Reading Champagne Labels

Series Summary

Champagne is usually used to celebrate only special occasions such as New Year's Eve, important sports events and birthdays, but it can also be a drink for any occasion. Champagne refers to sparkling wine that is made in the region of Champagne, France. If it is not made there it is considered sparkling wine and not champagne. There are other smaller differences as well. For example the fizz of champagne is lighter than that of sparkling wine. In this free video series a wine expert will discuss champagne varieties and basic champagne facts. Learn how to read champagne labels, open champagne bottles and identify champagne growing regions. Get tips on the taste and history of a variety of champagnes, including Salon champagne, Gonet champagne and Conte de Blanc champagne. Interested in becoming a champagne expert? Let an expert explain the facts and give tips on picking a good bottle of champagne.

Video Transcript

"Hi I'm Gary Westby from K & L Wine Merchants. And we are going to look at some champagne labels together today to learn how to read them. The first and most important thing when looking at the champagne label is to determine if you have champagne or if you have something from somewhere else. Now the EU and most of the world has all agreed to protect the name of champagne. Since it's a region much like Napa or Sonoma Valley, it's protected by law. The only place that really flaunts that rule is the U.S. And we only do it usually with the very cheapest and worst of our sparkling wines. So that's something to look out for. If it's California champagne definitely take a hard look at that, because that's not the real thing. I have two bottles here, one from a small producer and one from a large producer. And one of the, the second thing that's important to look at is the small print. Every producer has to have a number. And if you look closely at the label, you can usually find it at the bottom. They'll be two letters followed by a registration number. This one says RM and that means recoltant manipulant. That means that this producer owns all of the vineyards for all of the wines that they produce. And that it is an estate bottled wine. This one if you look down at the bottom, you can find their registration number and it begins with two letters, NM which means negociant manipulant which means that this producer is allowed to buy grapes, to buy still wines and even to buy bottles, put their own dossage in it and then label it and sell it. That is a very, very big group and by far the biggest group that you'll find represented in the United States are negociants. Some negociants still use only estate proof for some of their bottling, some of them will buy in only juice, some of them buy in only grapes, others will do much of their production purchased from co-ops as already finished bottles. The other two which I don't have examples of are MA, which means mark ashetay, which is essentially a buyer's own brand and then the other one which is CM, which is cooperative manipulant, which means the wine comes from a co-op, a group of growers. After that you're ready to go ahead and open a bottle."