Wine · Medium strength

Champagne Brut

Brioche, citrus, and a million tiny celebrations per glass.

How to order it: Grower Champagne over big houses for character per dollar.

The story

The monks of Champagne spent centuries fighting the bubbles; the world spent the next three demanding them. Dom Pérignon, contrary to legend, did not invent sparkling wine — he was trying to prevent refermentation, not toast with it — but the region's chalk soils, marginal climate, and trio of grapes proved unrepeatable. The brut style, far drier than the syrupy champagnes once poured for the Russian court, emerged in the late nineteenth century to suit British palates, and it conquered everything. Today the name is defended with near-military vigilance: only wine from Champagne, made by slow second fermentation in the bottle, gets to wear it. Everything else is merely sparkling.

Adjacent pours