Choose a Course ▼
  • Wine
  •     — How Wine and Food work together
  •     — Italian Wines
  •     — Wines around the world
  •     — The Glasses
  •     — Whine making
  •     — What is Wine
  • Credenza
  •     — Newspapers and magazines
  •     — Flower Arrangement Design
  •     — Welcome basket
  •     — Credenza, What it is and what it is used for
  • Roles and Responsibilities of VIP Flight Attendant
  •     — Pre Flight Duties
  •     — Pets on Board
  •     — Kids on Board
  •     — Professional language
  •     — Professional protocol
  •     — Inflight duties
  •     — VIP FA Role
  •     — Professional Categories of Flight Attendants (FA)
  •     — Oshibori
  •     — Post Flight duties
  • THE WORLD of CAFFEE & TEA
  •     — Afternoon Tea
  •     — Coffee
  • SILVER SERVICE & TABLE SETTING
  •     — Cutlery Classification
  •     — Table Setting
  •     — Silver Service
  • CATERING & MENU
  •     — Menu
  •     — Catering
  • PRIVATE AVIATION
  •     — Fleet - Types of private Jets
  •     — Commercial aviation and Corporate aviation
  •     — Introduction in Private Aviation
  • GOURMET FOOD
  •     — Cheese
  •     — Fois Gras
  •     — Caviar
  •     — Salmon
  • BEVERAGE
  •     — Italian Wines
  •     — Wines Around the World
  •     — Red Wine
  •     — White Wine
  •     — Champagne
  •     — Wine
  •     — Cocktails
  •     — Champagne-based Cocktails or Sparkling Cocktails
  •     — Digestive Liqueurs
  • Basic Vocabulary and Expressions
BEVERAGE, Champagne
Understanding the Classification Labels for proper presentation 
SEE ALL LESSONS

Always introduce the champagne by holding the bottle with the label facing the guest and give a detail description

There’s a wide variety of Champagne wines. It isn’t always easy to find your way around! A quick overview of a few notions that will help you better understand the wine that’s in the bottle.

Dosage - it all depends on how much dosage liqueur (a mixture of sugar and wine) is added to the Champagne at the final stage of its elaboration. The quantity of liqueur used for the dosage is set according to the type of wine you want to obtain.

Although 90% of Champagne wines are "Brut", there are a number of sweeter ones.

Here's how Champagne wines are classified depending on sugar levels:

a) ZERO DOSAGE - up to 1 g/liter

b) BRUTE  NATURE or PAS  DOSE NATURE- a wine where the liqueur d'expedition is created. We don't add sugar, but we top up the bottle. Up to 3g/litre

c) EXTRA BRUT - up to 6g of sugar per litre.

d) BRUT - up to 12 g/litre.

e) EXTRA DRY - between 12 and 17 g/liter

f) SEC/DRY - between 17 and 32 g/litre

g) DEMI SEC/ SEMI DRY - between 32 and 50 g/litre

h) DOUX / SWEET - exceeding 50 g/ litre 

Grape variety- when they are mentioned, the grape varieties in the blend provide indications of the Champagne’s profile. As regards chardonnay, we’d be looking for liveliness, minerality and notes of citrus fruits and white flowers. With pinot noir, it would be body, structure, red fruits and such flowers as violets and roses. As for meunier, it provides fruity notes, roundness, and notes of apples, pears and yellow fruits. 

The designation Blanc de Blancs indicates that the Champagne is only made from white grape varieties, mainly Chardonnay, while a Blanc de Noirs is made from red grape varieties alone, Pinot Noir and/or Meunier.

Vintage - a Champagne can be vintage or otherwise. When a harvest is truly outstanding, the winemaker can decide to create a cuvée from that year’s grapes alone. 

Brand- Some iconic names are references in themselves. Through the choices they make in their vineyard and wine cellar, each producer develops their own recognisable style, their signature, to be found in each bottle. 

Labels - Some labels and notices may indicate how the Champagne was made: High Environmental Value, Organic, etc.