National Champagne Day!

Today is National Champagne Day! What better day and way to celebrate New Year’s Eve than toasting to this favorite beverage? National Champagne Day recognizes the wine that puts the pop in every New Year’s Eve celebration. 

Champagne is technically bubbly wine, but not all bubbly wine is champagne! Did you know that genuine Champagne only comes from France’s Champagne region?

In fact, French law protects where and how it is made. With some exceptions, only Champagne made according to set specifications and within the French region may label their wines using the term “Champagne.” 

Champagne, France, is located northeast of Paris and provides ideal temperature and soil to produce the grapes required for Champagne. The chalky remains of ancient sea-creatures are the “soil” for champagne’s grapes. The champagne region of France was actually once the floor of an ancient prehistoric sea. Now it’s the perfect foundation to grow grapes. French law allows only eight varieties of grapes for the production of Champagne in the Champagne region. Primarily, the three grapes used to create Champagne are Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier. 

It is rumored that champagne was created by accident! 

It all began when the wine growers (today’s famous Champagne Houses) from the Champagne region were trying to equal the Burgundy wines. Because the French region of Champagne is the most northerly of the wine-making regions in France, sometimes the cold winter weather would interrupt the fermentation process. So when spring came the yeast would start fermenting again, creating a secondary fermentation, which for a long time the winemakers tried to prevent. This is how Champagne came into being.

Champagne is high maintenance – it is the most labour-intensive wine to produce. The beverage undergoes two fermentations; one in the barrel, and one in the bottle.  It’s in the second fermentation that the bubbles form over a minimum of two weeks. Yeast and sugar is added to wine for a second fermentation, which then creates the bubbles that make champagne. Unlike other wines, Champagne ferments in the bottle allowing the vintner to trap the CO2 in the bottle. The bubbles give Champagne its effervescence.  The bottle is then gradually twisted and inverted, traditionally by hand, over a month, allowing the sediment to settle at the cap. It’s then aged for at least 15 months before the cap and sediment are removed and the bottle is finally corked.

Champagne actually used to be considered dangerous! In the early days, the bottles were known to spontaneously pop their corks if they contained too much sugar. Helmets worn in Champagne cellars became de rigueur and the drink was dubbed ‘devil’s wine’. An interesting way of opening champagne is with…swords! “Sabrage” is a term for opening a champagne bottle with an actual sword. It’s only done in certain ceremonial occasions and the wielder uses the blunt side of the sword. It was made famous by Napoleon and his army when they celebrated victories in battle.

Champagne was beloved by historical figures! Queen Victoria and Edward VII especially loved champagne, they drank Joseph Perrier, a high end champagne. Marilyn Monroe once took a bath in champagne, it took 350 bottles to fill the bathtub! Also, Winston Churchill was one of the biggest champagne drinkers on record — between 1908 and 1965, the former British Prime Minister drank an estimated 42,000 bottles!

Champagne is fitting for any celebration! And what better than to celebrate leaving 2020 behind?! Raise a glass of bubbly champagne tonight to toast New Year’s Eve!