Champagne Flashcards
1
Q
What are the five main production sub-regions of Champagne?
A
- Montagnes de Reims
- Vallée de la Marne
- Côte des Blancs
- Côte de Sézanne
- Côte des Bar
2
Q
Why is the Grand Cru or Premier Cru designation in champagne controversial?
A
- Because it’s for the whole village, not individual (and invariably different plots/soils, aspects/ quality)
- If all grapes come from one GC village can label village eg “Grand Cru Cramant”
- If mixture of villages, but all GC can label “Grand Cru”
- But because of diff standards within villages and need to create large volumes, champagne houses focus on blended wines and emphasise vintage/prestige cuvées rather than villages (in contrast to Burgundy)
3
Q
What do the letters CM on a bottle of champagne mean?
A
- Coopérative de Manipulation
- “Made by a cooperative” eg Nicholas Feuillate
- A wine cooperative that makes wine from all its members (growers) grapes pooled together
- The individual grower may or may not have some involvement in the wine-making process. (NB differs from an SR (Societé de Recoltants) which is where growers share the same winery and always have significant involvement in the wine-making process)
4
Q
Describe pressing in méthode champenoise (traditional method)
A
- Aim to extract high quality, low phenolics (no extraction of tannins from skin/seeds) to make white from black grapes
- Traditionally 4000kgs - a marc - loaded onto basket press
- Still used, as are pneumatic and other moderns types
- Juice separated strictly into two fractions
- The cuvée (first 2050L/4000kgs) = free run juice & first pressing (100% for the best champagnes)
- The taille (next 500L, no more, to limit phenolics)
5
Q
What is champagne?
A
- A protected region and wine style
- a traditional method sparkling wine made from grapes grown within the appellation
- most champagne is white, fully sparkling, NV Brut from blend of PN, Meunier & Chardonnay
- typically med intense aromas/flavours of green apple and lemon with biscuit autolytic notes, high acidity, med alcohol and dry finish. Good to outstanding, mid to premium. Vintage & prestige cuvées command super-premium prices
6
Q
Hazards, Pests and Diseases in Champagne
A
- Winter frost (can kill (parts of) vines
- Spring frosts destroy new buds, reduce yields
- Cold & wet weather in June disrupts flowering/fruit set, reducing yields/ripe & unripe grapes together
- Downy mildew, reduces crop levels
- Violent storms/hail in summer, damge grapes & vines
- Hot, humid sun after rain - rapid spread of botrytis
- Generally, downy & powdery mildew always a risk
- Dagger nematode spreading fanleaf virus also common
7
Q
Topography & Soils of champagne
A
- Paris basin old seabed, thick chalk.
- Best base wines made on chalky hillsides of N champagne. Chalk esp good for chardonnay.
- Most common soil is chalky soil with limestone and chalk subsoil. Chalk highly porous and stores water - steady supply if dry period
- Most vineyards 90-300m on well-drained slopes: avoids waterlogging.
8
Q
How does a chef de cave achieve a constant style of NV champagne year after year?
A
- Blending (assemblage)
- Large champagne houses have > 100 base wines/ reserve wines. (Also reduces risk of no wine in poor vintage)
- Reserve wines important to style:
- 10-15% of last 1 or 2 vintages is typical large brands
- 30-40% older wine for complexity premium brands
- How stored affects reserves
- eg reductively in stainless steel for large brands
- old oak to add mildly oxidative notes
- Bollinger stores reserves in magnums
- Keeping a “perpetual reserve”
9
Q
What is the current demand for champagne?
A
- Domestic 50% of champagne low av bottle price, but rising
- 2017 exports by vol: UK, USA, Japan, Germany, Belgium
- USA/Japan highest value, av price pb.
- UK highest vol, lowest price pb (of top 10 markets)
- (WSTA 2019 UK figures drop of quarter, but av bt price £47)
10
Q
Key developments of champagne in early 20th C
A
- Current AOC boundary (Champagne vineyard area) 1927
- Critical in Comité Champagne’s later defence of the Geographical Indication “Champagne only comes from Champagne”
-
échelles des crus (“ladder of growths”) rating system introduced to determine grape prices. (now market does)
- Underlies what became GC and 1erC villages
- ‘blocage’ system (later called reserve wines)
- initially set aside some young wine as insurance
- now enables blending for consistent NV wines
- adds depth & complexity, raised standard of NV
11
Q
Location and regions of Champagne
A
- N-E France just south of 50th parallel, E of Paris
- Large: 150km N-S, 120km E-W
- 5 sub regions. 3 around Epernay in N
- Montagne de Reims (to E of Epernay)
- Vallée de la Marne (W to slight E Epernay)
- Cote de Blancs (to S)
- Cote de Sézanne (S of Cote de Blancs)
- Cotes de Bar (100km S, closer to Chablis than Epernay)
12
Q
Planting regulations in champagne
A
- Inter-row spacing 0.9 - max 1.5m, max total spacing 2.5m
- Therefore av density 8000 vines p/H : competition between vines optimises quality
- Sparkling wine grapes don’t need ripe tannins or concentrated flavours, so can be grown at high yields
13
Q
Key developments of champagne in 19th Century
A
- Controlled 2nd ferment using measured amount of sugar and yeast to create known pressure
- Madame (Veuve - ‘widow’) Cliquot (d 1866) developed riddling (remuage) using pupitres
- Disgorgement by dipping bottle neck in icy brine, enabling rapid production of clear wine on large scale
- Late 19th dry style of champagne for English alongside sweet style
14
Q
Champagne sales?
