Champagne Flashcards
Which soil type best characterizes Champagne vineyards?
Chalk
What is dosage?
An addition of sugar and wine that determines the wines final sweetness.
What does “RM” indicate on a Champagne bottle?
Recoltant Manipulant - A grower-producer who makes Champagne from estate-grown fruit.
What is the most southerly region in Champagne?
The Aube
What is degorgement?
Expelling the sediment from the bottle after remuage.
What grape accounts for the largest acreage in Champagne?
Pinot Noir
What are the two main types of chalk soils in champagne?
Belemnite (high limestone content) and Micraster (named for an extinct sea urchin)
When was the CIVC formally established?
1941
What is the CIVC?
The regulatory body responsible for mediating relations between growers and producers, oversees the production methods and promotion of Champagne.
What does “NM” indicate on a Champagne bottle?
Negociant Manipulant - A house that purchases grapes and or base wines from growers and other smaller houses.
What are the only two premier cru villages with a 99% echelle ranking?
Mareuil-sur-Ay (Vallee de la Marne) and Tauxieres in Montagne de Reims
What are two still wine appellations of Champagne?
Coteaux Champenois (red, white, rose wines from entire appellation)
Rose de Riceys (100% Pinot noir rose wines produced in Les Riceys, a cru village in the Aube)
Name the seven AOP regions of France for cremant wines produced by the traditional method
Crement de Bordeaux, Crement de Bourgogne, Crement de Loire, Crement de Limoux, Crement de Die, Crement de Jura, Crement de Alsace
What is vin de cuvee?
The first 2,050 liters to be extracted from 4,000 kg of grapes
What is Deblocage?
The release of older vintages of base wine for use in assemblage
What are the only four pruning methods permitted in a vineyard in Champagne?
Cordon de Royat,
Chablis,
Valle de la Marne,
Guyot
What is sur latte?
Champagne bottles kept in a horizontal position
What is bouvreux?
A second crop, generally left on the vine at harvest
What is pointage?
A process in which bottles are shaken to prevent sediment from sticking to the glass
What village was elevated to grand cru status in 1985?
Verzy
Mauzac is the dominant grape in which sparkling wine appellation?
Blanquette de Limoux
What is the oldest Champagne house?
Gosset
Founded in 1584
What is Remuge or Riddling?
A procedure that allows sediment to be easily removed from a bottle during disgorgement
Who is Madame Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin?
The Veuve “widow” Clicquot, assumed control of the house that bears her name after her husband’s death shortly after the turn of the 19th century.
Who is Jean-Antoine Chaptal?
The French chemist and statesman for whom the process of chaptalization is named.
Who put the first Brut champagne on the market?
Pommery in 1874
What year was Champagne enshrined in the new Appellation d’Origine Controlee system?
1936
True or False?
Champagne remains the only AOC/AOP that does not need to include Appellation Controlee (or Protégée) on the label
True
What years did Phylloxera strike Champagne?
1890’s
What does the CIVIC stand for?
Comité Interprofessional du vin de Champagne
What year was the inaugural vintage of Moët et Chandon’s Dom Pérignon?
1921
What is the dominant soil type in Aube?
Clay
What is Les Bleus de ville?
Shreds of blue plastic bags recycled to fertilize vineyards, outlawed in 1998
What are grape varietals are allowed in Champagne besides the obvious ones?
Pinot Blanc Vrai (“true Pinot Blanc, a White from Pinot Noir)
Arbane
Pinot Gris
Petit Meslier
What is the the traditional basket press used in Champagne?
Coquard
What are the five districts of Champagne?
Montagne de Reims (Pinot Noir)
Valle de la Marne (Pinot Meunier)
Côte des Blancs ( Chardonnay)
Vote de Sezanne (Chardonnay)
Cotes des Bars (the Aube) (Pinot Noir)
What is the Echelle de Crus?
The name of the ranking for villages that are awarded grand cru or premier cru status.
What are the highest and lowest rankings on the Echelle de Crus scale?
A maximum of 100 for Grand Cru status
an Echelle of 90-99 were classified as premier crus
A rating below 90 were simply crus
What is the vin de cuvée?
First pressing (the first 2,050 Liters)
What is the vin de taille?
The second pressing (the following 500 Liters)
Usually richer in pigment and tannin, many producers sell off this lesser component
What is rebeche?
The third extraction
Required by law and must comprise 1-10% of the total.
Used for distillate not champagne
What is NM (Negociant Manipulant)?
A house that purchases grapes and or base wines from growers and other small houses.
What is RM (Recoltant Manipulant)?
A grower-producer who makes champagne from estate grown fruit. 95% of the grapes must originate in the producers own vineyards.
What is CM (Cooperative Manipulant)?
A growers co-operative that produces the wine under a single brand.
What is RC (Recoltant Cooperateur)?
