Champagne

Champagne Brands

Bottle Sizes

Bottle Sizes

Types of Producers• Type of Champagne producer can be identified from the abbreviations followed by

the official number on the bottle:• NM: Négociant manipulant. These companies (including the majority of the larger

brands) buy grapes and make the wine• CM: Coopérative de manipulation. Cooperatives that make wines from the

growers who are members, with all the grapes pooled together• RM: Récoltant manipulant. (Also known as Grower Champagne) A grower that also

makes wine from its own grapes (a maximum of 5% of purchased grapes is permitted). Note that co-operative members who take their bottles to be disgorged at the co-op can now label themselves as RM instead of RC

• SR: Société de récoltants. An association of growers making a shared Champagne but who are not a co-operative

• RC: Récoltant coopérateur. A co-operative member selling Champagne produced by the co-operative under its own name and label

• MA: Marque auxiliaire or Marque d'acheteur. A brand name unrelated to the producer or grower; the name is owned by someone else, for example a supermarket

• ND: Négociant distributeur. A wine merchant selling under his own name

Prestige Cuvee• A cuvée de prestige is a proprietary blended Champagne that is

considered to be the top of a producer's range. Famous examples include Louis Roederer's Cristal, Laurent-Perrier's Grand Siècle, Moët & Chandon's Dom Pérignon, Duval-Leroy's Cuvée Femme and Pol Roger's Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill. Perhaps the original prestige cuvée was Moët & Chandon's Dom Pérignon, launched in 1936 with the 1921 vintage. In fact, Louis Roederer had been producing Cristal since 1876, but this was strictly for the private consumption of the Russian tsar. Cristal was made publicly available with the 1945 vintage. Then came Taittinger's Comtes de Champagne (first vintage 1952), and Laurent-Perrier's Grand Siècle 'La Cuvée' in 1960, a blend of three vintages (1952, 1953, and 1955). In the last three decades of the 20th century, most Champagne houses followed these with their own prestige cuvées, often named after notable people with a link to that producer (Veuve Clicquot's La Grande Dame, the nickname of the widow of the house's founder's son; Pol Roger's Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill, named for the British prime minister; and Laurent-Perrier's Cuvée Alexandra rosé).

Map of Champagne

Champagne on map of France

Grapes: Pinot noir

Grapes: Pinot meunier

Grapes: Chardonnay

Chalky Soil

Grape harvest

Grape Pressing

Primary Fermentation

Assemblage (Blending)

Second Fermentation

Pupitre

Riddling/ Remuage

Gyropalette

Yeast Sediment in Bottle

Disgorging

Adding liqueur d’expedition

• * Brut - sugar content less than 15 g/l, * Extra-Dry - sugar content between 12-20 g/l, * Sec - sugar content between 17-35 g/l, * Demi-sec - sugar content between 33-50 g/l, * Doux - sugar content over 50 g/l.

Champagne Stopper

Champagne Label

Celebration Wine

Champagne & Food pairing

Champagne and Sushi

Champagne with appetizers

Paired with Caviar & Oysters

With Strawberries and Cheese

PRANITH VONTELA