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Wine region

Champagne

Champagne is a wine region in France, home to 954 wineries, producing red, rose, white wines, known for Champagne, Sparkling Rosé.

Champagne at a glance: predominantly white; known for Champagne, Sparkling Rosé; wines range from IGP to AOP.
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Champagne's 954 wineries produce predominantly white wine; Chardonnay is the most common single-grape bottling; wines carry AOC, AOP, IGP designation.

About the Champagne region

    Location
    The wine region within the historical province of Champagne in the northeast of France is best known for the production of champagne, the sparkling white wine that bears the region's name.
    Climate
    The high latitude and mean annual temperature of 10 °C (50 °F) creates a difficult environment for wine grapes to fully ripen.
    Soils
    Ancient oceans left behind chalk subsoil deposits when they receded 70 million years ago.

Region facts sourced from Wikipedia contributors, "Champagne wine region", Wikipedia, revision 1361808874, retrieved 2026-07-11. (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International).

Characteristic grapes

Champagne is best known for Champagne, Sparkling Rosé. The most-bottled single-varietal wines here are Chardonnay, Pinot Noir. Champagne's signature grapes often go into blends, so single-grape bottlings skew toward other varieties.

Wine styles from Champagne

Most common single-grape wines

When Champagne wines are made from a single grape (rather than a blend), these are the most common:

Wine profile

Champagne is predominantly a white-wine region (about 83% of its wines) — expect white wines, often from grapes like Chardonnay.

5,154 distinct Champagne wines tracked, spanning the colours and styles below.

  • White4,252 · 83%
  • Rose805 · 16%
  • Red77 · 1%

Types: Sparkling, Still.

Catalogue vintages span 1921 to 2008.

Representative Champagne wines

Selected from stable product-to-region relationships for diversity — not a claim that these are the region's best wines.

  • Chateau de Bligny — Grande Reserve
  • Lallier — Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru
  • Franck Bonville — Brut
  • Brice — AY Brut NV Grand Cru
  • Benoit Dehu — Initiation
  • Gaspard Brochet — Ane PN + CH Assemblage Tome II. Brut Nature
  • Joseph Perrier — Tout de Blanc by Lauren Collin
  • Pierre Callot — Avats Vignes Anciennes Brut Grand Cru

Sub-regions & appellations

Within Champagne, these appellationsA legally-defined smaller growing area within a wine region, often with its own grapes and rules. are smaller growing areas, often with their own character:

  • Coteaux Champenois
  • Le Mesnil-sur-Oger
  • Avize
  • Ay
  • Ambonnay
  • Chouilly
  • Bouzy
  • Cramant
  • Verzenay
  • Verzy
  • Oger
  • Mareuil-sur-Ay

Quality designations

Wines here span quality tiers from everyday IGP to the strictly-controlled AOP — you'll find both accessible and prestige bottles.

  • AOCFrance's protected-origin designation (Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée) — controls where and how a wine is made.
  • AOPThe EU protected-origin label (Appellation d'Origine Protégée) — the modern equivalent of AOC.
  • IGPEU Protected Geographical Indication (Indication Géographique Protégée) — a regional wine label, broader than AOP.

Estate classifications

  • Grand CruA top vineyard/estate ranking — typically the highest quality classification in its region.
  • Premier CruA 'first growth' ranking — a high-quality vineyard or estate, usually just below Grand Cru.

France wine designations

AOC
AOC is the French national controlled-origin recognition for a product whose production stages are carried out using recognised know-how within the same geographical area, giving the product its characteristics.
AOP
An AOP identifies a product whose production stages take place using recognised know-how within the same geographical area, which gives the product its characteristics.
IGP
An IGP identifies a product whose quality, reputation or other characteristics are linked to its geographical origin.
PDO
PDO is the European Union protected designation of origin category.
VdF
Vin de France is the French country-of-origin wording used for wine in the category without a protected geographical indication.

