Champagne

Question 1

The Monk Dom Perignon

Answer 1

lasting contributions to modern Champagne lie in the techniques of assemblage (blending) and viticulture, despite the persistent myth that anoints him as the inventor of sparkling winemaking

Pérignon and his contemporaries endeavored to lessen the probability of refermentation, rather than encourage it.

Question 2

Mousseux

Answer 2

implies effervesence

Question 3

Oldest sparkling Champagne house

Answer 3

Ruinart, founded in 1729

Question 4

Madame Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin

Answer 4

the Veuve (“widow”) Clicquot

She pioneered the process of remuage, or riddling—a procedure that allows sediment to be easily removed from a bottle during dégorgement (disgorgement)

Question 5

First Brut Champagne

Answer 5

Pommery Nature, put on the market in 1874

Question 6

CIVC

Answer 6

Formed in 1941

Comité interprofessionnel du vin de Champagne

Remains a powerful force in the complex mediation between the large Champagne houses and the numerous smaller growers from whom they source grapes

Question 7

Year of vintage of Moët et Chandon’s “Dom Pérignon,”

Answer 7

1921, first Prestige Cuvee released, a premier bottling often carrying a vintage date

Question 8

What is “bouvreux”

Answer 8

Rain often interrupts flowering, resulting in a bouvreux, or second crop, that rarely ripens and is left on the vine.

Question 9

Soils in Champagne

Answer 9

Belemnite chalk, derived from the fossilized remains of millions of extinct cephalopods, has a high limestone content, which allows vine roots to dig deeply and is linked to increased acidity.

Question 10

Micraster chalk

Answer 10

A second layer of micraster chalk, named for an extinct sea urchin, characterizes the valley vineyards.

Thin layer of clay and sand cover chalk in Champagne, clay is the dominant soil in the south in Aube (good for Pinot Noir)

Question 11

Three Grapes of Champagne

Answer 11

Pinot Noir, Pinot Menuier, Chardonnay

In 2018, Pinot Noir accounted for 38% of total plantings, Chardonnay accounted for 31%, and Meunier accounted for 31%.

Question 12

The Five Champagne districts

Answer 12

Montagne de Reims- PN
Vallée de la Marne- PM
Côte des Blancs- Chardonnay
Côte de Sézanne- Chardonnay
Côte des Bar in the Aube département- PN

Question 13

Échelle de Crus

Answer 13

A % system by which the villages of Champagne are rated, from 80 to 100. Administered by the CIVC

Question 14

Classifications by Echelle de Crus

Answer 14

Villages that achieved the maximum échelle (“scale”) of 100 were classified as grands crus; villages that achieved an échelle of 90 through 99 were classified as premier cru.

Mareuil-sur-Ay in the Vallée de la Marne and Tauxières in Montagne de Reims were the only premier cru villages with a 99% ranking.

Villages with a rating below 90 were simply crus.

Question 15

What happened to Echelle de Crus

Answer 15

Abolished in the 2000’s, but Premier and Grand Crus retained their ranking and may use them on the label

Question 16

NM (Négociant Manipulant)

Answer 16

A house that purchases grapes and or base wines from growers and other smaller houses. Some NM houses own a significant portion of their own vineyards; others own none at all.

Question 17

RM (Récoltant Manipulant)

Answer 17

A grower-producer who makes Champagne from estate-grown fruit. 95% of the grapes must originate in the producer’s own vineyards.

Question 18

CM (Coopérative Manipulant)

Answer 18

A growers’ co-operative that produces the wine under a single brand.

Question 19

RC (Récoltant Coopérateur)

Answer 19

A grower whose grapes are vinified at a co-operative, but whose wines are sold under the grower’s own label.

Question 20

SR (Société de Récoltants)

Answer 20

A firm, not a co-operative, set up by a union of often related growers, who share resources to make their wines and collectively market several brands.

Question 21

ND (Négociant Distributeur)

Answer 21

A middleman company that distributes Champagne it did not make.

Question 22

MA (Marque d’Acheteur)

Answer 22

buyer’s own brand, often a large supermarket chain or restaurant, that purchases Champagne and sells it under its own label.

Question 23

Vin de Cuvée

Answer 23

First press juice, first 2,050 liters

Question 24

Vin de Taille

Answer 24

Second press juice, next 500 liters, usually richer in pigment and tannin

Question 25

rebêche

Answer 25

Third press, 1-10% of the juice, used for distillate

Question 26

vins clairs

Answer 26

High acid base wines

Question 27

liqueur de tirage

Answer 27

a mixture of still wine, yeasts, sugar, and fining agents that will serve to ignite the second fermentation

Question 28

prise de mousse

Answer 28

Second fermentation of Champagne- carbon dioxide creates a pressure inside the bottle of five to six atmospheres

Question 29

Lees aging for NV Champagne

Answer 29

12 months minimum

Question 30

Pupitre

Answer 30

Two large wooden planks fastened together in an upright “A” shape, with sixty angled holes cut into each plank of wood. A remuer would fractionally turn and tilt each bottle over a period of about eight weeks, slowly inverting the bottles with the neck pointing downward

Question 31

Gyropalette

Answer 31

an automated device that holds 504 bottles, and performs the remuage operation

Question 32

sur pointe

Answer 32

After remuage, bottles remain upside down with lees in the neck for a brief period.

