Champagne with a black label. Champagne wines (champagne or Champagne): history, description, brands

The homeland of champagne is considered to be the French province of Champagne. Experts know that like all good wines, this drink has its own character. This means that it requires special attention, approach and assessment. After consulting with experts, we have compiled for you a rating of the most exquisite and expensive champagne bottles of all time. Here they are:

1. Veuve Clicquot - 1893

In July 2008, the owner of antique furniture from the Scottish residence of Torsey Castle, named Chris James, hired a carpenter to open some of the furniture. As a result, he discovered a chest of alcoholic beverages from the late 19th century. The most precious find was the 1893 Veuve Clicquot bottle of champagne, which has been perfectly preserved to this day, including the famous yellow label. This is the rarest champagne in the world, as this bottle is the only one in the world.

2. Perrier-Jou? T - 1825

At a depth of more than 20 meters underground, in the cellars of the famous brand Perrier Jouet, there is a unique collection of champagne, which is not found anywhere else in the world. The fact is that at the beginning of the 19th century, the prestigious champagne house preserved and hid its most exclusive wines in its cellars.

3. Ca. 1820 Juglar

In July 2010, Swedish divers discovered a collection of 168 bottles of champagne on a sunken ship that wrecked in the waters of the Baltic Sea and sank to the bottom to a depth of 55 meters. The cost of one bottle exceeds $ 62,000.

4. Diamant Bleu from the company Haidstick and K. (Diamant Bleu vintage 1907) - 1907

Champagne of this brand was sold at various auctions around the world with an average price of $ 3,700 per bottle. It is highly prized among wine collectors all over the world.

5.Cristal Brut by Louis Raederer - 1990

For many wine connoisseurs, Crystal is the most prestigious cuvée. The history of the creation of this brand is associated with the paranoid moods of Tsar of Russia Alexander II. As a result, this champagne has inherited truly royal traditions, which is manifested in the inaccessibility of this brand for an ordinary person. In 2005, one bottle of Methuselah (a very large wine bottle equal to 8 regular bottles) was sold in New York for $ 18,800.

6. "1928 Krug" by Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy

To understand the prestige of this wine, we will give a couple of information: the exquisite vintage Krug wine of 1928 was described by the head of the Sotheby's auction, Serena Sutcliffe (a well-known London auction company; sells works of ancient and modern art, old books), as “one of the best champagnes when - or produced in the whole history. " These drinks should be drunk from appropriate glasses. In 2009, a standard 0.75 liter bottle from the Krug Collection went under the hammer at auction in Hong Kong for $ 21,200.

7. Perrier Jouet Belle Epoque

The wine producing company Perrier Jouet once brought together 100 of its richest clients from all over the world at the House of Belle Epoque with the aim of creating a super exclusive cuvée especially for these 100 people. As a result, each set of wines was sold for $ 50,000.

8. Krug Clos d'Ambonnay - 1995

For the manufacturing company Krug, this cuvée champagne is an exception to its tradition, as it is created from one grape variety grown in one year and in one vineyard. The series is limited to just 3,000 bottles, each costing less than $ 2,500.

9. Washes Shandon Dom Perignon (Mo? T & Chandon Dom Perignon White Gold)

This huge 3 liter bottle of the prestigious cuvée is most popular with the most extravagant champagne buyers who love to show off in front of their friends and families. The reason is that they ask for as much as 11, 200 thousand dollars for a bottle, is that the champagne is placed in a unique elegant container made of white gold.

10. Paul Roger, Cuvee "Sir Winston Churchill" 1999 (Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill)

The most exquisite cuvee is considered to be "Sir Winston Churchill", presented in 1984 by Paul Roger, especially for the great British statesman and politician. It is surprising that until his death in 1965, this drink was Churchill's favorite and he drank it at every important event. This champagne costs $ 215.

For most of us, champagne is an ordinary alcoholic drink that helps to celebrate a celebration cheerfully and spend time in the company of loved ones. But there are people who consider it a collectible. Wealthy collectors spend tens of thousands of dollars at auctions for rare varieties. In a moment, you will find out how much the most expensive champagne in the world costs.

