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 has found its definition the "Champenoise" method of production by refermentation in the bottle, which then spread all over 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 kilometers northeast of Paris. It appears that vines were present in the area as early as Tertiary times, however, Champagne's oenological history begins with the Roman Empire. It was not until the 17th century, thanks to a series of circumstances due to the special 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 today "Champagne"

Basically, Champagne vineyards are classified using 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, namely Reims and Epernay. Essentially, the system ranks the different communes in Champagne according to the commercial value of the grapes grown in the commune itself and expressed by a percentage value.

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