Champagne
Style, grape, region and technique of Champagne — grower fizz to blanc de blancs.
Concept
Comité Champagne
Interprofessional body that regulates Champagne production. Founded in 1941, headquartered in Épernay. Represents vineyard owners and major houses jointly.
Crayère
Chalk pit beneath Reims and Épernay, originally cut by the Romans. Constant 10-12°C and high humidity. UNESCO World Heritage since 2015.
Crayères
Ancient chalk quarries beneath Reims and Épernay, cut since Roman times and used as wine cellars since the 18th century. UNESCO World Heritage since 2015.
Cuvée
The first, gentle press in Champagne (2,050 litres per 4,000 kg of grapes). Also: a specific wine of a house, usually with a brand name.
Dosage
The small amount of sugar solution added to champagne after dégorgement to balance the final taste.
Échelle des Crus
Champagne's classification system (~1911), originally a price scale of 80-100%. Since 2010 no longer a price mechanism, but the Grand Cru / Premier Cru labels remain.
Foudre
Large wooden vat, 20-300 hectolitres. Used for reserve-wine ageing in Champagne, long-term storage in Burgundy. Known from Krug, Bollinger, Selosse.
La Part des Anges
The angel's share. The wine or spirit that evaporates annually from an oak barrel during cask ageing. Champagne 1-2% per year, sherry 3-5%, cognac 2-4%.
Magnum
Bottle format of 1.5 litres, twice the standard 0.75L. In Champagne the optimal format for long ageing. Bollinger Special Cuvée is traditionally aged in magnum.
MCR (Rectified Concentrated Must)
Concentrated, rectified grape must stripped to pure sugar, often used in Champagne dosage as an alternative to cane sugar.
Millésime
Vintage Champagne from a single harvest year. Minimum 36 months on the lees required. The counterpart of non-vintage (NV), which blends across years.
Muselet
The four-wire metal cage holding the cork on a Champagne bottle. Invented in 1844 by Adolphe Jacquesson to prevent cork ejection under high internal pressure.
Phylloxera
Aphid (Daktulosphaira vitifoliae) that devastated European vineyards from 1863. 70-80% of European vines died. Solution: grafting onto resistant American rootstocks.
PIWI
Pilzwiderstandsfähige Rebsorten: crosses between Vitis vinifera and other Vitis species that resist fungal disease. Central to EU climate adaptation. Voltis is the first PIWI in a French AOC.
Récoltant Manipulant (RM)
Official Champagne category for growers who harvest their own grapes and vinify the wine themselves on their own estate.
Reserve wine
Still wine from earlier harvests, held back to blend into the non-vintage assemblage. The backbone of consistent house style across years.
Vendange
French for wine harvest. In Champagne legally bound to hand-picking and specific date assignments by the Comité Champagne. Between 15 August and 5 October depending on the year.
VIFA
Variétés d'Intérêt à Fin d'Adaptation: French regulatory framework (2021) for climate-adaptive grapes experimentally in an AOC. Voltis in Champagne is the best-known case.
Style
Blanc de Blancs
Champagne made from white grapes only, which in practice almost always means one hundred percent Chardonnay.
Blanc de Noirs
White Champagne made entirely from black grapes, typically Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier or a blend of both.
Brut
Dosage category for sparkling wine: up to 12 g/l residual sugar. The de-facto standard for non-vintage Champagne, around 95 percent of production.
Brut Nature
Strictest dosage category: 0 to 3 g/l residual sugar, no added sugar. Also Pas Dosé or Zéro Dosage. Shows the base wine without mercy.
Demi-Sec
Off-dry dosage category for sparkling wine: 32 to 50 g/l residual sugar. Classic with dessert. Has become rarer in modern Champagne offerings.
Extra Brut
Dosage category between Brut Nature and Brut: 0 to 6 g/l residual sugar. Increasingly popular with grower and quality-focused Champagne producers.
Grower Champagne
Champagne made by a vigneron who farms their own vineyards and vinifies the wine themselves, rather than buying grapes from hundreds of other growers.
Prestige Cuvée
Top tier of a Champagne house: vintage, long autolysis, often Grand Cru, premium price. Examples: Dom Pérignon, Krug Grande Cuvée, Cristal.
Rosé d'assemblage
Rosé Champagne made by blending white base wine with still red Coteaux Champenois (5-15%). The most common method, legal only inside the Champagne AOC.
Rosé de Saignée
Rosé Champagne via skin contact: short maceration of black grapes (8-72 hours) to draw colour and aroma from the skins. More vinous, deeper, rarer than rosé d'assemblage.
Grape
Arbane
Rare white grape of Champagne, less than 0.3 percent of plantings. Late-ripening, high acidity. Preserved by a handful of growers in the Aube.
Chardonnay
White grape, about 30 percent of Champagne's vineyard area. Near-monoculture on the Côte des Blancs. Base of nearly every Blanc de Blancs.
Chardonnay Rose
Pink-skinned natural mutation of Chardonnay. Officially added to the Champagne AOC in June 2025. Genetically identical to white Chardonnay, only the skin colour differs.
Petit Meslier
Rare white grape of Champagne, less than 0.02 percent of plantings. High acidity, citrus and herbal profile. Increasingly planted as a climate-change hedge.
Pinot Blanc
White mutation of Pinot Noir, less than 0.3 percent of Champagne's vineyard area. Concentrated in the Aube. Mostly a minor partner in sept-cépages cuvées.
Pinot Gris
Grey-pink mutation of Pinot Noir, locally called Fromenteau. Less than 0.3 percent of Champagne's vineyard area. Smoky, fuller-bodied, lower acidity.
