Champagne

Champagne as a sparkling wine, its elegance and undisputed class is intimately linked to its production area, Champagne. In this area over the centuries, the 'Champenoise' method of production by re-fermentation in the bottle found its definition, which then spread throughout the world, from different grape varieties but also with the same grapes used in Champagne. However, the class, elegance and personality of the wines produced in the area of origin is still unmatched today.The area known as Champagne is located about 150 kilometres north-east of Paris. It seems that vines were already present in the area in Tertiary times, however the oenological history of Champagne begins with the Roman Empire. It was only from the 17th century onwards, thanks to a series of circumstances due to the particular environmental and climatic conditions of the area, that producers began to interpret, exploit and control the various stages of production, leading in the mid-1800s to what we call 'Champagne' today.

In practice, the vineyards of Champagne are classified according to a 1911 system called Echelle des Crus (scale of crus), based on the quality of each individual cru and its distance from the commercial heart of Champagne, i.e. Reims and Epernay. Essentially, the system classifies the different communes of Champagne according to the commercial value of the grapes grown in the commune itself and expressed with a percentage value.

The three categories are: Grand Cru, Premier Cru and Cru