Champagne & Sparkling Wine

Only those sparkling wines that come from the Champagne wine-growing region in northeastern France may also adorn themselves with the strictly protected designation Appellation d'Origine Protégée, because champagne is not a sparkling wine, a vin mousseux or crémant, a cava or spumante, even if these noble drops bubble similarly to champagne from Champagne.For the production of champagne, mainly grapes of Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay are used. But it's a long way from the grapes to the juice in the delightfully clinking glass of the champagne-drinking festive crowd: the must extracted from the grapes undergoes alcoholic fermentation and serves as the base wine. Typically, champagnes are made only about 70% from the base wine of one vintage and blended with the base wines of other vintages, so-called reserve wines, to form an assemblage – which is often marked BSA (brut sans année) on the champagne bottles. But now something important is still missing, because this good wine is supposed to bubble! So once the perfect blend is achieved and bottled, either sugar can or beet sugar is added together with yeast to induce bottle fermentation. During this second fermentation, carbonic acid forms and the alcohol content rises slightly, making the champagne suitable for storage.

Now the yeast must be taken out, which means: the champagne is shaken upside down until the yeast has accumulated at the neck of the bottle, the bottles are then uncorked and the yeast plug is disgorged. Normally, the champagne would be stored for a few months or years before the happy cork popping wold commence. If you don't want to wait that long, just come see us! We have an excellent selection of genuine champagnes ready to drink in our Flaschenpost warehouse, just waiting to make a big splash on the right occasion – and don't worry, you don't have to win the Monaco Grand Prix like Lewis Hamilton to enjoy a champagne shower. Because with us, the customer is always king - or queen.