Written by Christie Crawford
Clarksville, TN – “No wine in the world brings to mind so many immediate associations as champagne…it is beautiful and delicate, and above all, it is a wine associated with women.” This passage is from The Widow Cliquot, a book written about the champagne industry’s early champion, Barbe-Nicole Cliquot, and focus of a newly released movie.
Moving into the holiday season and having recently returned from France, I thought I’d share a little of her story and why champagne, or any type of sparkling wine, should be part of your holiday celebration.
Cliquot’s genius amid personal tragedy (the loss of her husband early in their marriage) and innovation in creating ground-breaking standards such as “riddling” (turning of the bottle to remove sediment) and branding (distinct yellow label) made her the dominant player in champagne its first one hundred years.
But it was her understanding of creating legacy in business, which not only guaranteed the financial success of her champagne house for future generations but also the endurance of the champagne region itself, that made her a businesswoman extraordinaire in the world of wine. There is no question that her contributions to the champagne world through Veuve Cliquot have allowed the product to be enjoyed by all of us today.
Believe it or not, champagne did not truly originate in France but rather in England where wine was created to sparkle and was first commercially marketed in the 1600’s. In fact, Dom Perignon, the monk who became the trademark for Moët and Chandon, spent most of his time in France trying to eliminate the fizz from wine.
British wine connoisseurs found that oxidation ruined the barrels of champagne imported from France and instead, with the help of Frenchman Charles de Saint-Évremond, began bottling and adding brandy to preserve and allow a second phase of fermentation to make true champagne.
In its infancy, champagne was only for the elite few and in the 1700’s a mainstay at Versailles under Louis XIV. Despite the war, failed crops, and regulatory challenges, champagne became well-established in the French economy in the 1870s. It didn’t hurt that Napoleon was a great fan of the stuff, and it was rumored that his Paris parties could go through 1,000 battles per night.
Held by a few great houses even today, true champagne is limited to 323 villages in the Champagne region of Northern France and the date of harvest to even the particular pruning of vines is strictly controlled.Sparkling wine, of which champagne is a subset, can be made from white or red grapes and can be produced anywhere in the world.
Flavors can range from sweet to dry and can be made from one of 5 methods:
- Method champenoise – a traditional method where secondary fermentation occurs in the bottle and then the wine is aged (typical of champagne and crémant – French sparkling wines found in other regions of France)
- Charmat or tank method – secondary fermentation occurs in a tank and is then bottled (typical of Prosecco from Italy)
- Transfer method – second fermentation process occurs in the bottle, and then the wine is filtered instead of aged
- Carbonation – instead of secondary fermentation, the wine is injected with CO2 or carbon dioxide
- Pétillant natural – pét-nat or ancestral fermentation – only one fermentation before bottling – popular in the United States
Popular types of sparkling wine from particular regions to consider are:
France – Champagne
Crémant – from Loire, Burgundy and Alsace regions
Italy – Prosecco – Venetto and Fruitti regions
Asti — Piedmont area
Lambrusco – Emili-Romagna region
Spain – Cava
As mentioned, sparkling wine can be produced anywhere suitable for wine production, including Germany, England, the United States, Canada, and even South Africa. Flavors range from dry to sweet, with combinations of both. Extra Brut is very dry with no sweetness. Brut is dry with a hint of sweetness. And to confuse you further, Extra Dry is dry with more sweetness, while Sec is very sweet.
As the Widow Cliquot would say, “Every bottle of champagne tells a story of passion and resilience,” which is exactly why you should continue the tradition of champagne during this time of celebration. And there’s nothing better to pair it with than a classic French brie en croute.
