“I drink it when I’m happy and when I’m sad. Sometimes I drink it when I’m alone. When I have company I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it when I’m not hungry and drink it when I am.  Otherwise I never touch it - unless I’m thirsty.” This famous quote from the legendary Mme Lily Bollinger of the famous champagne house Bollinger pretty much sums up the success story of champagne: a beverage that is an absolute must for birthdays, weddings, any celebration as a matter of fact, and sundowners on the beach or on top of Lion’s Head.

With Christmas and New Year approaching, what is the story behind champagne and what are the differences between the host of different champagnes and sparkling wines on the market?

As mentioned in a previous article, champagne was not invented by the French but actually by the British. The English scientist and physician Christopher Merret documented the addition of sugar to a finished wine to create a second fermentation in the middle of the 17th century, six years before Dom Pérignon set foot in the Abbey of Hautvillers and almost 40 years before it was claimed that the famed Benedictine monk invented champagne - a fact the French not particularly enjoy being reminded of.

The production of champagne is an extremely labour-intensive and time-consuming process. I hate to bore you with technical jargon, but bear with me to give you an idea of what exactly goes in the making of champagne: Firstly, a base wine with a relatively low alcohol and high acid level is prepared. Sugar and yeast is then added and the wine is bottled immediately. A second fermentation takes place inside the bottle, converting the sugar to alcohol and carbon dioxide. The bottles are sealed with a crown seal (similar to beer bottles), preventing the carbon dioxide (CO2) that forms during the second fermentation from escaping. The CO2 that is formed remains in solution (dissolved) due to the increase in pressure in the sealed bottle. At the end of the second fermentation the pressure can reach a high of 6 bar inside the bottle. The bottles are then left for 12 to 24 months with the yeast of the second fermentation still inside the bottle.  

After about 24 months, the bottles are stacked horizontally in specially designed riddling racks. Riddling entails the regular manual turning of the bottles over a period of about 2 weeks, until the bottles are in a vertical position. The positioning of the bottles in this way causes the yeast sediment to settle in the neck of the bottle. Then the fun begins! The neck containing the sediment is frozen. The crown seal is removed, and the pressure inside the bottle causes the solidified yeast sediment to shoot out of the bottle. The bottle is topped and sealed with a cork: Voilá, champagne! Explaining this in one paragraph sounds pretty simple, but in real life it takes a lot of love to produce a bottle of champagne!

So what is the difference between French champagne and the local brew? For starters, you are only allowed to call the product champagne if it is produced in the region of Champagne close to Paris, France. A similar styled product from the south of France will not be allowed to have champagne on the label. And definitely not something from Africa, heaven forbid! We do however make a similar product in South Africa, using similar grape varieties and production techniques and bottling it as Methode Cap Classique sparkling wine. In my opinion there are some really good local sparkling wines on the market. Unfortunately, as with most things, you will find rip-offs. I mean, why go through all the effort of second fermentation in bottle, leaving it for two years before you have to riddle each bottle twice a day by hand to get rid of the yeast if you can just take a regular semi-sweet wine and sparge it with CO2 (a la Coca Cola)? I suppose it is the same as buying a pair of rip-off sunglasses from a guy at a traffic light as opposed to buying the real thing from an authorised dealer. For the authentic product, look out for the words Method Cap Classique or the abbreviation MCC.  Otherwise you can easily tell by the price tag. If the price is cheap, the product will most likely taste cheap.

Cheers!

For questions or comments, please feel free to contact me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .