Champagne Flashcards
Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne (CIVC)
”- Organization that ensures that Champagne remains a traditional method sparkling wine from grapes grown within the appellation.
- Sets the Harvest date, yeild, min potential alcohol
- If you want to harvest earlier, you have to get special permission (e.g. if botrytis impact is impending)”
Most Common Style of Champagne
White, fully sparkling, non-vintage Brut wine made from a blend of PN, PM, and Chard with medium intensity of aromas and flavors of apple, lemons, biscuit autolytic notes, high acidity, medium alcohol.
Styles of Champagne
"Non-vintage (NV) Vintage Rosé Blanc de Blanc Blanc de Noirs Grand Cru Premier Cru Prestige Cuvée Late Release, Recently Disgorged Wines"
Style - Non-vintage (NV)
Wine blended form a number of vintages and usually follows a set house style; blending smooths out vintage variation creating consistency
Style - Vintage
100% wine comes from the indicated year, usually produced only in the best vintages {sometimes universally declared like ‘02 and ‘08, sometimes not}, can be unique as it doesn’t have to fit the house-style mould
Style - Rosé
Most commonly blending red wine with white {aka rosé d’assemblage}; sometimes skin maceration of black grapes where the wine is ‘bled off’ the skins {aka rosé de saignée}
Style - Blanc de Blancs
White wine made from white grapes only; leaner and more austere in youth but unmatched aging potential
Style - Blanc de Noirs
Whie wine made from black grapes only; fuller body, tend to age more rapidly than B de B’s
Style - Grand Cru
Quality statement; grapes must have been grown within the vineyards belonging to Grand Cru villages
Style - Premier Cru
Quality statement; grapes must have been grown within the vineyards belonging to 1er cru and/or Grand Cru villages
Style - Prestige Cuvée
Top wine in a Champagne producer’s range; strick selection of the best grapes plus meticulous winemaking techniques; vintage or NV
Style - Late release, recently disgorged
Extended ageing on lees and are disgorged just before release onto the market; initally taste more youthful than wines of the same year that were disgorged earlier; age faster after opening so should be drunk upon release {the impact of disgorgement - ingress of oxygen and disturbance of the liquid - is greater to older wines}
History - 1700s
Dom Pérignon produced the first white wine from black grapes, invented the Coquard press, reintroduced the cork stopper, pioneered the use of stronger English glass, and blened wines for quality {assemblage}; ultimately still regarded the fizz and a fault
History - 1800s
”- Controlled second fermemntation in bottle using a measured amount of sugar and yeast to produce known pressure; Madame Clicquot invents pupitres used for riddling {remuage}
- Improvement to riddling enabled disgorgement
- First dry style of Champagne created”
History - 1900s
”- 1927 AOC boundary set
- Échelle des Crus {ladder of growths}, a rating system used to determine grape prices, was introduced and, although pricing is now based on market, this system was used to define the Grand Cru and Premier Cru villages
- Blocage system {reserve wines} introduced which started as an insurance policy but is now used to make NV wines in the consistent house style”
Five Sub Regions
”- Montagne de Reims {close to Epernay}
- Vallée de la Marne {close to Epernay}
- Côte des Blancs {close to Epernay}
- Côte de Sézanne {south of Cd Blancs}
- Côte des Bar {100km south, closer to Chablis than Epernay}”
Climate
”- Cool continental with some influence from the ocean {52 F average annual temp}
- Adequate rain throughout the year
- Climate has warmed over the last 30 years causing harvest dates to be moved forward 18 days, lower acidity, higher potential alcohol, and able to ripen grapes more consistently”
Risks
”- Rain during flowering/fruit-set can reduce yields
- Rain during harvest can cause spread of funal disease and dillution of crop”
Soil
”- Thick layer of chalk atop an old seabed on the Paris Basin
- Most soils are chalky with limestone subsoil and chalk {chalk is highly porous and stores water, providing a steady supply of water even during dry periods}”
Topography
”- 90 - 300m above sea level
- Well draining soils + planting on slopes mean that rainfall provides sufficient water while avoiding water logging”
Montagne de Reims
”- Known for black grapes, some Chardonnay
- High acidity, austere in youth
- Grand Cru villages: Mailly, Verzenay, Verzy, Ambonnay, Bouzy
- More of a wide plateau than a mountain, top sites face north for cooler climate
- Soils: chalky {balance between water retention + drainage}”
Vallée de la Marne
”- Known for Meunier {later bud break, earlier ripening = good for frost prone region}, some Chard
- Fruity
- Grand Cru villages: Aÿ
- Valley which can be frost-prone
- Soils: Clay, marl, sandy”
Côte des Blancs
”- Known for Chardonnay {95%}
- Great intensity and longevity, often austere in youth
- Grand Cru villages: Cramant, Avize, Oger, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger
- Runs at right angles to the V de la Marne due south from Epernay
- Soils: purest form of chalk”
Côte de Sézanne
”- Known for Chardonnay
- Fruitier, riper grapes; rated lower in quality compared to the three regions surrounding Epernay
- Grand Cru villages: N/A
- Continuation of the Côte des Blanc, planted at SE facing slopes
- Soils: Clay, Clay/Silt with some pockets of chalk”
