Champagne the wine was bottled before the initial fermentation had finished. Champagne did not use the "" until the 19th century, about 200 years after Merret documented the process. The 19th century saw an exponential growth in Champagne production, going from a regional production of 300,000 bottles a year in 1800 to 20 million bottles in 1850. In 2007, Champagne sales hit an all-time record of 338.7 million bottles. In the 19th century Champagne was noticeably sweeter than the Champagnes of today. The trend towards drier Champagne began when Perrier-Jouët decided not to sweeten his 1846 vintage before exporting it to
Reserve wine youngest vintage, before this blended base wine undergoes second fermentation in bottle to become sparkling Champagne. This aged still wine is called reserve wine, and this practice is meant to ensure that a certain Champagne house's non-vintage product has a consistent style over the years. Since the reserve wine is used in the production process, it is never bottled and sold as it is, but the proportion and age of the reserve wine is often seen as one of the indicators of the quality of a Champagne and the producer's level of ambition. In the Austrian Districtus Austriae Controllatus (DAC)