Champagne
Deutsche Version

Information about Champagne.
Cooking methodsChampagne is only allowed to be called champagne when it comes from a small part of France, called the Champagne region, this region comprises of Mametal, the Reimser Berge, Cotes de Blanc and Aube. Other sparkling wines are named Sekt when from Germany or, sparkling wine.

A champagne or sekt has a minimum of 10% alcohol and a bottle pressure of at least 3.5 bar. The sulpuhric oxide content must not be over 185mg/ltr.

There are 6 different taste categories, that determine the taste of the champagne:

· sweet
· medium dry
· dry
· extra dry
· brut
· extra brut

Piere Perignon better known as Don Perignon is the man that gave us the know how at the end of the 17th century on the making of good champagne. The Benedictine monk from the abbey of Hautvillers also gave his famous name of Don Perignon to the house of Moet and Chandon.

Up to the 19th century, champagne was a rather cloudy drink, by the second fermentation the necessary yeast in the drink had collected to give the drink a foggy appearance.
Nicole Cliquot found a new method to stop this, the champagne was shaken and after a few weeks the yeast in the bottle collected in the neck of the bottle.
The next step was removing the collected yeast from the neck of the bottle. For this, the top of the bottle was immersed in liquid nitrogen which froze the yeast, the cap cork was opened and because of the pressure in the bottle, the frozen yeast was forced out and the champagne quickly properly corked.
About 300 million bottles are produced and sold every year in the Champagne region from the vines of Pinot Noir. Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay. The price of Champagne starts at about 13 pounds and can go up to a few hundred for a really famous name and year.
Champagne is also put into different catagories depending on how much sugar has been added:

· Ultra Brut: no added sugar
· Extra Brut: with 0-6g/ltr sugar
· Brut : with maximal 15g/ltr sugar
· Extra Dry : with maximal 20g/ltr sugar
· Sec : with maximal 35g/ltr sugar
· Semi Sec :with maximal 50g/ltr sugar

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Champagne and the different categories of champagne