Social Studies: Champagne

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Champagne aging in a cellar.

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Champagne is a sparkling wine from the Champagne region of France. The primary grapes used in the production of Champagne are Chardonnay, Pinot noir and Pinot Meunier.

The Champagne region is not ideal for making red wine. Grapes would struggle to ripen fully and often would have bracing levels of acidity and low sugar levels. Furthermore, the cold winter temperatures prematurely halted fermentation in the cellars, leaving dormant yeast cells that would awaken in the warmth of spring and start fermenting again. One of the byproducts of fermentation is the release of carbon dioxide gas, which, if the wine is bottled, is trapped inside the wine, causing intense pressure. The pressure inside the weak, early French wine bottles often caused the bottles to explode, creating havoc in the cellars.

If the bottle survived, the wine was found to contain bubbles, something that the early winemakers were horrified to see, considering it a fault. As late as the 17th century, Champenois wine makers, most notably the Benedictine monk Dom Pérignon (1638–1715), were still trying to rid their wines of the bubbles.

The English were one of the first who saw the tendency of Champagne to sparkle as a desirable trait, and tried to understand why it did bubble. In 1662, the English scientist Christopher Merret presented a paper detailing how the presence of sugar in a wine led to it eventually sparkling, and that nearly any wine could be made to sparkle by adding sugar to a wine before bottling it.

Champagne continued to gain popularity until the early 20th century when riots, the phylloxera insect, hailstorms, flooding and the two World Wars affected the Champagne industry.

After World War II the popularity surged again in the 1950s. Champagne is still popular at special events and celebrations.

Did you know?

The Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry published the results of a recent joint study by the University of Reading and University of Cagliari that showed moderate consumptions of Champagne may help the brain cope with the trauma of stroke, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's disease.

Sources: Wikipedia