The prices are shocking. Moreover, people lay out fabulous sums for only one bottle of sparkling wine. Here is a rating of the most expensive champagne.

1. Heidsieck ($ 270,000)- was intended for the Russian Emperor Nicholas II. But as a result of the wreck of the Swedish ship that transported it until 1997, this champagne was at the bottom of the sea. The divers managed to lift only 200 bottles, they were sold at auction to wealthy businessmen from Russia.

2. Pernod-Ricard Perrier-Jouet ($ 50,000) Is the cost of a set of twelve bottles sold together. The buyer has the right to choose the grape variety and store the purchased champagne in the cellars of Pernod-Ricard for 8 months.

3. Dom Perignon White Gold Jeroboam ($ 40,000)- in 2005, one bottle of this champagne in an exclusive design packaging was auctioned for forty thousand dollars. Dom Perignon White is priced at $ 350 in regular packaging.

4. Krug 1928 ($ 21,000)- champagne made from the 1926 harvest (considered one of the most successful years for grapes) and bottled in 1938. It is bought by connoisseurs of elite alcohol of the highest quality.

5.Cristal Brut 1990 ($ 17,000)- in 2005, at the Sotheby’s auction in New York, one six-liter bottle of this champagne was sold for more than seventeen thousand dollars, the collector wished to remain anonymous.

6. Perrier-Jouet ($ 6,000)- made from a mixture of grape varieties of different years, has an exquisite taste with fruity notes. It is for its fruity flavor that collectors value it so much.

7. Krug Clos d'Ambonnay 1995 ($ 3,500) Is another elite representative of the Krug winery. This brand belongs to the Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy holding, hence the high price.

8. Dom Perignon 1966 ($ 1,900)- a rare champagne accidentally discovered in the basements of one of the mansions in Belgium. Collectors all over the world dream of acquiring it.

9. Clos Du Mesnil ($ 750)- is also one of the rare representatives of the Krug wine house. The drink was bottled in 1995.

Historically, France is the birthplace of champagne. Therefore, the phrase French champagne is synonymous with the quality and classic taste of a real sparkling drink.

In the article:

Real French Champagne

Real champagne has certain criteria:

1. The birthplace of the largest producers of champagne in France from time immemorial to this day is the Champagne Province.
2. The following grape varieties are used for real French wines: Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, Chardonnay.
3. Special production technology by the method (Champenoise). This method represents the final fermentation for a long period of time (more than a year) in a vessel from which it will subsequently be poured.

Also, wine from the famous province of France has a certain label, which must indicate:

1. Information about the name of the champagne.
2. Brand name or manufacturer.
3. A certain number is put on each bottle.
4. The presence of any of the following abbreviations: "NM" (wine made from purchased grapes), "CM" (wine produced by a cooperative of winegrowers), "RM" (wine from grapes grown by the manufacturer), "MA" (under the trademark wine is only bottled in bottles).

French champagne production technology

Champagne is produced using a special technology - champagne. The author of this technology is Pierre Perignon. This method is the main process for obtaining champagne from any grape varieties. There are two ways to mature the future drink: the first is classic fermentation followed by bottling, the other is complete fermentation of the noble drink in a darkened bottle.

Champagne production is a complex process. In accordance with the precepts of the first winemakers, the berries, like centuries ago, are harvested by hand, after which they are sent to a special press.

There are several stages of pressing:

1. First spin. Getting better quality juice (cuvée). This juice is used to produce the best sparkling wines. Such champagne has sophistication, freshness and is able to live in a bottle for a long time.
2. Second spin (thai). Juice of the third extraction. Also used in production.
3. After the juice is obtained, primary fermentation takes place. It is carried out in specialized tanks, which include stainless steel. Further, to reduce acidity, secondary fermentation is performed (most often it is malolactic). At the end of the process, the finished champagne is bottled. And the most important thing is the addition of the circulating liquor. It is a liquid based on cane sugar and yeast. This liquid is added to transfer the drink to the next stage - champagne.
4. After that, the most important stage in the production of champagne takes place. The vessel is sealed and placed in the basement. When secondary fermentation occurs, the alcohol concentration increases by 2%. Carbon dioxide is formed and the future sparkling drink is saturated. The formation of sediment indicates the fermentation process. In order for champagne to acquire a unique taste, it must be infused for at least 10 months.

