Champagne bottles helping climate protection

Even the Champagne growers feel under obligation to the environment: in mid-March a new standard champagne bottle was introduced, designed to save around 8,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year.

In mid-March the Comité Champagne in Epernay, the Central Association of Champagne Houses and Growers, presented a new standard bottle for the exquisite drink. According to the Association, at 835 grams, the new bottle weighs exactly 65 grams less than the conventional version – and, as a result, is designed to save around 8,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year, which is equivalent to the yearly emissions produced by around 4,000 trucks. The aim of the Central Champagne Association: to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions produced by the winegrowing region by 25 percent by 2020. As early as 2002, Champagne set a precedent in relation to climate protection, and as the first wine-growing region worldwide to do so, produced a climatic assessment of the entire AOC region. The introduction of the lighter Champagne bottle now sets a further milestone on the long path towards reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

Special conditions

Over many years, in cooperation with the glass manufacturers and many Champagne growers and producers, the Comité Champagne conducted tests and market trials. Of course, the newly developed bottle must also guarantee all the quality features and safety standards of the original models. But even the historic character of the bottles previously used should be retained. In this context therefore the new bottle is also resistant to a pressure of around six bar and all the other stresses and strains in the various phases of Champagne production and transport. Bottles used for sparkling wines and champagnes must fulfil special conditions in order to withstand the pressure generated during the second fermentation phase. Practically all Champagne bottles have a conical recess in their base, which not only enables the bottles to be carried more easily, but also primarily improves the bottles’ pressure resistance. According to the Association, the two bottles can hardly be optically distinguished from each other.

Form and size decisive

Ever since it was first produced, Champagne has been available in various bottle sizes. The standard sizes are the 0.75-litre or one-litre bottles. The bottle size also influences the flavour of the contents. The most widely used standard Champagne bottle design is available in all sizes ranging from 0.20 litres to 15 litres and the three glass colours white, green and brown. The white bottles are mainly used for rosé Champagne. To this day the classic, original Champagne bottle design is still used to accommodate very good Champagne vintages and special cuvées. As a rule, the classic design is available in 0.75 and 1.5-litre bottle versions. Depending on the manufacturer, there are however also individual classic Champagne bottle forms. The bottle sizes are not only important in terms of the volume, but also for the durability and quality of the Champagne. The smaller the empty space below the cork in relation to the volume, the better the quality of the Champagne. Many connoisseurs therefore prefer the Magnum bottle (1 litre).
Champagne bottles are in principle only sealed using the best natural corks. As a rule, the cork comes from Spain, Portugal and the Western Mediterranean.

Unique terroir worldwide

In the Champagne region wine has been grown since as early as the fourth century. At that time no one suspected that such an exclusive drink would one day come to symbolize the region. The high-quality wines quickly became very famous also beyond France's borders. The originally inadvertent filling of unmatured wine was developed into an out-and-out art and increasingly refined. Initially the drink was only widespread among the nobility, but then also quickly conquered the world of artists and intellectuals such as Voltaire or Goethe to ultimately also reach the upper classes. Winston Churchill is reported to have said: “In victory we deserve it, in defeat we need it.” And Marilyn Monroe is said to have even bathed in it ...

The unique terroir worldwide, in which the Champagne grapes grow, plays a decisive role in the quality of the drink. The region, in which the grapes are allowed to be cultivated for Champagne, was established on 22 July 1927: an area of around 33,500 hectares, which in the meantime is almost completely covered by vines. The cultivation is subject to strict quality standards. With 7,000 to 8,000 vines per hectare the plant density is much higher than in other wine-growing areas. The highest yield is restricted to 15,500 kilograms of grapes per hectare, in poor years it can however be well below that figure. The harvest is conducted by hand to ensure that the grapes remain undamaged.

330 million bottles a year

The EU trademark law prescribes that no other sparkling wine worldwide is allowed to bear the name Champagne, as the description is directly associated with the origin of the grapes. Up to the early 1990s the expression “méthode champenoise” was permitted on labels for sparkling wine with bottle fermentation, but since then has also been prohibited.
Each year around 2.5 million litres of Champagne are produced. That corresponds to around 330 million bottles. Due to the long fermentation periods in the bottle, according to experts’ estimates, worldwide around 1.5 billion bottles are currently stored in the cellars of manufacturers and commercial companies. The sector’s annual turnover is around 4 billion Euro. In 2007, France remained the largest customer with 55 percent. 25 percent went to the other EU countries, while 15 percent was exported to the rest of the world, including for example the USA with 21.7 million bottles, Japan with 9.2 million or the United Arab Emirates, which accounted for no less than 980,000 bottles.