Champagne is the most magical name in wine–and the most hotly contested one.
    First, the magic. Around the world, this sparkling elixir is associated with joyful celebrations, elegance and refinement. The mere mention of the word Champagne can whet our appetites and raise our spirits, transforming mundane events into something special. You can test this yourself: Sit down for a no-big-deal dinner with a friend and say, “Let’s start with Champagne.” You will likely receive a reply that is quite telling: “What’s the occasion?”
    Yet while most everyone can agree that the name evokes good times and life’s great moments, few can agree on much else. Some people, in fact, don’t think Champagne is a wine at all but rather an effervescent beverage to be used mainly for toasts—a notion that can exasperate those who consider it not only a wine but the greatest of all wines and a marvelous partner for food.
    Such disagreements are minor, however, compared with the ongoing battles as to whether the word “Champagne” can be used for sparkling wines made outside the Champagne region of France. With billions of dollars and thousands of jobs at stake, it is not surprising that this question inflames partisans on both sides.
    But controversy is nothing new to Champagne—its glittering, glamorous history also includes episodes of violence and political upheaval. And while today’s adversaries may not be coming to fisticuffs, the debates swirling around Champagne are, as always, intense and passionate.

__The Night They Invented Champagne__ It took almost two millennia for Champagne to fit the definition that we give the word today. The Romans were the first to plant vines in this area of northern France, producing still wines that, until the end of the Middle Ages, were nominally red but actually paler than today’s rosés. This was a direct result of the region’s cool climate, which rarely permitted enough ripening to build deep pigments in the grape skins. They were also thin and tart—Champagne is a marvelous place for making sparkling wines but a lousy place for making still ones (although there are now a few exceptions). Indeed, for most of its history, the region was more famous as a source of wool than of wine.
    Developing Champagne as we know it required a rare alchemy of extraordinary terroir and exceptional human ingenuity. So when did Champagne become bubbly? Actually, the bubbles were there all along—and were a major headache. As in other northern climates, grapes in Champagne were harvested late in the year, and the wines often didn’t have time to complete their fermentation before cold weather stopped the process. They would then restart their fermentation the following spring, releasing the carbon dioxide that formed bubbles. This was an annoyance when wine was kept in casks but became a real problem once bottles were introduced, as a good many of them exploded.
    The potential was there, but it would take centuries of research and countless innovations before winemakers could produce a sparkling wine that was clean, clear and reliable. The first breakthroughs were made in the late 17th century, many of them by the legendary Dom Pérignon. The monk’s contributions included the ability to make white wine from black grapes, which he managed through rapid, successive pressings and filtering. He also invented the vertical wine press (still used today) and, perhaps most signficant, the art of blending wines from grapes grown in different villages.
    The novel vin pétillant gained an elite following, although quantities remained marginal compared with the region’s reds. Champagne didn’t really come into its own until the 19th century, when French and foreign scientists made significant advances in everything from fermentation to pasteurization. Winemakers too did their part: Veuve Clicquot’s new disgorgement techniques turned Champagne into a sediment-free wine, and Louise Pommery introduced truly dry Champagne when she debuted her Brut in 1874.
    By the latter half of the century, vintners could offer consumers consistent sweetness and effervescence, and the iconic pear-shaped bottle with its wire-caged cork was poised to conquer the world. Savvy marketing soon made it not only the must-have libation in the royal courts of Europe but the beverage of choice at parties thrown by the rich and famous throughout the world.

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