History of Champagne - Development of The Modern Champagne Industry

Development of The Modern Champagne Industry

The roots of the modern Champagne industry were laid during the Industrial Revolution which saw vast leaps in understanding the method of making sparkling wine and improvements in the technology needed to make production more financially feasible. The French scientist Jean-Antoine Chaptal popularized the understanding that Champagne sparkled because it was sealed in a bottle before fermentation was complete. He further noted that it was the sugar in the wine that facilitated this fermentation process resulting in bubbles. Along with the bubbles came intense pressure from the carbon dioxide gas that could result in the bottles exploding. The disturbance caused by one bottle's disintegration could cause a chain reaction, with it being routine for cellars to lose 20–90% of their bottles to instability. The British method of coal fired glassmaking contributed to stronger wine bottles being available that could withstand the pressure of the carbon dioxide gas better. In the 1830s, a pharmacist from Châlons-sur-Marne named André François outlined formulas with precise measurements of how much sugar is needed to make a wine sparkle without producing more pressure than the wine bottle could withstand. Corking machines and improved corks made sealing the wine easier with less opportunity for the precious gas to seep out of the bottle.

An important advance made in the early 19th century was developing a technique to remove the sediment caused by dead yeast after the secondary fermentation. Early Champagne producers chose not to remove the sediment, which left the wine cloudy and prone to off flavors if the sediment was shaken up or poured into the glass. At royal courts and banquets, servers would pour new serving of Champagne into a fresh glass to avoid the residue of sediment left over in the previous glass. To remove the sediments, some producers would decant the wine by pouring it a new bottle. However this process caused a considerable amount of carbon dioxide gas to escape and the resulting wine was noticeably less bubbly. With the aid of her cellar master, Madame Clicquot of the Champagne house Veuve Cliquot developed the process of riddling in the early 19th century to solve the problem of sediments without losing much gas. This technique, which involves collecting the sediment in the neck of the bottle and using the pressure of the wine to eject just the sediment, led to the popularity of adding sugar-sweet dosage to replace the wine lost during riddling. The Russians, in particular, were fans of very sweet Champagne and Veuve Cliquot was able to tailor the sweetness level of their wines for their customers by the composition of their dosage. At first the house of Veuve Cliquot tried to keep this technique of riddling a secret but by the late 1820s the secret was out and Champagne houses were settling up production lines for riddling. In 1854, the French national railroad system linked Reims with the rest of the country, including its coastal ports. From that point on, Champagne was connected to its worldwide market and sales grew by leaps and bounds. During the 1850s production was averaging 20 million bottles a year.