Champagne

How is Champagne made?

Champagne starts with a still white wine that gets bottled with added yeast and sugar, which creates a second fermentation right inside the bottle - this is what gives Champagne its signature bubbles. The bottles spend months or even years aging on their sides, slowly rotating and tilting downward so all the dead yeast settles into the neck, where it's eventually frozen and popped out in a process called disgorgement. Before the final cork goes in, winemakers add a small amount of wine and sugar mixture called the dosage, which determines whether your bubbly will be bone-dry or slightly sweet.

How do you drink Champagne?

Champagne is almost always enjoyed neat in a flute or coupe glass, served chilled at around 45-50°F to preserve its delicate bubbles and crisp character. While you'll occasionally find it in cocktails like French 75s, Bellinis, or Champagne cocktails with a sugar cube and bitters, these applications typically use less expensive sparkling wines rather than true Champagne. The effervescent nature and elegant flavor profile make Champagne perfect for celebrations, toasts, and special occasions year-round, though it particularly shines during holiday gatherings, New Year's Eve, weddings, and romantic dinners.

How do I choose a good Champagne?

Start by understanding the house style and sweetness level you prefer—Brut works for most situations, while Extra Brut offers crisp dryness and Demi-Sec brings subtle sweetness for dessert pairings. If you're mixing cocktails, grab a solid Brut from a reliable producer like Veuve Clicquot or Mumm, since the bubbles and acidity matter more than nuanced flavors that get masked anyway. For sipping neat, invest in a grower Champagne or prestige cuvée where you can actually taste the craftsmanship and terroir.

Nutritional Information

Typical Calorie Range per Ounce: 20-25 calories

Typical Carbohydrate Range per Ounce: 1-3 grams

Typical Sugar Range per Ounce: 0.5-2.5 grams

Typically Gluten Free: Yes

While Champagne is made from grapes and follows traditional winemaking processes that naturally produce a gluten-free beverage, individual producers may use different fining agents or processing methods. Always check the specific product label and manufacturer information to confirm gluten-free status, especially if you have celiac disease or severe gluten sensitivity.

Scrolled this far? Your reward? Champagne Trivia!

1. The pressure inside a Champagne bottle equals that of a bus tire – about 90 pounds per square inch. That's triple the pressure of your car tires and explains why a flying cork can reach speeds of 40 mph. The French actually have laws requiring Champagne bottles to be made with thicker glass specifically to contain this explosive force.
2. Dom Pérignon didn't invent Champagne – he perfected the art of blending. The blind monk's real genius wasn't discovering sparkling wine (English winemakers were making "sparkling champagne" decades earlier), but creating the first multi-vineyard blends. He mixed grapes from different plots to achieve complexity that single-vineyard bottles couldn't match, basically inventing the modern Champagne house style.
3. A standard Champagne bottle contains about 49 million bubbles. Scientists have actually counted them using high-speed photography. Those tiny bubbles form on microscopic fibers and dust particles in your glass – which is why a perfectly clean, smooth glass produces fewer bubbles than one with tiny imperfections.
4. Marilyn Monroe once filled her bathtub with 350 bottles of Champagne – specifically Dom Pérignon 1953. She claimed it kept her skin soft, though at today's prices, that single bath would cost roughly $50,000. Monroe reportedly consumed over 2,000 bottles of Champagne per year, making her one of history's most dedicated fizz enthusiasts.
5. The term "vintage" on Champagne bottles is rarer than you think – only about 3 out of every 10 years produce weather conditions good enough for houses to declare a vintage. Most Champagne is non-vintage, blended from multiple years to maintain consistent house style. When you see a vintage date, you're drinking from what producers considered an exceptional year worth showcasing on its own.