A
- 300m bottles (2017)
- 50% domestic, 50% exports
- Houses 73% of all sales, 88% of all exports
- Co-operatives small vol, evenly spilt domestic/export but Nicolas Feuillatte 3rd biggest brand on its own
- Most growers wine sold in home market
15
Q
Why are brioche flavours more prominent in champagne than in warmer climates?
A
Because there is a lower level of primary fruit due to Champagne’s cool climate
16
Q
Describe (Petit) Meunier (old name called by Comité Champagne)
A
- Mutation of Pinot, white hairs on leaves “floury” (meunier = “miller”)
- Buds early, but later than PN, so less prone to spring frosts/coulure in cool Vallée de la Marne, where it dominates
- Does better on heavier clay soils than C or PN.
- Ripens earlier than PN - good if rain at harvest
- Sensitive to botrytis infection
- Reliable fruity wine, adds softness to blend: important for NV wines aged shorter on lees and drunk on release
- Less used in long-aged wines (though Krug like it and growers Egly-Ouriet)
17
Q
Who is the chef de cave?
A
- The master blender
- Aims to create a wine greater than the sum of its parts
- Combines diff vineyards, varieties and vintages
- Must predict the development of wine over time before second fementation and maturation has even begun
18
Q
List 9 champagne styles
A
- NV - consistent through blending
- Vintage - 100% from year. Only “best” years, but varies by producer
- Rosé i) <span>us.blend red & white wine “rosé d’assemblage”</span> ii) <span>skin maceration & “bled off” = rosé de saignée</span>
- Blanc de Blancs - lean in youth, brilliantly age to biscuits/hazelnuts
- Blanc de Noirs - fuller bodied than BdB but age more quickly
- Grand Cru - all grapes from Grand Cru Villages
- Premier Cru - all grapes from Premier Cru /Grand Cru Villages
- Prestige Cuvée - us top wines, best grapes, nv or v. Some specialise in range eg Krug
- Late Release/ Recently disgorged - Extended lees ageing, ready to drink from release. Age quicker after disgorgement. eg Bollinger RD, Dom Perignons’ P2
19
Q
Options in first fermentation in Champagne
A
- Temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks or
- Large oak foudres (increasing in quality producers, cos adds textural richness & mouthfeel)
- Large selection of yeasts
- Temperature usually 15-20C (warmer than trad white, as no need for primary fruit)
- Many (but not all) encourage malo to reduce/soften acidity in final wine (and less risk of malo in bottle) though if warmer harvest it’s less of an issue
20
Q
Describe champagnes route to market
A
- Many conglomerates and large houses own /run distribution systems, localised in diff markets as way of controlling price/ limiting grey (unauthorised) market trading
- Some use agents to distribute
- Grower champagnes often use specialist agents who champion grower champagnes to spec shops/ private clients and hospitality sector.
- Growers often visit key markets in person
21
Q
What do the letters RM on a bottle of champagne mean?
A
- Récoltant-Manipulant aka Grower Champagne
- “Grower Maker” makes wine from his own grapes (up to 5% can be bought in)
- Eg Agrapart & Fils
- nb also includes co-operative members who take their bottles to be disgorged at the co-op
22
Q
What can a producer do if natural sugar levels in the juice in champagne are too low?
A
- Chaptalisation (adding sucrose) is permitted to produce a wine with a min alcohol level of 11%
- EU law: final alcohol level no more than 13%
23
Q
What is the échelles des crus and what is its relevance today?
A
Early 20th C rating system of villages to determine grape prices. Historically Comité Champagne fixed prices and then percentage paid to village:
- 17 Grand Cru Villages 100% price
- 44 Premier Cru Villages 90-99%
- 257 other villages 80-89%
System ended under pressure from EU. Prices now determined by market (and biggest buyer, Moet et Chandon sets trend), but designation of villages continues and GC grapes still priciest.
24
Q
How is rosé champagne made?