Bollinger’s “RD” (“Récemment Dégorgé”) is kept sur pointe for a number of years, and only disgorged upon order

Question 33

dégorgement à la glace

Answer 33

involves dipping the neck of the bottle in a freezing brine solution. The bottle can then be turned upright. The force of internal pressure will expel the semi-frozen sediment (and a small portion of wine) as the crown cap is removed

Question 34

liqueur d’expédition

Answer 34

Dosage, a liquid mixture of sugar syrup and wine

Question 35

muselet

Answer 35

Wire cage, After the addition of dosage, the bottle is secured with a cork and six half-twists of a muselet, or wire cage

Question 36

Bottle aging after dosage

Answer 36

Non-vintage styles must remain in the cellar for a total minimum of 15 months (including the period of lees aging), whereas vintage wines require 36 months in the cellar

Question 37

Non-Vintage (NV)

Answer 37

Generally brut in style, the NV cuvée represents a house’s signature style, and the blender’s job is to ensure its consistency from year to year. Non-vintage Champagne makes up at least three-quarters of the market

Question 38

Vintage Champagne

Answer 38

100% of the blend must come from the stated vintage, yet a maximum 80% of a year’s harvest may be sold as vintage Champagne.
The better houses declare a vintage only in exceptional years. These are usually brut in style, and good examples can age for a decade or more

Question 39

Blanc de Blancs

Answer 39

Only white grapes are permitted, but they are not always sourced from the Côte des Blancs. They may be vintage-dated or NV. The Blanc de Blancs category represents some of Champagne’s most ageworthy bottlings; while austere and often steely in youth, better examples develop an intense bouquet with maturity

Question 40

Blanc de Noirs

Answer 40

White wine produced solely from black grapes. The wine usually displays richness, intensity, and weight, although it can lack the supreme elegance and finesse of Blanc de Blancs.

Question 41

Prestige Cuvée (Tête de Cuvée)

Answer 41

Usually the finest and most expensive bottling that a house offers, the prestige cuvée is typically (but not always) vintage-dated and aged for a number of years prior to release.

Prestige Cuvées are usually only released in superior vintages, and may undergo more traditional vinification procedures, such as barrel fermentation, riddling by hand, and cork-finishing during the second fermentation.

Question 42

Single Vineyard Champagne

Answer 42

Single Vineyard wines are not required to carry a vintage date, although they invariably do, and the style represents a stark departure from the blending philosophy of the region

Question 43

Clos de Goisses

Answer 43

Philipponnat’s Single Vineyard Champagne

Question 44

Club Trésors

Answer 44

Special Club Prestige Cuvée: The “Special Club” concept originated in 1971, with a dozen grower-producers. Lacking the marketing budgets of larger houses, these producers banded together to promote their prestige cuvées through identical packaging. The Club Trésors comprises 28 RM producers as members. The Special Club bottlings are estate-bottled, vintage-dated wines that represent the pinnacle of each individual grower’s style and production.

Question 45

Club Trésors Producers

Answer 45

Champagne Salmon Chaumuzy
Champagne Sanchez Le Guedard
Champagne Paul Bara
Champagne Forget Chemin

Question 46

Rosé Champagne

Answer 46

Vintage, NV, and prestige cuvées may also be produced in pink versions. The traditional saignée method, in which the wine gains its hue through extended skin contact, is less common than blending. Champagne is the only AOP in France that allows a rosé to be produced by blending red and white wine

Question 47

Coteaux Champenois

Answer 47

Still wines in the Champagne region, red, white, rose

Question 48

8 Cremant AOP Regions in France for sparkling wines produced by the traditional method

Answer 48

Crémant de Bordeaux, Crémant de Bourgogne, Crémant de Loire, Crémant de Limoux, Crémant de Die, Crémant du Jura, Crémant d’Alsace, and Vin de Savoie, which produces crémant under the designation Crémant de Savoie.

Question 49

Other appellations producing sparkling wines in France

Answer 49

Vouvray, Montlouis-sur-Loire, and Saumur in the Loire; and Seyssel

Question 50

mousseux

Answer 50

means fully sparkling

Question 51

pétillant

Answer 51

lightly sparkling

Question 52

Limoux AOP

Answer 52

Blanquette de Limoux wines from the Limoux AOP in the Languedoc region are also produced by the traditional method, from a minimum 90% Mauzac that may be blended with Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc

Question 53

Best Italian Traditional Method Sparkling wines

Answer 53

In Italy, the best traditional method sparkling wines are produced in Lombardy, within the DOCGs of Franciacorta and Oltrepò Pavese Metodo Classico.

Question 54

Graham Beck

Answer 54

Graham Beck is at the forefront of traditional method “Cap Classique” sparkling wines in South Africa.

Question 55

Méthode Ancestrale

Answer 55

oldest and most rudimentary of sparkling winemaking procedures. A single fermentation begins in tank, but the wine is transferred to bottles before the process is complete—liqueur de tirage is unnecessary.

Yeasts continue to ferment the remaining sugars in the bottle, giving the wine its sparkle. The residual sweetness of the finished wines varies by appellation, but dosage is not allowed.

Question 56

Charmat Process/Cuve Close/Tank Method

Answer 56

After the wine undergoes primary fermentation, liqueur de tirage is added to the wine, provoking a second fermentation, which occurs in a pressurized enamel-lined tank, or autoclave, over a matter of days. Once the appropriate pressure is reached (usually 5 atmospheres), the wine is chilled to arrest fermentation

Question 57

Continuous Method/Russian Continuous Method

Answer 57

Developed in the USSR, this method is similar to the tank method, but the base wine is pumped through a series of interconnected (continuous) tanks while undergoing the second fermentation. Liqueur de tirage is constantly added to the wine, and lees accumulate in the first several tanks, offering a higher degree of autolyzed flavors than the standard tank method. The majority of German Sekt is produced by either the tank method or the continuous method.

Question 58

Labelling for Sparkling Wine made outside of Champagne

Answer 58

The term “Champagne” is regulated by the EU. If a wine is made outside of the region of
Champagne in the same style it may be labeled “méthode traditionelle” or “méthode
classique.” Many wines made in a Champagne-style will fall into the “cremant” AOPs of
their respective regions.