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5 Fun Facts about Champagne

“Three are the things I shall never attain: envy, content and sufficient Champagne,” said Dorothy Parker.  We say cheers to more Champagne or Sparkling wine!  A sparkle in your glass lifts the spirit and fizz on your tongue feels festive. In the U.S. we have a tendency to save sparklers for special occasions, which is a downright shame.  It is a very food-friendly wine, and is a surprisingly great match for pizza delivery on a Friday night.

5 Fun Facts

  1. What’s in a name?  The name Champagne comes from a chilly, northern region in France, not a grape.  The grapes that are called “Champagne grapes” are not typically used in winemaking. Champagne is most often made from Chardonnay (Blanc de Blancs) and Pinot Noir (Blanc de Noir) grapes, which love cooler temps.  Some versions (Brut) are made from a combination of Pinot and Chardonnay grapes. But only wines from Champagne, France, can use the name.  This is why California winemakers make Sparkling wine.
  2. There are about 139 calories per quarter of a bottle of Champagne, or approximately 22 calories per ounce.
  3. Remember those movies of the roaring ’20s, where people filled bathtubs full of champagne?  If you’re in the mood for a soak in Champagne, just remember it takes 202 750 ML bottles for this kind of bubble bath!
  4. Rumor has it that a type of champagne glass called a “coupe” was designed after a part of Marie Antoinette’s anatomy (probably not her neck). Marie may have really said, “Let them eat cake and drink Champagne!” We’ll never know.
  5. Fermenting sugar during the production of champagne creates a pressure of 75 lbs. per square inch.  That’s three times the pressure of your average car tire!  See tips on safely opening a bottle of sparkling wine.

Odes to this favorite sipper abound, and here is an old-y but a goody.

“Fill, fill the glass, to beauty charge,

And banish care from every breast;

In brisk Champagne we’ll quick discharge,

A toast will give the wine a zest.”

–Convivial Songster, 1807

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We say cheers to this tasty sipper! If you would like to learn more about wine, we invite you to give us a try. We deliver the best of wine country, along with wine tips, recipes, and an insiders look at California’s best small wineries.

Since 1990, it’s been our wine club’s mission to help artisan wineries share their small-batch wines with wine enthusiasts everywhere. At The California Wine Club we happen to think these wines simply taste better than the mass-produced wines that dominate store shelves.

We visit the wineries, meet the families and winemakers behind the wines and then invite them to share their favorite wines with our wine club members. Every wine featured in our wine of the month club comes from a real-working winery.

2 Responses

  1. Robert says:

    I am interested in buying Sparkling Wine

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