Pinot Meunier
Black grape covering roughly a third of Champagne's vineyards, delivering fruit, body and early drinkability in most non-vintage cuvées.
Pinot Noir
Black grape with clear juice, about 38 percent of Champagne's vineyard area. Dominant in Montagne de Reims and Côte des Bar. Base of Blanc de Noirs and rosé.
Voltis
Fungus-resistant white hybrid, experimentally authorised in Champagne since 2022. First PIWI variety ever in a French AOC. 10 ha planted by 2026.
Region
Ambonnay
Grand Cru village on the southern slopes of the Montagne de Reims. 387 hectares, 81 percent Pinot Noir. Home of Egly-Ouriet and Krug Clos d'Ambonnay.
Avize
Grand Cru village on the Côte des Blancs, near 100 percent Chardonnay. Central position on the Montagne d'Avize, home to a string of leading growers.
Aÿ Grand Cru
Historic village on the southern slope of the Montagne de Reims, known for powerful Pinot Noir and one of the seventeen Grand Cru communes of Champagne.
Bouzy
Grand Cru village on the southern Montagne de Reims. 378 hectares, 87 percent Pinot Noir. Known for Bouzy Rouge, a still red Coteaux Champenois.
Chouilly
Grand Cru village in the northern Côte des Blancs, 522 hectares, 98.7 percent Chardonnay. Clay in the topsoil gives a rounder, fuller character. Home of Nicolas Feuillatte.
Côte des Bar
Southernmost Champagne subregion in the Aube, 8,000 hectares on Kimmeridgian marl. Pinot Noir-dominant (83-87%), no Grand Cru, close to Burgundy.
Côte des Blancs
Champagne subregion south of Épernay, 3,313 hectares on near-pure chalk. Almost a Chardonnay monoculture, with six Grand Cru villages.
Cramant
Grand Cru village in the Côte des Blancs, near 100 percent Chardonnay. Known for finesse, fine mousse and delicate Blanc de Blancs.
Épernay
Southern capital of Champagne, on the Marne. Centre of the Avenue de Champagne with Moët & Chandon, Pol Roger, Mercier and Perrier-Jouët.
Hautvillers
Premier Cru village in the Vallée de la Marne, 284 hectares. Home of the Saint-Pierre abbey where Dom Pérignon (1638-1715) worked. Owned by Moët & Chandon since 1823.
Le Mesnil-sur-Oger
Grand Cru village at the south of the Côte des Blancs, 464 hectares of Chardonnay. Known for steel, minerality and exceptional ageing potential. Home of Salon.
Mailly-Champagne
Grand Cru village on the north flank of the Montagne de Reims, 286 hectares. 88 percent Pinot Noir. Home of the influential Mailly Grand Cru cooperative.
Montagne de Reims
Champagne subregion between Reims and Épernay, around 8,000 hectares on a forested plateau. Pinot Noir-led, with nine Grand Cru villages.
Oger
Grand Cru village in the Côte des Blancs, 403 hectares, 99.6 percent Chardonnay. Between Avize and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. Promoted to Grand Cru in 1985.
Oiry
Grand Cru village in the northern Côte des Blancs, 237 hectares, 99.4 percent Chardonnay. The flattest Grand Cru village of Champagne. Promoted to Grand Cru in 1985.
Reims
Northern capital of Champagne. Not a vineyard village itself, but home to the major houses and the UNESCO-listed chalk cellars (crayères).
Vallée de la Marne
Largest Champagne subregion: 8,000 hectares along the Marne, from Épernay to near Château-Thierry. Pinot Meunier-led, one Grand Cru village (Aÿ).
Vertus
Premier Cru village at the south of the Côte des Blancs, 487 hectares. Unique: substantial Pinot Noir share (~20%) alongside dominant Chardonnay. Home of Larmandier-Bernier.
Verzenay
Grand Cru village on the northeast flank of the Montagne de Reims, 418 hectares. 86 percent Pinot Noir. Known for vertical, taut Pinot Noir style.
Verzy
Grand Cru village on the northern flank of the Montagne de Reims, 408 hectares. Three geologically distinct hills (chalk, silex, clay). Promoted to Grand Cru in 1985.
Technique
Autolysis
Breakdown of dead yeast cells during extended lees ageing in the bottle. Source of brioche, hazelnut and creamy texture in Champagne and other traditional-method sparkling wines.
Dégorgement
Removing the yeast lees from the Champagne bottle after ageing. Freeze the neck, pop off the crown cap, the deposit shoots out under internal pressure.
Liqueur d'Expédition
Wine-and-sugar mixture added to the Champagne bottle after dégorgement. Determines the final dosage category (brut nature through doux).
Liqueur de Tirage
The mixture of wine, sugar and yeast added to a base wine to trigger the second fermentation inside the bottle.
Méthode Champenoise
The production method where the second fermentation happens in the bottle, followed by lees ageing and disgorgement. Reserved by EU law for Champagne itself.
Prise de Mousse
The second fermentation in the bottle for Champagne and other méthode traditionnelle wines. Yeast eats added sugar, produces alcohol and CO₂. Takes 6 to 8 weeks at 10-12°C.
Remuage
Gradual rotation and tilting of the Champagne bottle to collect the yeast lees in the neck before dégorgement. Invented at Veuve Clicquot in 1816.
Tirage
Bottling of the base wine with liqueur de tirage (sugar + yeast) to start the second fermentation in the bottle. The opening of the méthode champenoise.