and none other than the young widow of the famous Philippe Clicquot - Barbe-Nicole Clicquot-Ponsandrin, who became the head of Clicquot after the death of her husband, renaming the plant, which produces more than 100 thousand bottles of delicious champagne a year, into "Veuve Clicquot".

Enterprising madam lived a long life dedicated to her husband's cause. She turned Champagne "Clicquot" into the most popular, truly iconic drink that was loved all over the world. Trade with Russia brought Madame Nicole enormous income - in 1825 alone, the Russians drank 252,452 bottles of sparkling wine! Not a single ball, not a single important eventor a big celebration could not do without champagne, which literally flowed like water.

After Madame Clicquot, the reins of government and full ownership of the Clicquot House passed into the strong hands of Edouard Berne. The young and talented winemaker worthily continued the work of Madame and Monsieur, who founded the world-famous factory - Clicquot champagne became the standard of quality, luxury, elegance and good taste not only in France, but also far beyond its borders.

France in Russia

The famous “Soviet” champagne to this day began to be produced in Russia in the 20th century, or rather, in the 30s. The then government involved the royal champagne maker Anton Frolov-Bagreev in this, punishing him as soon as possible to establish the production of champagne for wide distribution to the masses.

“Soviet” champagne was produced using an accelerated technology and went on sale within 26 days after the start of production. The taste of this champagne was no worse than foreign, and its price was affordable for everyone.

Sacrament of production

How is champagne made these days?

The first stage is the purchase of grapes, which must necessarily be slightly unripe and, unlike ripe ones, with greater acidity. Juice is squeezed from each grape and poured into large tanks for fermentation and obtaining a wine base.

After that, wine preparations from different grape varieties are mixed together, finding the perfect combination. This process is called blending - it is necessaryto improve the taste of champagne.

Then sugar and yeast are added in the required proportions to the resulting mixture, bottled and placed strictly in a horizontal position. The process of the second fermentation starts, which lasts about a year. During this time, the bottle with the future champagne is gradually, step by step, lowered with the neck down. This action is called the beautiful word "remuage" and is necessary so that all the sediment accumulates at the very neck of the bottle.

When this happens, the sediment must be carefully removed - a process called "disgorgement". Only true professionals can do this "sacred rite"!

After the sediment has been carefully removed, a mixture of wine and sugar is added to the bottle, after which it is tightly corked and left for several months until fully cooked.

Thus produce expensive varieties of everyone's favorite "holiday" drink, including red, white and rosé champagne. It is this drink that is so often found on our tables. Cheaper champagne, the price of which starts from 200 rubles per bottle, is produced in accelerated ways.

Taste and color…

By the way, the color of champagne directly depends on the grape variety. Surprisingly, white champagne is often made from red grapes, squeezing the berries so that the juice does not come into contact with the coloring skin, otherwise red champagne will turn out. But pink champagne is obtained in two ways - either they allow the juice to interact with the skin for a short time, oradd some red wine to white wine.

Many consider champagne to be sparkling wine, rightly believing that they are one and the same. In fact, this is true, except that only wine that is produced in Champagne under the strict control of the AOC can rightly be called champagne. The rest of the ersatz champagne is, albeit tasty, but still an ordinary sparkling wine, the price of which starts from 200 rubles per bottle.

Variety of varieties

Champagne varieties please with variety and are divided into:

• champagne sweet contains from 8.5 to 12 grams of sugar per 100 ml;
• semi-sweet champagne can store 6-9 grams of sugar in 100 ml;
• semi-dry champagne may include from 4 to 8 grams of sugar per 100 ml, depending on the preference of the manufacturer;
• dry champagne holds 2-5 grams of sugar per 100 ml;
• extra dry champagne contains only 0.8 grams of sugar per 100 ml;;
• brut - has the lowest percentage of grams of sugar per 100 ml - only 0.4;
• extra brut - contains no sugar at all.