Champagne Flashcards
Champagne Climate
-range from cool-continental to cold
Champagne Geography
- 90 miles Northeast of Paris
- Northernmost classic region
- sitting on top of rich deposits of chalk
- fossilized oyster and bivalve shells
Champagne Grapes
White -Chardonnay Red -Pinot Noir -Pinot Meunier
Chardonnay in Champagne
- in 2012 30% total plantings
- here it never fully ripens
- providing an acidic, extremely light components
- elegance and longevity
Pinot Noir in Champagne
- in 2012 38% of total plantings
- here it doesn’t ripen enough to make quality red wine
- it is used to produce sparkling white wines
- supports the wine’s structure, richness and body
Pinot Meunier in Champagne
- in 2012 32% of total plantings
- heartier in the climate and produces the highest yield
- lends a youthful fruitiness and approachability
Champagne Top Major districts
- Montagne de Reims
- Vallée de la Marne
- Côte des Blancs
- Côte de Sézanne
- Côte des Bars (Aube)
Montagne de Reims
- Pinot noir is prominent grape
- the vineyards are surprisingly divided between south- and north- facing slopes
Vallée de la Marne
-Pinot Meunier is heavily cultivated in the sheltered vineyards of this frost-prone area where it’s tendency to bud late and ripen early is prized by growers
Côte des Blancs
-Chardonnay is the dominant and almost exclusive grape
Côte de Sézanne
-Chardonnay is the dominant grape
Côte des Bars (Aube)
-Pinot Noir is the prominent grape
Méthode Champenoise
it is the production method used in Champagne
Méthode Champenoise: 4 basic stages
- primary fermentation
- secondary fermentation
- riddling
- disgorgement
Champagne: Primary fermentation
- to create a dry and still base wine
- contains no sugar or carbonation
- goal is to create alcohol
- can be aged in oak or stainless-steel tanks
- after aging blending can happen to create the cuvée, or final base, for the sparkling wine
Champagne: secondary fermentation
- happens within the bottle
- liqueur de tirage is added to the bottle
- then bottle is capped of with a clown cap
- used to create carbonation, usually 115 psi
- as yeast eats sugar it creates small amounts of alcohol and carbon dioxide
- yeast will eventually starve and die sinking to the bottom (similar to the sur lie aging)
Liqueur de tirage
- a mixture of an exact amount of yeast and sugar
- used to ignite secondary fermentation in Méthode Champenoise
Riddling
- “remuage”
- it is the means of forcing the yeast down into the neck of the bottle
Pupitres
- riddling racks
- A-frame sandwich boards
- in here the bottles are turned over time until upside down
- quarter twist per day
- by hand riddling
Gyropallet
- piece of equipment used to conduce riddling faster
- bottles stacked upside down and the slowly rocked back and forth
Disgorgement
- “dégorgement”
- when the yeast plug is removed
Steps of Disgorgement
- 1st dip the neck of the bottle in freezing liquid
- cause the wine that surrounds the yeast to freeze, to precent yeast to fall back
- once the bottle is upright the cap is popped off
- the pressure forces the frozen yeast plug violently out of the bottle
- before the carbonation escapes the wine is ‘dosed’, which means liquid is added back to the bottle
- then bottle gets corked
Liqueur d’expedition
- refers to the dosage used in Méthode Champenoise
- it is made up of still wine that will sometimes be blended with pure cane sugar
