The Champagne Houses
The Champagne Vineyard
The Champagne vineyards produce annually around 320 million bottles of which 56% are sold in France via 15,000 brand names comprising négociants, cooperatives and growers. Consequently it’s almost impossible to know them all, even if the five leading names comprise every three bottles out of ten sold. Nearly all these producers make a variety of different wines or cuvées including some excellent quality rosé champagnes as well as wines such as Blanc de Blancs or Vintage wines. Among the areas, the Montagne de Reims, the Cotes des Blancs, the Marne and Aube Valleys and Vitry have specificities that lend individual characteristics to Champagne’s rich diversity of styles. Champagne is probably the most complex wine in the world, being made from up to 80 different constituent parts.