With its fizz and sparkle, what’s there not to like about Champagne? Okay, maybe that pop that sometimes catches you by surprise, yet it’s close to impossible to be unhappy when drinking Champagne. Plus, those bubbles can be absolutely captivating as they rise upwards within your glass and tickle your throat on the way down.
But, how exactly did these bubbles get trapped in the wine in the first place? Let’s start from the beginning.
Harvesting the grapes
The Champagne wine region of France is known for three main grape varieties: Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier, and Pinot Noir. Chardonnay is classified as a white grape, while the two other varieties are dark or red grapes.
All three types are harvested in early or mid-September, either by hand or using machinery. From here, the stems and other debris are removed making the grapes ready to be crushed. Although it might seem like a fun idea to manually crush the grapes with your feet, it’s more likely that hydraulic presses are used to squeeze out the juice. In winemaking, the juices pressed from the grapes is called must.
