For my partner’s family, any occasion is an occasion to drink champagne — a birthday, a Sunday, a summer evening, Christmas, Tuesday. Being Champagne natives, they’ve always got an ice-cold stash handy (I suspect it comes out of the kitchen tap too). For Champenois people, champagne isn’t for film stars or Formula One drivers; it’s just the local tipple — albeit a pricey, labour-intensive one. I’m adjusting to the idea too, though drinking champagne sans a Suitable Occasion still makes me feel self-indulgent.
Champagne refers to both the wine (le champagne), made via a centuries-old method known as méthode champenoise, and the northern French region (la Champagne) it comes from. The fizzy wine is supposed to have been invented by Benedictine monk Dom Perignon (1638-1715), who was in charge of the cellars at the Abbaye Saint-Pierre d’Hautvillers. The abbey’s still white wines suffered from a re-fermentation problem; in the cold of Champagne, initial fermentation would stop before all the sugars had been converted to alcohol, but the dormant yeasts would awaken months later, creating pesky bubbles that made the glass bottles explode. But attributing the invention of champagne to Dom Perignon is a bit of a stretch, since he was mainly concerned with removing bubbles from his wine, not putting them in — at best we can be grateful he didn’t succeed.
Champagnes remained largely still wines up till the 18th century, when winemaking as a science bloomed, and industrialisation helped improve fermentation. The 1800s saw the birth of champagne maisons, and soon the wine became synonymous with luxe and elegance. Some clever spin during the Belle Époque helped cement its reputation as a festive, indulgent drink, which continued with endorsements from James Bond (who drank it) and Marilyn Monroe (who bathed in it).
By law, champagne can only be made from white chardonnay grapes and red pinot noir and pinot meunier grapes, in the Champagne region. It usually involves two or three of these, sometimes only one (though rarely pinot meunier). Champagne made entirely from chardonnay is called blanc de blanc, and champagne made entirely from pinot noir is called blanc de noirs.
Bottles are stored for at least 15 months; those aged longer are called vintage champagnes (three years) or prestige cuvée (at least seven years). The bottles are stored at a downward angle and turned often, so that the yeast that flavours the wine collects near the mouth. Eventually the neck is immersed in brine to freeze the sediment, which is then removed in a neat little plug. Then the wine is dosed with sugar and re-sealed. The amount of sugar in this dosage determines the sweetness level of the finished wine, whether very dry (brut) or quite sweet (doux).
As champagne is made from a mélange of grapes from different years, the house style stays the same year after year. The winemaker maintains consistency by careful, painstaking blending. The finished bubbly can be round, mellow and big-bodied, or sharp, acidic and hoppy, and even ripe, toasty and yeasty. Champagne is also very versatile — it can stand up to afternoon tea or dinner, it goes with light food or rich, and spicy, heavy or salty dishes — just not dessert.
Of the 15,000 growers in the region, only around 2,200 make their own wine. Many sell grapes to larger producers such as Moët & Chandon, Mumm, Ruinart, Veuve Clicquot, Laurent Perrier and Louis Roederer. If you’re visiting, most champagne producers offer tastings, and tour companies take tourists around vineyards and winemaking villages, including the appropriately-named Bouzy and Dizy. Or you can walk down Épernay’s cobblestoned Avenue de Champagne: A monumental boulevard lined with mansions belonging to Pol Roger, Mercier, Perrier-Jouët, Moët & Chandon and others.
Each house has a personality; while Louis Roederer’s president Frédéric Rouzaud gave a nose-in-the-air interview in 2006 bemoaning his Cristal brand’s popularity among hip hop artists (which caused rapper Jay-Z to buy a rival brand, Armand de Brignac), party staple Mumm has appointed Usain Bolt as its chief entertainment officer, and Bollinger appears frequently in British TV series Absolutely Fabulous .
The big names continue to make good, reliable champagnes, but sticking to those means you’re missing out on the many small producers and co-ops who produce fizz just as crisp, toasty and delicious. Look for cult favourites Jacques Selosse or Jacques Lassaigne, Louis Nicaise, Pierre Moncuit, or Champagne Drappier’s blanc de noir, Dauby Mère & Fille’s blanc de blanc, and Jérôme Prévost’s rare pinot meunier champagne.
In Champagne, whether the grapes go to big houses, family businesses or village co-ops operated by neighbours, the wine remains something everyday. Prices are cheaper than in Paris, especially for small-grower bottles, which begin at €12-15. The process of unfoiling the cork, unwinding the wire cage, looking around for a clean dishcloth, arguing about who was in charge of washing the dishcloth — everything seems to infuse the moment with that friendly effervescence. And it makes every day a little more ebullient, friendlier, zingier. Every time you drink champagne, it becomes a Special Occasion imbued with the glow of all the others before it.
Naintara Maya Oberoi is a food writer based in New Delhi ;
Twitter: @naintaramaya