Your Guide to Champagne: Everything You Actually Need to Know

Ever looked at a Champagne label and thought, "WTF does ANY of this mean....and does it even matter?" NM, RM, Brut, Extra Brut, Blanc de Blancs - babe, what is all of this?

Don't stress. Here's your straight, TCE-style cheat sheet to decoding Champagne and its several terms. 

(Bookmark this guide - you'll come back to it every time you're choosing Champagne) 

How Sweet Are You?
(AKA: Which Champagne sugar level is your style?)

• Doux - Very sweet. Dessert in a glass. 
  
  
• Demi-Sec - Sweet. Great with cake or if you like your bubbles lush.
  
  
• Sec - Off-dry. A little sweet, very crowd-friendly.
  
  
• Extra Dry / Extra Sec - Confusing name, medium-dry. Still has a touch of sweetness.
  
  
• Brut - Dry. The most common style - crisp, balanced, universally loved.
  
  
• Extra Brut - Very dry. Think sharp, clean, fresh.
  
  
• Sauvage / Brut Nature) - Bone dry. Zero sugar. For people who like their champagne serious. 

What’s Your Style?
(AKA: How your Champagne is built and blended)

• NV - Non-Vintage - A blend of multiple years, so it tastes the same every time. This is 90% of what we drink - reliable, consistent, crowd-pleasing.
  
  
• Vintage - Made from grapes all picked in ONE exceptional year's harvest. The top champagne houses only release vintage wines in exceptional years.
  
  
• Blanc de Blancs - Champagne made ONLY from white grapes (almost always Chardonnay). Fresh, citrusy, refined.
  
  
• Blanc de Noirs - Made only from red grapes (almost always Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier). Richer, fuller, more intense.
  
  
• Tête de Cuvée / Prestige Cuvée - The best of the best from a Champagne house where no expense is spared. Think Dom Pérignon, Louis Roederer, Möet et Chandon - often very expensive, vintage, and aged before release.
  
  
• Single Vineyard - All grapes come from ONE vineyard plot of land with no blending. Often vintage.
  
  
• Rosé - Pink Champagne created by allowing skin contact with the red grapes or by adding red wine to the blend. Often the most expensive wine of the house.
  
  
• Grand Cru - The top 17 villages in Champagne. If you see "Grand Cru", it's a special bottle.
  
  
• Premier Cru - 44 very high-quality villages. Slightly below Grand Cru, but still excellent. 

How Do The Bubbles Get There?
(AKA: Why you Champagne isn't just sparkling wine)

Here's the unsexy truth, not all bubbles are created equal. Some are refined and elegant that feel like satin on your tongue, and some are............ basically soft drink in disguise. 

In the end, remember this: If you want the wine to taste like classic Champagne, it must be made using the Champagne Method. If you want a light, fruity glass of bubbles, then the Charmat method is OK. A simple summary of the production styles is below.

• Méthode Champenoise - This is the Champagne method. Bubbles form in the bottle during a second fermentation. The best sparkling wine in the world is made this way.
  
  
• Méthode Ancestrale (Méthode Rurale) - The OG method where the first fermentation takes place in a tank, then the wine is transferred to the bottle before the process is complete.
  
  
• Charmat Method (Cuvee Close/Tank Method) - The first and second fermentation takes place in a pressure-controlled tank. Prosecco and Asti are created this way.
  
  
• Continuous Method (Russian Continuous Method): Similar to Charmat, but with the wine pumped continuously through multiple tanks. A bit less common, but you'll see it in some Eastern European sparkling.
  
  
• Carbonation - Literally injection of carbon dioxide (CO₂) The McDonald's Coke of sparkling wine! 

How Big Are You?
(AKA: Champagne sizes explained...because what even is "Jeroboam")

• Quarter Bottle (Piccolo) - 187 ml
  One glass - cute for a drink on the go.
  
  
• Half Bottle - 375 ml
  Perfect for date nights or "I just need one glass" lies to ourselves.
  
  
• Bottle - 750 ml
  The classic and universal size.
  
  
• Magnum - 1.5 L (2 Bottles)
  The "I'm not showing off, but I absolutely am" bottle. 
  
  
• Jeroboam - 3L (4 Bottles)
  The F1 podium bottle - built for big wins and champagne sprays. 
  
  
• Rehoboam - 4.5L (6 Bottles)
  Discontinued in 1989, but iconic if you ever see one.
  
  
• Methuselah - 6 L (8 Bottles)
  The bottle you bring when you're celebrating your birthday or a promotion,
  
  
• Salmanazar - 9L (12 Bottles)
  What you bring out for Christmas lunch with your whole extended family.
  
  
• Balthazar  - 12L (16 Bottles)
  The chaotic skyscrapper of Champagne
  
  
• Nebuchadnezzar - 15L (20 Bottles)
  Basically, a fire extinguisher full of Champagne.
  
  
• Solomon - 18L (24 Bottles)
  You do not need this....... but also, imagine?

*Some of these sizes are extremely rare, which is why you never see them outside celebrity weddings and Formula 1 podiums.

Who Actually Made Your Champagne?
(AKA: What those tiny letters on the bottle mean)

• NM (Négociant Manipulant) - A champagne house that buys grapes and base wines from growers and other smaller houses to make their Champagne. Most big names (Veuve Clicquot, Taittinger, Mumm, etc.) are NM
  
  
• RM (Récoltant Manipulant) - A grower who uses their own grapes (at least 95%) to make Champagne. 
  
  
• CM (Coopérative Manipulant) - A group of growers that pool their grapes and make Champagne under one shared brand.
  
  
• RC (Récoltant Coopérateur) - A grower who gives their grapes to a CM to vinify, but sells their Champagne under their own label. 
  
  
• SR (Société de Récoltants) - A group of growers who join forces to make and market Champagne together, usually under multiple brands.
  
  
• ND (Négociant Distributeur) - A middleman who buys finished Champagne and simply distributes it. 
  
  
• MA (Marque D’Acheteur) - A buyer's private label (like a restaurant, hotel, or supermarket) that buys Champagne made for them by a producer.

There you have it - Champagne demystified. Now you can walk into any bottle shop and talk bubbles like a pro (or at least fake it convincingly).