When the required period has passed, each bottle is placed in specialized stands, neck down and an angle of 45 degrees is observed. Every morning you need to turn each bottle 90 degrees. This leads to slow settling of yeast residues. When each bottle is upright (neck pointing down). The sediment moves to the plug and the next stage occurs - opening. The neck is immersed in a cold liquid (-29), and some of the champagne will also freeze. When the bottle is opened, this frozen portion will be removed. The bottles are then resealed. Insert natural bark cork. Before the bottle is closed, the dosage liqueur is added.

Types of French Champagne by Sugar Amount

• « Extra brut". This type of champagne contains the least amount of sugar.
• « Brut". The composition of the drink contains no more than 14g / l of sugar.
• « Sec". Dry type of champagne. Contains 16-34 g / l sugar.
• « Demi-sec". Semi-dry. The amount of sugar is 32-49 g / l. It is considered a dessert drink.
• « Doux". Sweet champagne wine. It is very rare, it contains more than 50 g / l of sugar.

French champagne brands

Expensive French champagne is produced by elite producers. For the production of such wines, only selected wine material is used. Therefore, the taste of expensive champagne is unique. Expensive French sparkling wine brands:

Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin

It is the most popular champagne brand in the world. produced since 1722. Philippe Clicquot is considered the founder. After the death of Philip, his son adopted him, but quickly died. His widow invented a new method of making champagne. With this technology, the drink turned out to be transparent. The bottles were stored with the neck down, this is necessary for collecting the sediment to the neck, after which they freeze and remove the ice plug.

Veuve clicquot ponsardin

The widow always monitored the quality of products, bought more vineyards. For the production of champagne, several types of varieties were used (Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay), their combination gives a unique and harmonious taste.

An individual technology was used to produce a blend that combines Pinot noir and Chardonnay. Thanks to its high achievements, this drink occupies the second position among the giants of world trade today.

This wonderful drink is best served with cheeses, desserts, appetizers or seafood dishes. The average price is 2,500 rubles per bottle.

Moët & Chandon

For more than two hundred years, the company has been producing the best drinks on the world market. It is difficult to overestimate the dignity of the drink, which was served at one time on the dining tables of rabbits and queens of France and England. During the flourishing of cinema and various pop cultures, champagne also took its lead.

Proof of this is that Moet and Chandon have been the official drink of the prestigious Golden Globe Award for over three decades. The taste properties of this champagne are amazing. Serve the drink, like other noble sparkling wines, should be served with a dessert or an appetizer.

Since 2016, the brand has been the official sponsor of the "royal" Formula 1.

Depending on the harvest year, the price varies from 2,000 to 7,000 rubles.

Dom Pérignon

This exclusive drink is named after the man who pioneered the champagne craft Monk Perignon. The company Moet and Chandon is known all over the world and has been making this drink for almost 100 years. For such a long time, the taste has not lost its former glory, only strengthened the names among the most popular brands of champagne on the international market.

The unique taste of this wine brings bliss to anyone who tastes it. Therefore, it can rightfully be considered the most refined and expensive drink. The price ranges from 7,000 - 22,000 rubles per bottle.

Louis Roederer

Another great brand of champagne that originates from the depths of the centuries. In addition to the general recognition of quality in Europe, at one time it was supplied to Russia by the personal order of the emperor. Perhaps the producer Louis Röderer is the only wine producer in the Champagne province who has not sold out to companies and is running a family business.

Since this wine has a soft, deep taste and is produced in small batches, its price starts from 4000 rubles. However, there are specimens with a certain prescription of the harvest, the price of which reaches 35,000 thousand rubles.

