Champagne, some people love it, others detest it, it is a favorite
luxury tipple of the rich and famous and it is used in celebrations around the world. Here you can find out all you want to know about the bubbly tipple through our features on some of the
very best brand names associated with this sparkling bubbly.
Whether you are looking to purchase a single bottle of
champagne of some of the oldest vintages or a case, you can find all about the
very best right here. Check out our features about not only some of the
very best champagne in the world, but also the Houses from which they come.
Champagne is a sparkling wine of the very best named after the champagne region of France and is among the dearest wine to produce. To develop this superb bubbly there must be two fermentation processes. The second step of these is to trap carbon dioxide which produces the wonderful bubbles that
champagne is known for.
The grapes typically used in the majority of
champagne are Pinot noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay. The drink was first brought to the attention of the world when it was associated with kings in France and it quickly spread throughout royalty in Europe and other countries as a luxurious drink. By the 18th and 19th centuries it was known as a
luxury beverage associated with those with power. The Romans were among the first to plant out vineyards to grow grapes specifically for
champagne.
One of the oldest recorded bottles of
champagne was the Blanquette de Limoux which is said to have been produced by the monks of Benedictine. It took an English scientist to document the addition of sugar in the wine to create fermentation six years before Dom Perignon was to set his foot in the Abbey of Hautvillers and 40 years before it was claimed that Dom Perignon invented
champagne. Dom Perignon has actually done a great deal for
champagne as it is known today, making a lot of advancement in the production. This included holding a cork in place with a collar of wire so that the
champagne was able to withstand the process of fermentation without the cork blowing. Before this cork often exploded with some force out of the bottle which led it to gain the nickname of the Devils wine. The drink at this time was known to have a sweeter taste than the wines of today, the fashion for drier
champagne came about as the result of Perrier-Jouet deciding not to sweeten his 1846 bottles before shipping them to London.
Throughout the majority of Europe, the name is protected legally meaning only the most expensive and
very best of the sparkling wines produced in the region of France may be put on the market and sold with the name
champagne behind them. In the USA and some other areas it is possible to find cheap wines that have been labeled with the name and which are misleading.
The majority of people often drink
champagne during special events, parties and when celebrating success, however many have the need to show off and it is a favorite of the rich and famous. Some of the expensive of the champagnes are more about image than what is in the bottle and what the taste is like.
Cristal Brut 1990 Methuselah
The Cristal Brut is a six-liter, bottle with a gold label with the name of Cristal Brut 1990, which is also dubbed the Methuselah and it was recently sold at a Sotheby’s auction in New York to a buyer that was undisclosed for a huge sum of money. At the time, Cristal was a favorite of the hip-hop crowd and it was found at all the parties which some of the largest names in the world of pop music attended.
Dom Perignon White Gold Jeroboam
In 2005 a limited edition bottle of the superb Dom Perignon became the worlds most expensive
champagne. Typically sold in three-liter bottles, the Dom Perignon White Gold Jeroboam was sold and bought by a buyer in order for them to commemorate the New Year. Much of its price of this
luxury champagne, however, is more due to the white gold bottle from which the expensive wine takes its name more than the taste of it.
Pernod-Ricard Perrier-Jouet
This is one of the most sought after champagnes that is typically marketed only to the ultra-rich, those unique buyers have the chance to personalize their very own drinking experience by being able to choose the liqueur used in the
champagne and also have the
luxury of flying to Eastern France to do so.
The sets of
champagne are being sold to lovers of the tipple in the United States, Britain, Japan, China, Russia, Switzerland and France. The price of the sets even includes an elegant storage nest where the
champagne is allowed to wait for up to eight months!
Shipwrecked 1907 Heidsieck
These 300 year old bottles of
champagne came straight from the Heidsieck vineyard in
champagne, France and took more than eighty years to finally reach their destination. The bottles were then shipped to the Russian Imperial family in 1916; but a shipwreck just off the coast of Finland caused this
champagne to be thrown into the water until divers discovered over 200 bottles in 1997, hence their name. These superb bottles are sold to some of the more affluent guests at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Moscow. Due to the story behind them and the fact that the
champagne is so old of course all goes towards the fact that they are considered to be among the worlds most valuable
champagne.
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