Champagne & French Sparkling Wine

Champagne has been a celebratory beverage throughout human history. From ancient times through the Middles Ages, from the royalty of the French and British courts to the everyday celebrations of today, from humble down-to-earth beginnings to zero-gravity champagne enjoyed by astronauts in space. 

Credit: Mumm Champagne

There is a certain mystique and romance about champagne: the ceremonial opening of the bottle, the pop of the cork, those tiny bubbles and frothy foam, the pour into special flutes, the perlage of effervescence ascending in the glass, the toast to a special occasion. No other beverage is like it.

In this course, you will take a deep dive into the beverage of kings and queens and learn all there is to know about champagne and other French sparkling wines. This course covers these lessons:

• • History of Champagne

• • Champagne region location and climate

• • Soils of Champagne

• • Grapes allowed in champagne

• • Wine laws and rules of Champagne

• • Champagne subregions

• • Making champagne
  • Glossary

NOTE: Throughout the course we will differentiate between Champagne the region and champagne the beverage. The region is referred to with first letter capitalized; the beverage is lowercase.