Champagne Grapes

The most important ingredient of any wine is the grape! Each wine region will be famous of their harvest of grapes with specific varieties performing better in some regions over others. Within the Champagne region their are three main grapes that are relatively well known and will be in the ingredients of nearly every bottle producers, there are also some which are lesser known and quite rare to find.

It is said that over 300 million bottles of Champagne are sold every year across the world via such famous houses as Moet & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot, Lanson, Bollinger, Taittinger and many, many more. For most countries, Champagne is quite easy to find from local wine merchants to supermarkets, there will be a wine section and on the top shelf will be the more expensive bubbles of Champagne.

Champagne is mainly made from primarily from three types of grape:

Pinot Noir (red)

(Pinot) Meunier (red)

Chardonnay (white)

85% to 90% of Champagnes are a blend of two thirds red grapes and one third Chardonnay. Less than 5% of Champagnes made contain 100% Chardonnay, these are called blanc de blancs and even less are made with 100% red grapes which are called blanc de noirs. Rosé Champagnes are usually, but not always, made from a blend of red and white grapes. These trends will change from era to era and most certainly from preferences of countries importing where some prefer sweeter over dry.

There are other grapes which are permitted to be used in Champagne, these are Petit Meslier, Arbanne, Petit Gris and Pinot Blanc however these grape varieties can not be replanted so of much rarer releases.

 

Which grapes are used in Champagne? Check out our free infographic here.

You can find some select houses of Champagne that have planted the seven grapes varieties in their ownership and produce a very rare 7 Cépages such as that of Domaine Alexandre Bonnet in the southern region of Les Riceys.