How can you tell if a Champagne is good?

What are the signs of a good Champagne?

The Champagne region is renowned for its sparkling wine, which is produced by blending several varieties of grapes from the region. The Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC) designation highlights the quality of the sparkling wine, whilst the terroir and location bring out the wine’s unique character. Different houses draw on their expertise and craftsmanship to bring out the best in the sparkling wine, whilst different towns, villages and neighbourhoods produce wines with varied characters.
What are the hallmarks of a good Champagne?

Champagne is renowned for its sparkling wines, which are produced throughout the Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC) region. The expertise and artistry of the winemaking houses blend the region’s different grape varieties to produce sparkling wines with a wide range of personalities. Within the appellation contrôlée, there are many different terroirs, communes, lieux-dits and vineyard plots, each producing wines with their own distinct character. It is easy to get lost amongst all the different types of Champagne, but they all have their own distinctive characteristics. Champagne bottles feature a wealth of information to help the discerning consumer understand what’s inside. What do the labels on champagne bottles mean, and how can you tell a good champagne from a bad one?
Check where the information comes from.

Champagne is a wine that simply needs to be in a bottle to be considered champagne. The bottle does not need to bear the ‘AC’ label, and the method of production is considered implicit and does not need to be stated on the label.

Champagne bottles have two letters on the label to indicate which professional category the producer belongs to. Knowing who produced the champagne is crucial, as it is a Champagne wine and is protected by this appellation. What letters appear on a champagne label?

The winegrower produces RM, NM and SR wines.
A ‘négociant manipulateur’ is a company or operator that buys grapes, produces its own cuvées and resells them. A ‘Manipulant Harvester’ (RM) is a winegrower who produces and sells their own champagne. A harvest co-operative is a group of winegrowers who work together to produce and market their wines.

The co-operative produced RC and CM products.
After the harvest, a winegrower will send their grapes to a cooperative’s vats. They will collect their bottles either after or before disgorging, to resell them under their own name. A bottle labelled ‘Coopérative Manipulant’ (CM) is produced and sold by the co-operative using grapes from its members’ harvests.

MA and ND sold their land to a businessman.
Some wines are sold to companies that will market the wines under their own brand. These companies are known as Auxiliary Brands (MA) and may be legal entities or individuals who have purchased the wines after they have been finished. Merchant distributors, ND, are also distributors who have purchased wines before they were finished, in order to market them under their own name.

The amount of sugar added to each bottle is indicated on the label as ‘dry’, ‘sweet’, ‘semi-dry’ or ‘brut’. These labels have nothing to do with the quality of the champagne; they are simply indicators of the number of grams of sugar added during the production process. The more sugar added per litre of champagne, the sweeter the bottle will be.
The Champagne region in France comprises various grape varieties and crus.

Champagne producers use several crus and grape varieties, known as cépages, to blend their champagne. The Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grape varieties are the main ones used in champagne production. Different combinations of these varieties can be used to produce many different champagnes.

Blanc de Blancs champagnes are made exclusively from Chardonnay grapes, which produce aromas of citrus, brioche and hazelnut. Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier are also sister grape varieties that produce aromas reminiscent of the forest floor, leather and more animal-like notes. These three grape varieties are used on their own to produce Blanc de Noirs champagnes. A skilful blend of these three grape varieties gives the wines a wide range of flavours. When the grapes are pressed with their skins, they produce a champagne-pink colour. As Chardonnay is the dominant grape variety in most bottles, a traditional champagne may develop new aromas of dried fruit as it ages.

More than 300 estates classified as ‘crus’ cultivate different grape varieties. A ‘cru’ is a wine-growing area defined by a municipal wine-growing zone. The quality of the grapes produced can be rated from 80 per cent to 100 per cent. A Champagne comprising between 80% and 89% quality crus is called a Champagne A. A Premier Cru Champagne comprises between 90% and 99% quality crus, and a Grand Cru Champagne is made from grapes of the highest quality, comprising between 90% and 99%.
For the bubbles to work, they must be part of the system.

The size of the bubbles in Champagne matters for more than just aesthetic reasons. The finer the bubbles, the more of them there will be. Light, fine bubbles are more pleasing to the eye, and their sparkling beauty is more appreciated than larger, less organised bubbles. The more carbon dioxide bubbles there are, the more these sensory receptors are stimulated, and the more the brain will receive taste information about the flavour of the Champagne. Although their size is not directly linked to the quality of the drink, they do allow one to appreciate its flavour more fully.