Champagne: All you need to know about France’s famed fizz

Champagne: All you need to know about France's famed fizz.

Los Angeles Lakers' stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis reflected on their hard-earned NBA title win and the late Kobe Bryant as they attended a post-game press conference in Orlando on Sunday. James, obviously relieved, smoked a fat cigar as he started his post-game talk with the reporters while Davis said, "There was so much champagne I don't know what I said to my Dad." James’ side beat the Miami Heat in Game 6 of the NBA final to secure the Lakers’ first championship in a decade.

When Marie-Ines Romelle, a Black woman born on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, decided to join the exclusive world of France's Champagne producers, she saw no one who looked like her. Instead of being intimidated, she applied the motto by which she tries to live her life. "You have to dare. When we dare, we manage to push open doors," she said.

The top EU court told a Barcelona tapas bar to drop the term "champanillo" from advertising, ruling that it infringes on legal protections given to champagne.

Champagne has iconic status not only in France, but globally. The sparkling wine, produced exclusively in France's Champagne region, dates back centuries. And though it's still widely associated with luxury, producers today have to strike the delicate balance between mixing the know-how of the past with innovations adapted to the future. The family-run Maison Duval-Leroy is at the forefront of that effort. Its director general Julien Duval-Leroy joined us for Perspective.

Champagne is an AOC wine, and must therefore obligatorily come from a very specific geographic zone, between Reims and Epernay, and be made from 3 grape varieties: Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay. Only vintage Champagnes are made from the same harvest, during exceptionally good years.

Its grapes are twice fermented, which is the same as the process used to make prosecco. However, prosecco is fermented in stainless steel vats and champagne is twice fermented in glass bottles. The result is two very different sparkling wines. Champagne retains a dryness and develops a very complex flavour profile.