How To Choose Champagne
How To Choose Champagne By Brand
The first thing you will need to determine is which brand you intend to order. To learn more about the sparkling wines of California, visit our wineries pages using the navigation above.
How To Choose Champagne By Vintage
Champagne is often blended across years. For a champagne to be considered of a particular year’s vintage, at least 80% of the grapes used in producing it must have been harvested in that year. The remaining 20% of the grapes, can be from other years. Vintners will blend their champagnes with the best from previous years, this leads to a more uniform quality.
How To Choose Champagne By Size of Bottle
Champagne, and of course sparkling wine, comes in a large amount of sizes.
Here is a break down:
| Name |
Litres
|
Fluid Ounces
|
# of Bottles
|
| Quarter Bottle |
.1875
|
6.34
|
.25
|
| Half Bottle |
.375
|
12.7
|
.50
|
| Bottle |
.75
|
25.4
|
1
|
| Magnum |
1.5
|
50.7
|
2
|
| Jeroboam |
3.0
|
101.4
|
4
|
| Rehoboam |
4.5
|
152.2
|
6
|
| Methuselah |
6.0
|
203
|
8
|
| Salmanazar |
9.0
|
304.3
|
12
|
| Balthazar |
12.0
|
405.8
|
16
|
| Nebuchadnezzar |
15.0
|
507.2
|
20
|
| Melchior |
18.0
|
608.7
|
24
|
| Solomon |
20.0
|
676.3
|
26.7
|
| Sovereign |
25.0
|
845.4
|
33.33
|
| Goliath |
27.0
|
913.0
|
36
|
| Melchizedek |
30.0
|
1014.4
|
40
|
How To Choose Champagne Dryness
The last variable in choosing a champagne is its level of dryness. Champagne is unique in that the dryness is largely determined by the wine maker. To understand the process of making a champagne dryer or sweeter, you will need to know how it is made. Usually grapes are chosen at the height of their ripeness, when they contain a good deal of natural sugar. Yeast is added to the juice of those grapes, which converts their sugar into alcohol. Champagne thus has sugar artificially added to it so that the yeast has more fuel to convert into alcohol.
A wine maker can add more or less amounts of sugar to alter the finished product. Adding more sugar is going to make the champagne taste sweeter. As you try more and more champagne, you will decide whether you prefer it dry or sweet.
As a quick guide, here is a list of the levels of dryness that you can choose in your champagne:
| Level of Dryness |
Amount of residual sugar per litre
|
|
| Extra Brut |
0.6%
|
 |
| Brut |
1.5%
|
|
| Extra Dry |
1.2 – 2.0%
|
|
| Sec |
1.7 – 3.5%
|
|
| Demi-Sec |
3.3 5.0%
|
|
| Doux |
5% +
|
|