Champagne Types

Sparkling wine produced by inducing secondary fermentation to the wine in the bottle, to effect carbonation is commonly known as champagne. The beauty of this wine is, that it is exclusively produced in Champagne region of France. The wine is named after this region. There is an international treaty, and other regulations, due to which most countries limit the use of the term 'champagne'. It is restricted to only those wines, which come from Champagne, the wine region of France. Most of the countries adhere to this regulation, hence, allow domestic producers of this sparkling wine to use the term only under limited circumstances. Champagne became famous, because of its association with the anointed kings of France. The message was spread throughout the royalty in Europe and this French wine came to be seen as a symbol of luxury and power. Often common man has a sparkling wine vs champagne dilemma. With increased demand for this wine, different champagne types were introduced into the market. Scroll down to know, which are they.

Types of Champagne

There is a particular wine making method, which is used to used to make champagne. The grapes are either of white Chardonnay variety or dark skinned Pinot Noir or Pinot Meunier 'red wine' variety. Grapes are gently pressed and there is absence of skin contact during fermentation, hence even the dark-skinned variety yield white wine. The normal trend to make champagne is to blend Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in the ratio 60/40. The Blanc de blanc champagne is made 100% from Chardonnay variety of grapes. On the other hand, Blanc de noir champagne is made either from Pinot Noir or from Pinot Meunier or a mixture of two. There are vintage and non-vintage variety of wines, which are produced. Houses, which make both vintage and non-vintage wines are not permitted to use more than 80% of the total vintage's harvest for the production of vintage champagne. In other words, it means, at least 20% of the harvest from each harvest is kept aside for non-vintage type of champagne.

Cuvée de Prestige
This wine is considered to be the top of a producer's range. There are various examples of this champagne type. Perhaps the original of this type was launched 1936 with the 1921 vintage. Till then most of the champagne houses produced different cuvées of different quality, however, a top of the range wine produced as per the highest standards was a new idea. Certainly the price was also fixed accordingly. In the twentieth century, champagne houses came up with their own Cuvée de Prestige, which they named after famous people, who has some link with the producer of the wine.

Blanc de noirs
The literal translation of this term is 'white of blacks'. This is a white wine, that is produced entirely from black grapes. It is very commonly found in Champagne, where it is made either from Pinot Noir or Point Meunier and a blend of these two grapes. This wine is famous for its intense richness and full-bodied nature.

Blanc de blancs
As opposed to Blanc de noirs, this term stands for 'white of whites'. This wine is exclusively made from Chardonnay grapes. The term can occasionally also be used in other wine-producing regions to denote any sparkling wine made from other varieties of white grapes.

Rosé Champagne
This champagne type is produced by either leaving the clear juice of black grapes to macerate on its skin for particular amount of time, or a small amount of Pinot noir red wine is added to sparkling cuvée. Although it is produced from red grapes, the color of this wine is light, as a gentle process is used to extract the juice, due to which there is minimal contact between the juice and the skin. This is one of the few wines, where a small amount of red wine is added during blending. Due to this, rosé champagne has a predictable and reproducible color.

Sweet Champagne Types
Sweetness in any champagne depends on the amount of sugar added to the champagne at the end of the production process. There are six different, recognized degrees of sweetness. They are: extra brut, which does not have added sugar and is bone dry. On the other hand, brut ranges between very dry to dry. Although the name is extra dry, this type of champagne is dry to medium dry. On the other hand, sec is slightly sweet, whereas demi-sec is medium sweet to sweet and not to forget doux, which is very sweet rather a dessert style champagne.

Some of the types of champagne are called differently in different parts of the world. In Spain, wines are called Cava, or Cellar. Cap Classique or Cape Classic are the terms used in South Africa. The German wine is called Sekt and Italian wine is called Asti Spumanti. The champagne bottle sizes used to pack different types of champagne are also different. Vintage bottles are used for wines, made from a single year's worth of grapes. Whereas, non-vintage bottles have wines made from a blend of different years.