CHAMPAGNE, a French wine made chiefly in the department of the Marne, in the former province of Champagne. It is com monly divided into river and mountain wines (vies de la rivilre de Manse, and vises de la montagne de Rheims), the former being for the most part white, the latter red. Not all of these wines are sparkling or frothing, though by the name "champagne" is generally under stood such wine as has been subjected to an imperfect fermentation, and contains a quantity of carbonic acid gas, generated during the in sensible fermentation in the bottle, this gas being disengaged on removing the pressure by which it was detained in solution. The briskest wines are not always the best; they are, of course, the most defective in true vinous quality, and the small portion of alcohol which they contain immediately escapes from the froth as it rises on the surface, carrying with it the aroma, and leaving the liquor that remains in the glass nearly vapid. Hence the still or the creaming or slightly sparkling Champagne wines (vies cremants or demi mousseux) are more highly valued by con noisseurs and bring greater prices than the full-frothing wines (rifts grand-mousseux).
By icing these wines before they are used the tendency to effervesce is in some degree re but when they are kept cool this pre caution is unnecessary. In general, it may be observed that the vineyards on the banks of the Marne supply the choicest wines, and that the quality degenerates in proportion as they recede from the river. Among the white wines of Champagne the first rank is generally as signed to those of Sillery, the produce of the vineyards of Verzenay, Mailli, Raumont, etc. Of the Rheims Mountain wines those of Verzi, Verzenay, Mailli, Bouzy and Saint Basle are most esteemed; but the Clos Saint Thierry fur nishes perhaps the finest red champagne. The soil of the principal vineyards throughout Champagne is composed of a loose marl rest ing on chalk and sometimes mixed with flints. For the manufacture of the white Champagne wines black are now generally used. In making the red wines the grapes are trodden before they are introduced into the vat. Cham pagne, when well made, and placed in cool cellars, will retain its good qualities from 10 to 20 years. See WINE AND WINE MAKING.