Champagne: France, History of Champagne, Dom Perignon

Champagne has launched thousands of ships, toasted billions of weddings and special occasions, flutes attended countless parties, and shared untold special moments between two people. Champagne is the wine of celebration. No other wine is so associated with joy and festivity. Its meaning and appeal are universal. Champagne makes the young sages and the old young again.

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Champagne has exported its techniques around the world. Sparkling wines are made the world over, but here we will explore the sparkling wines from the north of France called Champagne.

Pronunciation Guide
Aube [oh'b]
Aÿ [ah-yee]
Champagne [sham-PAYN]
Méthod Champenois [meh-toh'd shahm-PEH-n'wahz]

Côte des Blancs [coat deh blahn]
Dosage [doh-SAHJ]
Montagne de Reims [mohn-tahn-yuh duh rem]
Vallée de la Marne [val-ay duh lah marn]

The History of Champagne
Champagne was a region long before it was a sparkling wine. The region lies at a crossroads of northern Europe – the river valleys leading south to the Mediterranean and north to Paris, the English Channel and Western Germany – and thus has been the setting of many dramatic events in the history of the French nation. As a convenient access point, it has been for hundreds of years, the chosen path of many invaders including Attila the Hun. The Hundred Years' War and the Thirty Years' War brought repeated destruction to the region as armies marched back and forth across its landscape. By the 17th century, the city of Reims has seen destruction seven times and Epernay no less than twenty-five times.

But crossroads also bring trade. Champagne gained importance in its own right, during the middle ages as a center of European trade. The medieval counts of Champagne were wise enough to encourage commerce and strong enough to protect the traveling merchants. They created the then famous, Fairs of Champagne. Though these fairs were mainly about cloth, they were of obvious benefit for the wines of Champagne as it gave them easy exposure and access to important wine markets.

Champagne also benefited when the cathedral at Reims was chosen in 987 AD, as the coronation site for the French king Hugh Capet and establishing Reims as the spiritual capital of medieval France. In fact, thirty-seven kings of France were crowned there between 816 and 1825. The monasteries in Champagne with the economic assistance of the crown, were to make wine production a serious venture until the French Revolution in 1789.