Behind all brut Champagne, a vintage, a rosé, a blanc de blancs, and cuvée hides a different wine with different characteristics and tastes. Each wine depends on choices made during the three stages of production.

The blend:
It is at this stage of the production process that the taste and character of Champagne wines are determined. In Champagne the blending process takes place on three levels: the blending of still wines from different growing areas, of the three grape varieties and of different years.

At the end of the aging period, the winemaker removes the yeast deposit from the bottle and adds a solution of wine and sugar. The addition of sugar, according to the different wines, allows the Champenois to create a scale of 'sweetness' from extra-dry to sweet.

The label:
The label carries the following information:

• The Champagne Appellation
• The brand or name of the producer
• The level of dosage: e.g. brut, demi-sec,
• Specific descriptors; Blanc de Blancs, Blanc de Noirs, Vintage, RosŽ, prestige cuvŽes.
• The back label gives other useful and interesting information, such as which grapes have been blended, the aging period, a description of the aromas and food matching suggestions.

Tasting:

Chilling your Champagne wines in the freezer will ruin their aromas and flavours, so plan ahead with buckets of ice and coolers for chilling.

The Champenois often use large coolers that take several bottles at a time to chill their Champagne wines.

How to chill Champagne?:
In a Champagne bucket: a bottle from your cellar plunged into a mixture of water and ice should reach the right temperature in 15 to 20 minutes. In the refrigerator: lie the bottle down on the bottom shelf for three or four hours before serving; you can leave it there even longer, provided that the temperature remains constant; this way you will always have a ready chilled bottle to hand.

The right temperature:
Champagne is best drunk chilled but never iced. The younger and livelier the Champagne, the cooler it should be served (8¼C). A mature or vintage Champagne will be perfect at 10¼C. Over-chilling will mean that the wine is too cold to release its aromas and flavours.