A local grocery store is having a sale on several varieties of grapes, one of which they label as "Champagne Grapes", the name brand being "Munchkins". They are very sweet, but very tiny - like little miniature grapes. Are these a type of grape traditionally used for making champagne?
I thought the term was for either a sparkling wine, or from the Champagne region of France, rather than wine from any particular type of grape.
Woods
To be called Champagne, the wine has to come from the Champagne region in France. The sparkling also has to be made by the traditional method.
There is also a smaller production of non sparkling wine made in Champagne: it bears the origin label "Champagne" but it specifies "tranquille" i.e. quiet or non-sparkling on the label.
The only white grape permitted is Chardonnay. Permitted red grapes are Pinot noir and Pinot Meunier. Neither of those is very tiny. And neither is unusually sweet.
Doing a search for "Champagne grapes" on google gave the following, among some other hits:
In vino veritas
Roger
NO. These are not the grapes used to make Champagne.
Champagne is a sparkling wine made in the Champagne region of France and is made from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir Grapes. There is a third grape allowed, but little is used.
Most sparkling wines made in other areas/countries also use Chardonnay and/or Pinot Nior grapes. Other grapes are also used (Muscat, Syrah, etc.) but not these grapes sold in grocery stores as Champagne grapes.
I tried some of these this weekend and while they are pretty sweet for table grapes, they don't come close to the sugar content in wine grapes and they really don't have enough flavor.
Andy
Thanks. I've never tasted a wine grape, but I didn't think that the grape determined the name of the beverage - it just threw me that they'd call a grape by that name.
Woods
OooOOOOOO! Saw lots of these (well, they looked pretty damned much the same, and we were on the Greek Ionian island of Zakynthos ('Zante'), so I'm presuming they're the ones) on honeymoon a couple weeks back, growing as well as being harvested/laid on tarps in the sun. Locals were making wine from them ('village wine', as it was referred to). The wine was very pale for a red, rather thin, and more than a little rough! Made better from cordial.........got the old jollies up though! Heheheheh.....).
Am I likely right in my presumption? (My wife thinks as I do after seeing the pictures on the link). - Thanks for the link at any rate.
Shaun aRe
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