A grower who’s grapes are vinified at a co-operative, but sells the wine under his own label.
What is SR (Societe de Recoltants)?
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.
What is ND (Negociant Distributeur)?
A middleman company that distributes Champagne it did not make.
What is MA (Marque d’Acheteur)?
A buyers own brand, often a large supermarket chain or restaurant, that produces Champagne and sells it under its own label.
What is debourbage?
When the juice settles after the pressing
What is bourbes?
The remaining solids that can be removed from the must by racking prior to fermentation
What is vin clairs?
After the must is chaptalized, it will go undergo primary fermentation. Vin Clairs is the resulting high acid base wine
What is liqueur de tirage?
A mixture of still wine, yeasts, sugar, and fining agents that will serve to ignite the second fermentation.
What is the prise de mousse?
The second fermentation
What is a bidule?
A plastic capsule that will serve to capture the sediment during remuage
What is pupitre?
Two large wooden planks fastened together in an upright “A” shape, with sixty angled holes cut into each plank of wood.
(The widows Clicquot’s was involved in the development)
What is a remuer?
Someone who would turn and tilt each bottle over a period of about eight weeks. They are rumored to have handled upwards 70,000 bottles a day.
What is the gyropalette?
A spanish invention, an automated device that holds 504 bottles. It has replaced hand riddling at all the major houses.
What is degorgement a la glace?
The modern method, dipping the neck of the bottle in a freezing brine solution.
What is degorgement a la volee?
An older method of degorgement, without freezing the sediment excess wine
What is dosage, or liqueur d’expedition?
A liquid mixture of sugar syrup and wine that tops off the wines when they are fully fermented to dryness.
Sweetness levels for Champagne
Brut Naturé/Non-Dose: 0-3 grams per liter, no added dosage
Extra Brut: 0-6 grams per liter
Brut: 0-12 grams per liter
Extra Dry: 12-17 grams per liter
Sec: 17-32 grams per liter
Demi-Sec: 32-50 grams per liter
Doux: 50+ grams per liter
What is a muselet?
A wire cage the bottle of Champagne is secured with.
This was invented by Adolphe Jacquesson in 1844
Champagne bottle sizes
Quarter Bottle (Piccolo): 187 ml
Half Bottle (Demi): 375 ml
Bottle: 750 ml
Magnum: 1.5 L (2 bottles)
Jeroboam: 3 L (4 bottles)
Rehoboam (discontinued in 1989): 4.5 L (6 bottles)
Methuselah: 6 L (8 bottles)
Salmanazar: 9 L (12 bottles)
Balthazar: 12 L (16 bottles)
Nebuchadnezzar: 15 L (20 bottles)
Solomon: 18 L (24 bottles) sometimes called a Melchior
Coteaux Champenoise
Covers still red, white, and rose wines from the entire appellation
Rose de Riceys
Reserved for 100% Pino Noir rose wines produced in Les Riceys, a Cru village in the Aube
What are the seven AOP regions for cremant wines produced by the traditional method?
Cremant de Bordeaux
Cremant de Bourgogne
Cremant de Loire
Cremant de Limoux
Cremant de Die
Cremant du Jura
Cremant d’Alsace
What are other appellations producing traditional method sparkling wines labeled mousseux or lightly sparkling wines labeled petillant?
Vouvray
Montlouis-sur-Loire
Saumur
Vin de Savoie
Seyssel
Blanquette de Limoux AOP
Wines from the Languedoc region that are also produced by the traditional method, from a minimum 90% Mauzac, Chardonnay, and Chenin Blanc
In Italy, what are the two best traditional method sparkling wines?
From Lombardy, within the DOCGs of Franciacorta and Oltrepo Pavese Metodo Classico
What two estates lead the way in England for wine made in the traditional method?
Nyetimber and Rideview Estate, both located in Sussex
Who is at the forefront of traditional method “Cap Classique” sparkling wines in South Africa?
Graham Beck
What is Methode Ancestrale?
Also known as the methode rurale, A single fermentation begins in tank, but the wine is transferred to bottles before the process is complete. Liqueur de tirage is unnecessary.
What is the Continuous method/Russian Continuous method?
Developed in the USSR, similar to the tank method, but the base wine is pumped through a series of continuous tanks while undergoing the second fermentation.
What is the traditional method?
Wines made in the fashion of Champagne but produced elsewhere.
Montagne de Reims Grand Cru Villages
Sillery
Puisieulx
Beaumont-Sur-Vesle
Verzenay
Mailly-Champagne
Verzy
Louvois
Bouzy
Ambonnay
Valle de la Marne Grand Cru Villages
Ay
Tours-sur-Marne
Côtes des Blancs Grand Cru Villages
Chouilly
Oiry
Cramant
Avize
Oger
Les Mesnil-sur-Oger
