Champagne
The king of wines, the most widely known, and the beverage accompanying celebrations, the wine for the best from the French territory of champagne. The distinctive taste and the wonderful tickle in your nose tell you that that sparkling liquid in your hand is champagne.
Champagne can only be called champagne if it is made in France and that too only n the champagne region of France. The grapes for true blue blooded champagne must come only from the soil of France, giving it a distinctive champagne taste.
The strictest French laws govern the production of champagne, not only must be be made from the grapes of the champagne region, but the process is also defined, an wine made from a different process is not called champagne. The traditional method of making the beverage is champenoise.
The other sparkling wines made in other ways and other parts of the world are simply referred to as sparkling wines, this does not in any way indicate that they are inferior or superior to champagne, it is just a name given. The world has produced some excellent sparkling wines beside champagne.
Champagne Producers
At present the number of champagne houses stand to approximate a hundred, and innumerable smaller vignerons in the region of champagne. The employment in the huge champagne industry is approximately 32,000 hectares of land and 10000 people.
The way champagne can be identified is by the label on the bottle of the beverage. The abbreviations flowed by an official number will tell us all we want to know about the beverage we are about to drink.
* NM: Négociant manipulant. They simply buy the grapes and make the wine.
* CM: Coopérative de manipulation. These are companies who make the wines from thir own grapes, they are cooperatives and pool the grapes for the wine.
* RM: Récoltant manipulant. This means that the wines are made from grapes grown by the producer himself.
* SR: Société de récoltants. This is shared made champagne, it is not a cooperative, but the champagne is made by sharing grapes.
* RC: Récoltant coopérateur. This is cooperative, making champagne by cooperative but selling it under his own name.
* MA: Marque auxiliaire or Marque d’acheteur. This is a brand name, maybe of a supermarket and has nothing to do with grapes and growing and making of the wine.
* ND: Négociant distributeur. selling under his own name of a wine merchant.
Filed under: Beginners Guide