Classifications

2eme Cru Classe
Within the 1855 Sauternes and Barsac classification, 2ème Cru Classé is the third of three sweet-white-wine levels.
3eme Cru Classe
Within the 1855 Bordeaux red-wine classification, 3ème Cru Classé denotes the third of five ranked levels.
4eme Cru Classe
Within the 1855 Bordeaux red-wine classification, 4ème Cru Classé denotes the fourth of five ranked levels.
5eme Cru Classe
Within the 1855 Bordeaux red-wine classification, 5ème Cru Classé denotes the fifth of five ranked levels.
Cru Classe
In the Graves classification, Cru Classé denotes an estate authorised to use the title Grand Cru Classé de Graves; all current classified estates are in Pessac-Léognan.
Grand Cru
In Burgundy, Grand Cru is an AOC category applied to 33 appellations identified by individual Climat names.
Grand Cru Classe
In the current Saint-Émilion classification, Grand Cru Classé is a classified-estate level for red wines of Saint-Émilion; the 2022 edition lists 71 estates at this level.
Premier Cru
In Burgundy, Premier Cru identifies precisely defined individual plots, known as Climats, within certain Village appellations.
Premier Cru Classe
Within the 1855 Sauternes and Barsac classification, Premier Cru Classé is the middle of three sweet-white-wine levels.
Premier Cru Superieur
Within the 1855 Sauternes and Barsac classification, Premier Cru Supérieur is the highest of three sweet-white-wine levels.
Premier Grand Cru Classe A
In the current Saint-Émilion classification, Premier Grand Cru Classé A is the distinguished A level within the Premier Grand Cru Classé category; the 2022 edition lists two estates.
Understanding the wine data
Designation
The protected-origin or administrative category associated with the wine, interpreted using country-aware rules. The same abbreviation can mean different things in different countries, so we only show the meaning approved for that country.
Classification
An additional quality, hierarchy, vineyard, site, ageing or producer classification where supplied. Its meaning varies by country — it is not a universal quality score.
How this ranking is built

Producers are included when WhatDrink has a canonical producer-to-region relationship supported by the catalogue data. Display order may use represented wine count and relationship confidence to provide useful coverage; it is not a ranking of winery quality, prestige, production volume or critical acclaim.

Representative wines are selected from products with a stable relationship to this region, with preference for clear producer identity and a useful spread of producers, wine styles and designations. Inclusion is not an editorial score and does not mean these are the region’s best wines.

Explore Champagne

Ways to browse Champagne — each count is the size of that specific collection (a subset of the 5,154 wines tracked above):

  • White Champagne (3,648)
  • Rose Champagne (748)

How to choose a good Champagne wine

For everyday drinking, IGP bottles are the accessible choice; for something special, AOP signals the region's most tightly-controlled, prestige wines.

FAQs

Where is Champagne?
The wine region within the historical province of Champagne in the northeast of France is best known for the production of champagne , the sparkling white wine that bears the region's name.
Which grapes are associated with Champagne?
Champagne is represented in the WhatDrink region dataset by Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir. Grape coverage reflects the products currently linked to the region and is not a complete legal planting register.
What do the designation terms on Champagne wines mean?
AOC: AOC is the French national controlled-origin recognition for a product whose production stages are carried out using recognised know-how within the same geographical area, giving the product its characteristics. AOP: An AOP identifies a product whose production stages take place using recognised know-how within the same geographical area, which gives the product its characteristics. IGP: An IGP identifies a product whose quality, reputation or other characteristics are linked to its geographical origin. These terms describe geographical or regulatory categories; they do not by themselves guarantee that one producer or bottle is better than another.
How are wineries and producers selected for Champagne?
Producers are included when WhatDrink has a canonical producer-to-region relationship supported by the catalogue data. Display order may use represented wine count and relationship confidence to provide useful coverage; it is not a ranking of winery quality, prestige, production volume or critical acclaim.
How are representative Champagne wines selected?
Representative wines are selected from products with a stable relationship to this region, with preference for clear producer identity and a useful spread of producers, wine styles and designations. Inclusion is not an editorial score and does not mean these are the region’s best wines.
How much wine data does WhatDrink have for Champagne?
The current regional catalogue contains 5159 linked wines from 954 linked producers. Counts describe WhatDrink catalogue coverage and may change as source data is refreshed.

Regional data is aggregated from wine directory and product-catalogue sources; grape and style associations reflect characteristic varieties and may vary by producer and vintage.