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Champagne is the most celebrated sparkling wine of France, and arguably, the entire world. The name “Champagne” refers to both the wine (le Champagne), made by a traditional, centuries-old method known as méthode champenoise, and the legally delimited region (la Champagne), which is the section of northeast France where the grapes are grown and Champagne wine is crafted.

Champagne is the standard by which all other sparkling wines are judged. Though other bubblies are sometimes referred to as Champagne, this is technically incorrect. Purists (and the French) agree that there’s only one place Champagne is made, and that’s Champagne.

Champagne can only be made from white Chardonnay grapes and red Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes. It’s usually a blend of two or three of the grapes, but is sometimes just made from one (though rarely is Champagne made from just Pinot Meunier). Champagne made entirely from Chardonnay is called blanc de blancs (meaning white wine from white grapes), and Champagne made entirely from Pinot Noir is called blanc de noirs (meaning white wine from black grapes). Even though black grapes are used, the wine itself is never red. The skins (where the pigment resides) are removed immediately after the grapes are pressed, which keeps the juice clear.

The only exception is with rosé Champagne. Rosé can be produced by leaving the skins in the juice just long enough to tint it, or by producers adding red Pinot Noir wine directly to the blend. This second method allows them to create the same color each year.

Crafting Champagne

Crafting Champagne involves many steps. Here’s a brief rundown:

  • Base wine: The base for Champagne is a dry wine made from Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier, or a blend.
  • Second fermentation: The bubbles in Champagne occur as the result of a secondary fermentation. This is kicked off by adding sugar and yeast to the still wine, bottling it, and sealing it with a beercap-like closure.
  • Resting: The bottles remain in the cellar for at least 15 months. Particles of yeast, also known as lees, will fall out of suspension. It’s this sediment that gives Champagne its complex flavors.
  • Riddling (remuage): Bottles rest in racks at a downward angle and are turned often so that the lees can gather near the mouth of the bottle.
  • Disgorging (dégorgement): The neck of each bottle is immersed in brine to freeze the wine and allow the lees to collect there. The bottle is uncapped, and the plug of sediment is released from the bottle.
  • Topping off (dosage): Right away, the wine in the bottle is topped off with a mix of wine and sugar and then sealed with a cork. The amount of sugar in the dosage mixture is what determines the sweetness level of the finished Champagne.
  • Aging: Champagne is aged for at least 15 months (known as Nonvintage). Those aged longer than that are either Vintage (aged three years) or Prestige Cuvée (usually aged at least seven years).

Sweetness Level

Champagne is made in several sweetness levels, from very dry (Brut Nature) to quite sweet (Doux), though Brut Champagne is by far the most common.

Brut Nature; Brut Zéro

Flavor: The driest

Sugar level: 0 to .6% (0 to 3 grams/liter)

Extra Brut

Flavor: Quite dry

Sugar level: Less than .6% (less than 6 grams/liter)


Flavor: Dry

Sugar level: Less than 1.5% (less than 15 grams/liter)

Extra Dry

Flavor: Off-dry

Sugar level: 1.2 to 2% (12 to 20 grams/liter)


Flavor: Slightly sweet

Sugar level: 1.7 to 3.5% (17 to 35 grams/liter)


Flavor: Sweet

Sugar level: 3.3 to 5% (33 to 50 grams/liter)


Flavor: Quite sweet

Sugar level: More than 5% (more than 50 grams/liter)

Champagne can range from light to full-bodied, with a span of flavors that include citrusy, toasty, custardy, and yeasty. Unlike wine from other regions, whose bottlings vary depending on the winemaker and harvest, the house style of a Champagne remains consistent from year to year because of the painstaking and complex blending that’s involved. Billecart-Salmon is known for a more delicate style, Krug is prized for its robustness, and Pol Roger is somewhere in between.

Despite its special-occasion reputation, Champagne, especially rosé, is one of the most dazzlingly versatile wines made: It goes with light food, rich food, salty food, or aromatic and spicy food, and, of course, it tastes great on its own. The only rule to follow is to avoid pairing dry Champagne with dessert because the sugar in the dish will make the wine taste bitter.

How to Open a Bottle of Champagne

The carbon dioxide trapped inside a bottle of Champagne is what makes it bubbly. It also means there can be anywhere from 70 to 90 pounds of pressure in the bottle—more than twice that of a car tire. A little extra care is needed when opening a bottle of Champagne (never use a corkscrew) so the cork doesn’t fly off suddenly. Here’s how to do it safely and smoothly:

  • Make sure the bottle is well chilled. Wrap a napkin or dish towel around the fullest part.
  • Take the foil wrapper off the cork. Remove the wire cage that secures the cork, and bear down with your hand to prevent the cork from popping off suddenly. Cover the top with another towel to further contain the cork. Don’t grip the neck of the bottle—it warms up the wine and can encourage the cork to fly off.

  • Continuing to bear down on the towel-covered cork with your hand, lean the bottom of the bottle against your hip and tilt it at a 45-degree angle, away from your guests.
  • Continuing to bear down on the cork, twist the bottle clockwise with one hand to ease the cork out of the bottle. Ideally, you should hear a whisper-soft “pfft” rather than a big pop.
  • Keep tilting the bottle—this helps avoid a geyser of foam, because a larger surface area within the bottle minimizes bubbling.

How to Pour Champagne

Elongated flutes are graceful looking and are the traditional glass for Champagne. As you fill each flute, pour slowly down the side of each glass, to minimize the foam (which wastes those precious bubbles).

Champagne coupes, the bowl-like glasses that Champagne used to be served in, are making a comeback. They’re beautiful and do make a style statement. But because coupes are squat, rather than elongated, they don’t showcase the slow, steady streams of pinprick-sized bubbles that are one of the telltale signs of a beautifully crafted Champagne. And a coupe’s wider diameter exposes more surface area, so the wine tends to lose its fizz more quickly than when it’s served in a tall, narrow flute. (In that case, the solution could be simply to drink faster.)

See also

TASTING: In the Pink

VIDEO: How to Open Champagne

TIP: How to Open Champagne

TIP: How to Pour Champagne

TIP: How to Keep Champagne Bubbly

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