The Champagne region produces some very good still wines, both red and white. While other quality sparkling wines are produced elsewhere in Europe, using similiar, though not identical methods, European Union law forbids them even to be labelled Méthode Champenoise as in the past. The term 'Traditional Method' (and linguistic variations on that) may be used.
Great-looking knife Gevonovich
Thank you Jack for putting things back to their place! As you say, there is only one champagne, that does not mean that other sparklings are bad, simply they did not grow on that particular ground (in fact there are more than one and a good champagne is a mix of different places- here lies the secret of the masters) nor were they produced with the same grape, or made the way Dom Perignon introduced in 1670. This is what "AOC" guaranties, thus the sparklings made in Georgia (in Asia) or California are just stealing the name.
Will & Jack, the bottle is kept head down and frozen (this is quite recent) to remove tartaric acid, that would make opening scary.
BTW Champagne is not a valley, it is a large plain spreading on five departments and red wine is excellent but quite scarce.
I had a good laugh at the video, seing how carefully the man opens the bottle. Trust me, you don't need sunglasses (why not a safety belt?) just a good saber and the knack.
And do you really think we had to wait for those brave Poles to invent that way to open? In fact he is confusing two things : it is not with a baïonet but with a cavalry officer saber (poor foot soldiers probably never saw a bottle of champagne for their whole life, nor could they afford one) and is a tradition (we say "sabrer le champagne") in the French army (and not only) since I don't know when... second, the Poles serving under Napoleon as Generals had a much better resistance to alcoolic beverages than their French, Belgians, etc counterparts. Thus after a victory somewhere in Prussia, Napoleon told them to take exemple on the Poles who drank a lot and still could behave correctly. Thus came "saoûl comme un Polonais" (drunk as a Pole).
For the fun, ask a Pole to choose between vodka and champagne. I know the answer!
No need for a corkscrew to open a bottle of champagne, the fat cork is much easier and safer to remove by hand.
