Worlds Best Champagne

Worlds Best Champagne

Champagne is considered the premier of sparkling wine. Sparkling wine production is attributed to the Benedictine Monks of the Abbey of Saint-Hilaire in the south of France. The Benedictine monks developed the process known as the ‘methods champernoise’ which is somewhat complicated and results in the significantly high price for the bubbly champagne. Dom Perignon initially witnessed this and took this process to northern France, the Champagne region, to produce the finest sparkling beverage in the world, the worlds best Champagne.

Developing an Exceptional Beverage

Where did Champagne originate
All authentic Champagne wine comes from the Champagne region of France. The laws of France and the international community specify for a sparkling wine to be called Champagne, it must be grown and made in this region. Any other bubbly made outside of this region is a sparkling wine.

Many people think the first French sparkling wines were made in Champagne, but that distinction goes to the region of Limoux France by the Benedictine Monks were the first at the abbey in Saint Hilaire. But, it was the monk Dom Pierre Perignon in Champagne, who created the demand for these sparkling wines by marketing them as a distinctive luxury beverage. Perignon’s famous quote about tasting Champagne: “Come quickly, brothers, I am drinking stars.”

The Worlds Best Champagne

The great Champagnes comes in many different styles and sweetness levels, so you’ll want to find a Champagne that appeals to your palate The choices include Blanc de Blancs made from 100% Chardonnay; brut rosé, often a blend of purple and white grapes; and rich-tasting Blanc de Noirs made from purple grapes. You can also find Champagnes with different levels of sweetness ranging from bone dry brut nature, which is great for people following a keto diet to popular brut Champagne, to demi-sec dessert styles, such as Moet Champagne Nectar Imperial.

 

The Champagne Process

Fine champagne starts as a customary fermentation process of a blend of usually Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Meunier—and it develops bubbles during a process called ‘Methode Champenoise’ or the Champagne method.

• 1. The Champagne grapes are picked earlier than for still wines because the winemaker wants fruit that has higher acidity and less sugar.
• 2. The white grapes like Chardonnay and Pinot Gris, as well as purple grapes Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, are gently pressed to extract the juice. The skins are thrown away.
• 3. Next, each type of juice as Pinot Noir, Chardonnay is fermented separately to create a base wine. The juice goes in a big tank or wood barrel, and yeast is added to start fermentation.  This step is called the PRIMARY FERMENTATION.
• 4. Once the fermentation is finished, the winemaker tastes each type of wine. Then they create a blend of those wines, plus some older wines from previous harvests, so the final assembled blend fits the flavor profile. This step is called ASSEMBLAGE.
• 5. The blend is bottled, and each bottle is topped off with a mixture of wine, sugar, and yeast, called the liqueur d’expedition. Finally, the bottle is sealed. As the yeast eats the sugar, it creates alcohol and CO2 gas bubbles, which are trapped inside the wine. This second fermentation inside a bottle is what makes this wine made under the METHODE CHAMPENOISE or CHAMPAGNE METHOD. The yeast cells in the bottle give the wine aromas and flavors of bread crust, toast, and nuts.
• 6. After the wine has aged long enough, the bottles are carefully turned and tilted downward, so the yeast settles in the neck of the bottle.
  
• 7. Once the yeast has settled at the top of the bottle, the neck of each bottle is frozen and then opened quickly to remove the yeast, in a process called DISGORGEMENT.
  
• 8. The Champagne is topped off with a mix of little more wine and sugar called the DOSSAGE (or just wine in a dry brut nature Champagne) to round out the flavors and give the wine the desired level of sweetness.
• 9. Then each bottle is sealed with a mushroom cork and a metal cage. It’s age.d for a short time to allow the wine to overcome the shock of bottling, and then it’s sent out for sale.

 Champagne is expensive

French Champagne is of the highest quality, and it has to be made in a very specific area under particular conditions. Therefore, French Champagne is more expensive than other styles of wine because of the quality and long and labor-intensive process used to make it. In addition to the detailed process of grape selection, even the least expensive Champagnes have aged a minimum of 15 months, and vintage Champagnes are aged as much as three or five years.

 

Champagne or Sparkling wine….Levels of Sweetness:

Extra Brut

Extra Brut: This is the driest of the sparkling wine where essentially all the sugar is metabolized by the yeast giving a very dry wine.

Freixenet Extra Dry Brut

Brut

Brut: This wine is dry, but with a light taste of sweetness and is the most popular of the sparkling wines. Champagne is the most common sparkling wine to be labeled Brut.

Mumm Napa Brut Rose

Extra Dry

Extra Dry: This a dry sparkling wine with some slight sweetness. It is not as dry as Brut of Extra Brut. Prosecco is most often consider Extra Dry.

 Verdi Spumante Extra Dry Champagne/Sparkling

Demi-sec

Demi-sec: This is the sweetest of the sparkling wine. Demi-sec is often served with dessert as a sweet compliment to the luscious fair.

Schramsberg Cremant Demi-Sec Champagne/ Sparkling

Check out some great selections of the Worlds Best Champagne from our vast collection or go to our main site for a complete selection of the Worlds Best Champagne as well as all our fine beverages.

 

II Conte Stella Rosa Imp Brach Brut Champagne/Sparkling

  Villa Sandi II Fresco Prosecco Champagne/Sparkling

Mionetto II Prosecco Brut Champagne/Sparkling

Verdi Peach Sparkletini

Maschio Prosecco Brut Champagne/Sparkling

Heidsieck Monopole Blue Top Brut

Borgo Magredo Prosecco

Toad Hollow Risque Sparkling Brut

Toad Hollow Amplexus Brut

Tedschi Maui Sparkling Pineapple Champagne / Sparkling

Bouvet Brut Signature

Verdi Spumante Extra Champagne/Sparkling

Mirabelle By Schramsberg Brut Rose Champagne / Sparkling

Korbel Moscato

Bouvet Rose Excellence

Korbel Rouge Sparkling Red Wine

Gruit Brut

XXIV Karat Grande Cuvee

Andre Pink Moscato

Cooks Sprmante

Bocelli Prosecco

Pasqua Prosecco

Philipponnat Brut Champagne

Segura Viudas

Cook’s Sparkling Sweet Red

Louis De Sacy Brut Grand Cru

Le Grand Courtage Blan De Blanc Brut