Piper-Heidsieck

Favorite drink of Merlin Monroe, and also the official drink of the Oscar. A very famous brand with a history and origins of more than 50 years. The wine has a gorgeous taste, delicate and refined aroma, giving off not only grapes, but also flowers.

Despite the fact that the brand is world famous and well promoted, its cost is quite acceptable for such a drink. A regular bottle of such champagne can be purchased for 1,500 rubles, which cannot be done with an exclusive gift set. Since it is made exclusively to order and its circulation is limited. The affordability of the price for an ordinary bottle is due to the gigantic scale of production, exceeding several million bottles per year.

Mumm (G.H. Mumm)

This drink takes the honorable third place among the largest wine houses in France in terms of sales and supplies. The drink takes its history in the 18th century, in France. Even then, he acquired a unique style - a red ribbon, which became his symbol and makes him recognizable among other drinks.

The history of the drink Mumm is closely connected with sports, therefore it is the "champagne of sport". Sponsoring various extreme sports, wine has long been the official face of Formula 1, but in 2016 passed the baton to Moet. The refined taste of champagne is best conveyed when cooled to 8 degrees and, complemented by desserts and ice cream, will not leave anyone indifferent. The price for one non-gift and non-collectible bottle starts from 2500 rubles.

Today absolutely everyone knows what champagne is. This sparkling drink is perhaps the main decoration of the festive table. A bottle of champagne is invariably opened at the most significant moments of life. Therefore, everyone tries to taste the most expensive champagne at the exciting moment.

Expensive sorts of champagne

First, sometimes sparkling wine is expensive because of the bottle. Quite often, some companies bottle their elite champagne in exclusive containers, often of gold, adorned with diamonds and other jewelry. It is clear that the exact same drink in a regular bottle will cost several times cheaper. Stylish packaging does not affect the taste of champagne, but even a unique bottle with an ordinary drink will find its own buyer.

Secondly, the price for elite champagne becomes higher if it is made using some unusual technology or has a long aging period.

Experts who analyze the wine market and champagne, in particular, say that the best champagne in Russia and in the world is produced by those companies that have a drink in their cellars for different buyers: both expensive and cheap. Producers of only expensive sparkling wine make specialists a little alarmed, because not everyone can taste the contents of an exclusive bottle. But there are also cases when the fabulous price of a bottle of champagne is justified by some historical event.

The most expensive champagne today is called the Shipwrecked 1907 Heidsieck. Each bottle is over a hundred years old. It was this sparkling wine that was supplied to the Russian Empire at the beginning of the twentieth century especially for the royal family. One of the ships with elite alcohol during transportation from Sweden was wrecked and sank. The ship was torpedoed during the First World War by a German submarine. During the attack, the bottles, oddly enough, remained intact. They were discovered by divers only in 1998, during a survey of the sunken Swedish ship Jönköping in the Gulf of Finland. In total, there are 2,000 bottles left in the world, so the price of the most expensive champagne bites. The Shipwrecked 1907 Heidsieck is currently only available in elite Moscow hotels.

This is a truly unique champagne, because the bottles have lain on the seabed for about 80 years. The drink is said to be actually 300 years old and came straight from the Heidsieck vineyards. Therefore, age and history have made sparkling wine a valuable drink with excellent taste and quality. How much does the most expensive champagne cost? The shipwrecked 1907 Heidsieck sold for $ 275,000 per bottle. And this is currently a record price.

The best champagne

The most delicious champagne

In other words, the customer must come to the city where the champagne is produced and personally follow the process of its creation. The client must control the entire production path, constantly advising the masters: from which grapes to squeeze the juice and how much sugar to add to the drink. At the request of the buyer, you can put the desired name and surname on the label. Well, after that the champagne is sent not to the hands of the new owner, but to the cellar - to age by eight months. Only then will the sparkling wine reach its perfection. According to the authors of the idea, the idea turned out to be interesting and unusual, however, for such a unique champagne you will have to pay a lot of money.

