Champagne

Champagne is a sparkling white wine that is made in the Champagne region of France.http://www.examiner.com/x-1851-Minneapolis-Restaurant-Examiner~y2008m12d27-The-Basics-of-Bubbly--Champagne-v-Domestic-Sparkling-WinesChampagne is produced by a blend of Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, and Chardonnay grapes. The name 'champagne' is restricted to wines from this region, and although other sparkling wines are sometimes referred to as Champagne, they are technically not.http://www.bubblelounge.com/new-york/champagne-facts/

There are many types of champagne, ranging from sweet to very dry. Brut is the driest of all champagne, and also the most popular, while Doux is the sweetest.http://www.savoreachglass.com/articles/champagne-a-grape-of-many-talents Champagne is typically served in a flute, a tall narrow glass which is ideal for watching the extended trip of the bubbles.

Monks and nobility enjoyed wine in the Champagne region of France for hundreds of years. It was in the late 17th century when the region first began producing sparkling wine by inducing a secondary fermentation.http://www.champagneinfo.net/Productie/ChampagneHistorie/tabid/174/Default.aspx

Dom Perignon, a monk, invented champagne in around 1668. He advanced the already established sparkling wine process by adding a wire-collared cork to seal in the wine without bursting under the pressure of fermentation. He actually was trying to avoid the bubbling, as it was a sign of poor wine making, but was unable to. So instead, he experimented with mixtures of grapes, eventually coming up with what we now know of today as champagne.http://www.intowine.com/champagne.html?page=0,1