Champagne - The region where Louis 16 was heading - and perhaps your next destination

Champagne

The Champagne region, centered on the towns of Reims (Rheims) and Epernay, is the most northern of France's major vineyards. Unlike most of the best French wines, champagnes are blended in order to produce either non vintage champagnes (blended from different years) or vintage champagne, blended from wines of the same harvest. Consequently, since the quality of the champagne ultimately depends on a balance between the quality of the grapes and the skill of the blenders, Champagnes are also ranked and promoted by producer, not by any more finely delimited appellation . Possibly the most highly rated of blends is Krug; other well appreciated brands include Mumm, Bollinger and Heidsieck, not to mention the very well known brands of Moët & Chandon and Taittinger.
The distinct taste and purity of real champagne is certainly due to the chalky soil and the continental growing conditions that abound in the Champagne region. Several of the main French Champagne producers have set up branches and vineyards in California, but in spite of bringing over their best master-blenders, have never been able to achieve quite the same result.
Although many people imagine that Champagnes are all white, this is not quite true. Rosé champagnes also exist.
Note:    Champagnes are by no means the only good sparkling wines from France; and while it is true to say that the top champagnes are inimitable, it is far from true to imagine that  you have to buy a real Champagne if you want a good French sparkling wine. Some other excellent sparkling wines are produced in Burgundy (Crémant de Bourgogne), the Jura (Crémant du Jura)  and the Loire valley (Vouvray and others) and other areas, using the same techniques (formerly called "méthode champenoise" - an expression now banned from use in other regions) and a similar but not identical mix of grape varieties, notably Chardonnay. Only the most experienced connaisseurs can distinguish a middling Champagne from a good crémant or Vouvray... yet non-Champagne sparkling wines sell at a fraction of the price of equivalent quality wines from Champagne.
  Finally, please, the correct way to open a champagne cork is to ease it very gently out of the bottle. It is not to imitate a victorious Formula One racing driver and spray the contents of the bottle all over one's guests.