A fascinating infographic - 9 things you didn't know about Champagne!

It is not very often that revolutions occur in industries with the establishment and heritage as Champagne, but that is exactly what is happening with the raise in popularity and prominence of Grower Champagne.

Proper storage is vital if you want to preserve the flavor and bubbles in your bottle of Champagne

Who invented our favorite celebratory drink? That depends on who you ask. The French say that champagne was created around 1668 by none other than Dom Perignon, a blind Benedictine monk and master vintner.

It’s a good story, but its veracity – along with Perignon’s blindness - has been brought into question. The English version credits scientist Christopher Merret with the first deliberate production of bubbly wine in 1662.

Beginners Guide to Champagne: Part 3 of 3

By now, you have a general understanding of what Champagne is and how the grapes affect the final outcome. Now let’s take a look at the actual Champagne production process from start to finish, and learn the difference between Brut, Doux, and every flavor in between.

Champagne in Short Supply – What happened to the Recession?

Times are hard; everyone is cutting back and tightening their wallets; “everyone is in this together”…

Champagne Competition Time:

We are currently running a Champagne competition with our partners at Mumsnet.com.... chance to win 3 bottles of Vintage Champagne....Good luck everyone.

In part one of this series, we took a look at the Champagne region of France and all the factors that make it the best – and only – place to produce true Champagne. (Champagnes from outside of the region are merely sparkling wines.)

Now let’s learn about the different types of Champagne, starting with quality and rarity.

How to Identify a Good Champagne

If you’re preparing to purchase champagne for a meal or special event, you might be wondering how to make sure you’re getting a good bottle. Luckily, there are many criteria that make good champagne stand apart from the rest.

By choosing a reputable brand, you’ll maximize your chance of selecting a high-quality champagne. A good vendor is also important. You can help your chances even more by reading champagne reviews online and in wine enthusiast publications.

Here is a list of things to look for and questions to ask yourself when you’re purchasing champagne.

Choosing the Best Champagne to Match Your Meal

Champagne – it’s not just for toasting. In fact, with the right pairing of flavors, champagne makes an excellent accompaniment to most meals.

While people have long regarded champagne as the drink of choice for celebrations, it’s equally at home on the dinner table. Champagne brunches are also popular, and sweet Italian Asti goes great with many desserts.

The bubbles in champagne are a benefit when drinking it with dinner. They help to cleanse your palate, allowing you to fully savor each course of your meal.

Here’s a flavor pairing guide to get you started.

How to Drink Champagne for Maximum Enjoyment

Drinking champagne is more than a matter of popping open the bottle and downing the contents. Champagne should be served and savored the right way if you want to enjoy it fully.

To make the most of your bubbly beverage, you need to store the bottle properly, serve the champagne at the optimal temperature, and drink it from the right glass.

This guide will take you through the champagne-drinking process, from initial storage to the last, satisfying swallow. Get ready to drink champagne like you’ve never done before!

Choosing the Right Champagne for the Occasion

If you’ve got a celebration coming up, you might be thinking of bringing along a cold bottle of champagne. That’s a great idea; champagne is the world’s favorite celebratory drink. Its rosy-gold hue and effervescent bubbles can brighten up any occasion.

But which champagne should you bring? There are more varieties now than ever before, and some bottles can set you back hundreds of dollars. To enjoy the drink without breaking the bank, let’s answer some questions that will help you choose the right champagne for your special event.

Have you seen the way people open champagne bottles in the movies? There is inevitably loud popping, a flying cork, and a fountain of wasted champagne. That’s no way to celebrate!

These helpful tips will have you opening champagne bottles like a pro, even if you’ve never popped a cork before.

Champagne is a great drink for celebrating, but did you know it’s also a key ingredient in many tasty recipes? From cheesy fondue to delicate desserts, champagne adds sparkle to every course on your menu.

Brut champagne works best for savory dishes, while sweeter varieties go great in dessert dishes. Champagne recipes are a great way to use up leftover champagne, too – as long as the bubbly isn’t more than a week old.

Here are five fabulous recipes that feature champagne:

Choosing the right champagne can be harder than you’d think. There are many choices to make regarding flavor, price, and more.

Add to that the fact that there are more champagne and sparkling wine makers than ever before. Which label is the best? Which is the most affordable? Which brand is a great blend of quality and value?

At first glance, Champagne seems like a straightforward drink: You pop the cork, it fizzes, you pour it into a glass and enjoy it. But for the inexperienced, there are several common mistakes which can make champagne a bitter drink, indeed! Here’s a list of mistakes to avoid if you want your champagne experience to be the very best.

You’ve chosen the perfect bottle of bubbly for your special occasion. Now you need to store it. But how? There is actually quite lot of conflicting advice about the proper way to store champagne, so we’ve done the research to find the absolute best advice from people who know.

A chilled glass of champagne is a real treat, but sometimes the occasion calls for something more. Champagne is a wonderful stand-alone beverage, but it is also a favorite ingredient in many popular cocktails. The presence of champagne gives these drinks a little extra fizz, making champagne cocktails a favorite celebratory beverage. Here are ten tasty champagne cocktail recipes, from classy classics to bold concoctions that pack a real punch.

Champagne (pronounced “shahm-pah-n`yah”) is wine which undergoes a 2nd fermentation process within the actual bottle rather than in large barrels, for a minimum period of approximately 16 months (for the least expensive champagne). The CO2 produced during this stage is trapped within the bottle, thus creating the bubbles which make sparkling wine. In order to be classed as Champagne it must have been made within the French region of La Champagne, which lies about 90 miles northeast of Paris. If it is made outside of this region, under EU law, it can only be known as sparkling wine; even if it has undergone exactly the same production process.