By the way, it is Perrier-Jouet that is called another expensive champagne, the price of which is several times higher than the cost of aristocratic wines of popular brands. Perrier-Jouet was manufactured by PernodRicard in 2009. This is a strictly limited edition for the ultra-rich. Expensive champagne was produced in France for export, so that connoisseurs all over the world can be convinced of the quality of the company's products, which is in the shadow of branded factories. The series consisted of only 100 packages, each containing 12 bottles. The luxury drink was shipped to Japan, USA, China, Russia, Great Britain and Switzerland. The cost of the expensive drink is estimated at 1000 euros for a bottle of 0.75 liters. But for the end consumer, the wine cost about 6.5 thousand dollars. But for that kind of money, you can try champagne, which conveys a rich palette of floral and fruity aromas.

The most expensive champagne in the world

It is one of the most expensive brands on the planet. Probably everyone has heard and even possibly tried this. Its taste and aroma are undoubtedly worthy of respect. However, not so long ago, the Cristal company had a big problem with the supply of its drink to Russia. It is possible that the most expensive champagne may stop being supplied to the Russian market. And this is due to the fact that the manufacturer's company had disagreements about the brand name. The Russian company Crystal Royalties, which produces high-quality vodka, said that the name of its foreign colleague, the champagne house Cristal, is similar to its own. And buyers often confuse the two different companies. This causes inconvenience to the Russian distillery. According to the latest data, the Cristal trademark was denied legal protection in Russia.

But the most expensive wine is not necessarily champagne. For example, as the website editors found out, Jerez Massandra 1775 is considered one of the most expensive drinks in Russia. A bottle of this wine was sold for $ 43,500 at Sotheby's in London in 2001. You can read more about the most expensive wines in the world.
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Expensive sparkling wine in 90% of cases is produced in France, in the famous Champagne region. Only this wine has the right to be called champagne, unlike sparkling wine from other regions. Italian Prosecco and Franchacorta, Spanish cava, Crimean sparkling wines, etc. today can act as an alternative to champagne. However, it was the sparkling wine from Champagne that won the fame of both the most refined and the most expensive wine.

What makes up the price of expensive champagne

Several factors affect the cost of expensive champagne.

• Raw materials. The grapes are harvested from very old vines with low yields, only by hand. The cost of the original wine material is dozens of times higher than the cost of grapes, which are used to make, for example, Prosecco.
• Manufacturing technology. For champagne, the traditional champagne method is used ( Méthode champenoise), in which secondary fermentation takes place in the bottle. Other sparkling wines are in most cases produced according to the Sharma method, with aging in huge steel tanks. An exception is the Russian sparkling wine "Abrau Dyurso", also produced according to the traditional champagne method. During the aging process in the cellars, certain conditions are maintained, the bottles are subjected to repeated remuage, and all costs are included in the final cost of the bottle.
• Design and decoration. The most expensive and valuable champagne from French Houses is often bottled in exclusive bottles, the design of which matches the precious contents. Inlaid with gold and precious stones, labels from famous artists - each manufacturer finds its own flavor in the design.
• Brand. The leading Champagne producers have gained their reputation over the centuries, constantly confirming the quality of the wine. Therefore, buying expensive champagne such as Don Perignon, Taittinger, Ruinart and others is a touch of legendary history. Any expensive champagne can be a wonderful gift for the most solemn occasions.

The most expensive champagne in the world

The most expensive champagne is the unique Shipwrecked 1907 Heidsieck. This wine was made at the beginning of the 20th century for the Russian emperor, but during the transportation the ship was wrecked. In 1997, 200 bottles of champagne were taken from the bottom of the sea. This wine is hard to find and can cost up to $ 275,000 per bottle.

Expensive champagne - price in WineStyle

The name of the category speaks for itself - the best of the best are collected here, and the price corresponds to their reputation and quality. Expensive French champagne in WineStyle stores can be purchased at a price of 3021 rubles.