Before popping all those corks and answering the
big questions (best champagne, best values, best
avoided) let���s discuss the basics. We will have to
first break up the types of champagne by region,
grapes, producer.
Let���s start with France where it began. In the European
community only wines grown in the champagne
district can be called champagne. Everywhere else
it is simply a sparkling wine even if made with the
same grapes and the same champagne method.
But districts can be gerrymandered to include
contiguous land. What was the champagne district
before WWII could fit inside the current district
so there is no unique soil to justify the copyright.
Within the champagne region there are two types
of producers, the big Houses with the famous
names you know (Moet, Mumms, Roederer, Veuve
Clicquot) and the small growers.
Surprisingly, the big Houses don���t own much land.
They purchase their grapes on long term contracts
from small growers. And more surprisingly, most
champagne is not of a particular vintage but rather
a mixture of various years to maintain a house style,
similar to a blended scotch or arguably a solera type
sherry. A producer might use 50-70% of this year���s
crop in this year���s bottles but add wines from recent
years, maybe even some much smaller percentage
of wine from an exceptional albeit much older and
HYLAND
