Champagne Definition
Champagne is a
sparkling white wine which is made from grapes grown in the old French
province of Champagne. The name of champagne derives from French and is
a shortened version of 'vin de Champagne' meaning 'wine from Champagne'.
Favorite brands and types of this very special sparkling wine are Moët &
Chandon, Laurent Perrier, Veuve Clicquot, Mumm, Bollinger, Krug and
Louis Roederer Cristal Champagne
What makes
Champagne bubble?
What makes Champagne
bubble?
-
The
best red wine is produced in warm climates but the climate in
Champagne is relatively cold
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The
bubbles in champagne wine occur due to a natural process
-
Due
to the cold climate and short growing season the grapes are picked as late as possible
-
This
does not allow enough time for the fermentation process when the
yeast on the skins of the grapes convert the sugar in the juice into
alcohol
-
The
cold climate stops the fermentation process which begins again in
the warmer weather when the wine is stored in bottles
-
This
second fermentation period, or re-fermentation, creates carbon
dioxide
-
During this period additional sugar is added determines the pressure
in the bottle
-
The
carbon dioxide is trapped in the glass bottle and creates the
bubbles in the champers!
French Champagne
Champagne was
a province of France long before it became the celebrated wine and
drink. Champagne is a sparkling white wine and gets its name from the
region or province in France where it is produced. Although champagne is
produced in other parts of the world wine experts maintain that the term
'champagne' should only be used to refer to the wines made in the
Champagne region region of France. Real French champagne is considered
to be the best champagne. In fact, marketing sparkling wine, which has
not been produced in the Champagne region, as "Champagne" or "champagne"
is illegal as it violates Trade Description Laws. French Brands of this
very special wine include Moët & Chandon, Laurent Perrier, Veuve
Clicquot, Mumm, Bollinger, Krug and Louis Roederer Cristal.
History of Champagne
and Champagne Wine
Champagne is
a province, a region in France which was once rules ruled long ago by
the Counts of Champagne. Famous towns in Champagne, France include
Troyes, Langres and Rheims. Still Wine was produced for many
centuries in Champagne starting in the Dark Ages. The vineyards were
owned by monasteries and Monks produced wine not only as a drink for the
wealthy to enjoy but also for medicinal purposes, church festivals and
services. Early champagne was a pale, thin red wine made from black
grapes. The quality of such wine was inferior to the red wines produced
in other regions. Various methods were tried to improve the wine and the
use of glass bottles instead of wooden casks together with the second
fermentation period and the addition of sugar created champagne. The
popularity of champagne with royalty and the aristocracy increased and
commercial enterprises took over the manufacture of champagne from the
monks in the monasteries.
History of Champagne
Wine - Who invented champagne?
Who
invented Champagne? A Benedictine Monk called Dom Perignon (Real name:
Pierre Perignon 1638 - 1718) is credited with having invented Champagne
at the Abbey of Hautville near Riems in France. But many experts dispute
this and maintain that the process to produce Champagne was invented
earlier and probably in England! Dom Perignon joined the Abbey in 1668.
He certainly added to the process of producing sparkling wine in
Champagne which it first appeared in France in the 1690's, at the time
when Dom Perignon was a cellarer at the Abbey of Hautville. Dom Perignon
developed a method to press black grapes to yield a white wine and used
bottles instead of wooden barrels during the fermentation process.
However, much earlier in 1662 an Englishman called Christopher Merret
had presented a paper to the newly formed Royal Society in England. In
this paper Merret stated that sugar and molasses were being added to
imported French wine to make it sparkling with bubbles.
How to serve Champagne Drink Recipes
Champagne should always be served ice cold in chilled drinking glasses. Maintain the ice cold
champagne by placing it in a bucket of ice and water before and after
opening. The ice cold champagne should then be served in an appropriate
glass called a champagne flute which is tall and narrow. Champagne used
to be served in the flatter and wider saucer shaped champagne glass -
but this has gone out of fashion due to experts who claimed that they
did not preserve the bubbles as well as the flutes. Glasses should not
be overfilled with champagne. The flutes should be filled only to 2/3 of
the glass.
Strawberry and Champagne
Eating a strawberry with champagne brings out the great taste of the
wine. An alternative is to actually drop a raspberry into a glass of
champagne and serve this instead of strawberries and champagne.
Champagne Bottles
The following table
provides a list of champagne bottles and the names associated with the
different sizes of champagne bottles:
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Quarter Bottle: Quarter Bottle = 0.2 litres
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Half Bottle: Half Bottle = 0.375 litres
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Bottle: 1 Bottle = 0.75 litres
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Jereboam : A Jereboam is equivalent to 4 bottles = 3 litres
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Rehoboam: A Rehoboam is equivalent to 6 bottles= 4.5
litres
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Methuselah: A Methuselah is equivalent to 8 bottles= 6
litres
-
Salmanazar: A Salmanazar is equivalent to 12 bottles=
9 litres
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Balthazar: A Balthazar is equivalent to 16 bottles = 12
litres
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Nebuchadnezzar: A Nebuchadnezzar is equivalent to 20 bottles = 15 litres
French Brands of this very special wine include Moët & Chandon, Laurent
Perrier, Veuve Clicquot, Mumm, Bollinger, Krug and Louis Roederer
Cristal.
Champagne
Brands
The following brands
are produced by some of the best champagne houses including Moët &
Chandon, Laurent Perrier, Veuve Clicquot, Mumm, Bollinger, Krug and
Louis Roederer Cristal. The
following list of these brands provide details of when the
champagne house was established.
-
1743:
Claude Moët founded the House of Moët. Jean-Rémy Moët handed the
house over to his son and his son-in-law, Pierre-Gabriel Chandon de
Briailles. It then took on the Moët & Chandon name
-
1776:
Louis Roederer founded
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1812:
Laurent Perrier house established
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1818:
Veuve Clicquot house was founded
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1827:
The Mumm Brothers established the house of Mumm
-
1829:
Bollinger was founded
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1843:
Johann-Joseph Krug founded the Krug house
-
1876:
Louis Roederer Cristal Champagne was created for Tsar Alexander II
Pink Champagne /
Rose Champagne
Pink /
rose champagne is produced either by allowing the grape juice to spend
more time with the grape skins to impart a pink color to the wine, or by
adding a small amount of red wine during the blending process.
Facts about
wine
Wine is a beverage made of the fermented juice of any of various other
fruits or plants. Wines
are distinguished by color, flavor, bouquet or aroma, and alcoholic
content. In natural wines, such as strawberry wines, all the
alcohol present has been produced by fermentation. The Fermentation
process in wine is the conversion of sugar to carbon dioxide and alcohol by
yeast.
Calories in Champagne
The calorie count
in 1 Glass (120.0 g) / 4 oz is as follows:
Free
Champagne Recipes
These
free Drink Recipes are suitable for:
-
Adult
Parties celebrating special occasions such as Cinco De Mayo,
30/40/50th Birthday parties, college and Bachelorette parties with
fun recipes
-
Fun themed parties with Hawaii and Luau themes
-
Fun Summer
Holiday parties
-
Alcoholic
Drinks at your home bar
-
Special
Occasions such as Christmas and Weddings
The
list of free Drink Recipes detailed above contain the contents by ingredients.
Exercise your bartending skills, use decorations and unusual drinking glasses and drink coasters to become the bartender of your own personal bar which serves Champagne Drink Recipes!
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