Sparkling wine from the Champagne AOC, méthode champenoise — second fermentation in bottle. Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier.
Hautvillers Abbey, late 1600s — Dom Pérignon refined cuvée blending and bottle-handling, though English glassmakers and pharmacist Christopher Merret documented in-bottle fermentation in 1662, before him. AOC delimited 1927.
Krug, Salon, and Bollinger ferment in oak — rare in Champagne, where stainless dominates. Salon makes only blanc de blancs from Le Mesnil-sur-Oger and skipped 1969, 1972, 1974, 1977 — they declare a vintage roughly 4 times a decade.
Pale gold to lemon, fine continuous bead, mousse that lingers. Brut runs bone-dry to 12 g/L sugar; toast and brioche from autolysis sit under green-apple and citrus acidity.
Liqueur de tirage — yeast plus sugar — added at bottling triggers a second fermentation that traps CO2 at 5-6 bar. Riddling and disgorgement clear the lees. Minimum 15 months bottle ageing (at least 12 of them on lees) for non-vintage, 3 years for vintage.
Variations
Blanc de Blancs (100% Chardonnay, Côte des Blancs benchmark — Le Mesnil, Avize); Blanc de Noirs (Pinot Noir/Meunier only, Bouzy and Aÿ heartland); Rosé d'assemblage (still red blended in, Champagne's legal exception); Prestige cuvées — Krug Clos du Mesnil, Dom Pérignon, Cristal.
On the Palate
Where Champagne sits in the French flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 1How it's made
5 steps · 464 days 50 min waiting
- 120160 min
Press Chardonnay/Pinot Noir/Pinot Meunier grapes; ferment juice to dry base wine.
- 210 min
Blend cuvée; bottle with liqueur de tirage (sugar + yeast); cap with crown.
Watch outAdd the liqueur de tirage and crown-cap tight — this sugar-and-yeast dose is what starts the in-bottle second ferment that traps the bubbles.
- 3648000 min
Second-ferment in bottle 15+ months on lees (minimum AOC).
- 430 min
Riddle bottles neck-down to collect yeast; disgorge by freezing neck.
Watch outRiddle neck-down so the spent yeast slides into the neck, then freeze just the neck — that frozen plug of lees shoots out clean on disgorging.
- 510 min
Top up with dosage (liqueur d'expédition); cork; serve at 7 °C.
