The history of Champagne has seen the wine evolve from being a pale, pinkish still wine for most of its history to the modern sparkling wine associated with the region. The Romans were the first to plant vineyards in this area of northeast France with the region being cultivated by at least the 5th century, possibly earlier. When Hugh Capet was crowned King of France at the cathedral of Reims, located in the heart of the region, he started a tradition that brought successive monarchs to the region-with the local wine being on prominent display at the coronation banquets. The early wine of the Champagne region was a pale, pinkish wine made from Pinot noir.[1] The Champenois were envious of the reputation of the wines made from their Burgundian neighbors to the south and sought to produces wines of equal acclaim. However the northerly climate of the region gave the Champenois a unique set of challenges in making red wine. At the far extremes of sustainable viticulture, the grapes would struggle to ripen fully and often would have bracing levels of acidity and low sugar levels. The wines would be lighter bodied and more thin than the Burgundy wines they were seeking to out do.[1]
Furthermore, the cold winter temperatures would prematurely halt fermentation in the cellars, leaving dormant yeasts that would awaken in the warmth of spring and start fermenting again.[1] One of the by products of fermentation is the release of carbon dioxide gas which, if the wine is bottled, would be trapped inside the wine, causing intense pressure. The pressure inside the weak, early French wine bottles would often cause the bottles to explode creating havoc in the cellars. If the bottle survived, the wine was found to contain bubbles, something that the early Champenois were horrified to see believing it to be a fault of the wine. Many efforts were taken by Champagne wine makers, most notably the Benedictine monk Dom Pérignon, to rid their wines of the bubbles.[1] While the Champenois and their French clients preferred their Champagne to be pale and still, the British were developing a taste for the unique bubbly wine. The sparkling version of Champagne continued to grow in popularity, especially among the wealthy and royal. Following the death of Louis XIV, the court of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans made the sparkling version of Champagne a favorite among the French nobility. More Champenois wine makers attempted to make their wines sparkle deliberately but there was hindrance in the lack of knowledge over how exactly to control the effervescence and a lack of technology, notably wine bottles strong enough to withstand the pressure.[1]
The 19th century saw these obstacles overcome as the modern Champagne wine industry took form. Advances by the house of Veuve Clicquot in the development of the méthode champenoise made production of sparkling wine on a large scale more financially plausible and many of the famous Champagne houses of today, like Krug, Pommery and Bollinger, were founded during this period.[1] The fortunes of the Champenois and the popularity of Champagne grew till a series of set backs in the early 20th century brought phylloxera, riots among vineyard growers, the Russian Revolution and loss of the lucrative Russia market, Prohibition in the United States and two World Wars which made the vineyards of Champagne a battle field.[1] The modern era however has ushered in a resurgence of popularity of sparkling of Champagne, a wine associated with both luxury and celebration, with sales quadrupling since 1950. Today the region's 86,500 acres (35,000 hectares) produces over 200 millions bottles of Champagne with worldwide demand prompting the French authorities to look into expanding the region's Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) zone to facilitate more production.[1]