International Champagne Day 🍾

Although some people call any sparkling wine champagne, the truth is that only wines produced in the wine region of France called Champagne and it has to be produced using the rules of the appellation. It’s also a wine that can only legally use one of eight different predetermined grape varieties to be able to be called Champagne. That makes true Champagne quite a bit different than sparkling wines produced elsewhere. How different? The best way to find out is to try out some Champagne for yourself. And you might as well do it on December 31st—a day that is known not only as New Year’s Eve but also National Champagne Day. When is National Champagne Day? This year (2021) December 31 (Friday) Next year (2022) December 31 (Saturday) Last year (2020) December 31 (Thursday) The Long History Of Champagne The area that is now known as the Champagne region of France was first used as vineyards by the ancient Romans. The Romans thought that this area looked quite like Campania—the area located south of Rome, and in fact, Champagne comes from the Latin word Campania. For hundreds of years, the Romans used the area for growing grapes for wine and for making wine. If you fast forward to the Middle Ages, you will see that there were several different shades of wines were made in this area—from light red to pale pink. Eventually, a rivalry developed between the Burgundian area and Champagne area. The wine manufacturers from the Champagne region were trying to equal the Burgundy wines. Unfortunately, the cold winters in the region prevented the fermentation of the wines they had stored in their cellars. When the weather warmed again in the spring, the yeast in the wine would once again become active causing some of the bottles to break. The bottles that didn’t break, however, contained an effervescent wine. While there are some conflicting origin stories over who precisely ended up inventing this type of wine, one thing is for certain: sparkling wines were enjoyed by the King of France, Hugh Capet, during the 18th century.