A
- Usually by blending small proportion of Pinot Noir and/or Pinot Meunier with white base wines to achieve desired colour/flavour
- A few (eg Laurent Perrier) make like still rosé eg skin contact with black grapes.
25
Q
Cost of production of champagne?
A
- Broadly: grapes 50%, total production 30% and commercialisation 20%
- Grapes expensive: €6.10p/kg (1.2kg per 75cl bottle)
- GC/ Prem C grapes more expensive
- Vintage more expensive (Gc/ 1erC grapes, can’t release for 3 yrs): tough on cash flow for new businesses.
- Rosé champagne costlier to produce (as uses red base wine - lower yields to reach ripeness, concentration needed)
- oak for ageing/ fermentation also adds to costs
26
Q
Climate of Champagne
A
- Cool continental, some oceanic influence (so rain throughout year - 700mm - sufficient)
- Low av annual temp 11C (not us. enough for still wines) gives light bodied, high acid - ideal for sparkling
- Moderate sunshine, even rain, gives freshness/ crispness key to Champagne’s style
- Global warming: over last 30yrs harvest date forward 18 days, pot alcohol + 0.7%, av acidity dropped. As a cool region means more consistently ripe grapes/ fewer poor vintages
27
Q
What is a “perpetual reserve”?
A
- A blend of younger and older wines used as a reserve wine to add complexity in champagne
- A proportion is drawn off each year for the blend, and replaced by young wine
28
Q
How is champagne harvested?
A
- Champagne AOC regulations specify whole-bunch pressing: grapes are hand-picked - preserve fruit quality
- Avoids crushing/oxidation/microbial spoilage
- Us takes 3 weeks, employs 100,000 people (travelling workforce, return each yr, paid by quality not just weight)
- Grapes collected in perforated bins 50kg capacity
- 1900 pressing centres throughout region keep transportation times to minimum
29
Q
What grapes can make champagne?
A
- Pinot Noir (2017 38%)
- Meunier (31%)
- Chardonnay (30% - rising: higher price/demand, yields better)
- Pinot Blanc (<1%)
- Arbanne (<1%)
- Petit Meslier (<1%)
- Fromenteau (<1%)
NB Laherte’s Les 7 niche cuvée uses all 7
30
Q
What are the maturation rules of champagne?
A
- NV min 15 mths in producer’s cellar, at least 12 mths lees
- Vintage min 3 yrs after tirage & at least 12 mths lees
- In practice most vintage aged much longer on lees; as believed a long slow, second fermentation makes for finer champagne and smaller bubbles.
31
Q
Relationship between houses and cooperatives?
A
- coops sell base wine to large houses
- houses buying more directly from growers/ via agents
- coops diversifying: making & promoting more own champagne
- Comité Champagne tries to manage the relationship(s) often via the one or more organisations which represent them all
32
Q
What was Dom Perignon’s role in Champagne?
A
- Dom Pierre Pérignon (d.1715)
- first white from black grapes
- invented Coquard press (still widely used)
- started blending (assemblage) grapes from diff areas to make superior wine
- re-introduced cork stopper into France
- pioneered use of stronger English glass
- But he considered fizziness a fault and his wines were only slightly fizzy
33
Q
What does the liqueur d’expédition do?
A
- The amount of sugar in the liqueur d’expédition determines the sweetness of the champagne
- Adds flavour:
- Young wine in the liqueur d’expédition can give light fresh flavours
- Aged reserve wine can provide aromas of baked apple, dried fruit
- Corrects colour in rosé
34
Q
What are the differences between the cuvée and the taille?
A
-
Cuvée
- first 2050L/4000kgs free run & first press
- rich in acids for wines great finesse and ageing pot
-
Taille
- Lower acidity, more colour pigments & phenolics
- Good to add expression in blend for wines to be drunk young, so more taille in NV
35
Q
What is the Comité Champagne’s approach to sustainable viticulture?
A
- One of the first regions to promote it at a regional level
- Reduced pesticides - sexual confusion increasingly used
- Soil protection via
- management of groundwater on slopes
- increased cover cropping to promote biodiversity
- In winery - water management schemes, recycling waste & by-products
- 2010 60g lighter bottle for NV cuvées estimate annual CO2 reduction of 8000 metric tonnes. (Many producers use heavier, unique bottles for vintage/prestige cuvées)
36
Q
Is champagne the only wine made in Champagne?
A
- No, 2:
- AOC Rosé des Riceys (tiny still rose in Cote des Bar)
- AOC Coteaux Champenois (stlll red, white or rose, tends to be light, pale ruby, high acid rosé)
37
Q
What do the letters NM on a bottle of champagne mean?
A
- Négociant-Manipulant (often shortened to Négociant)
- “merchant-maker” who buys wine, must or grapes (rather than grow them) to make champagne on their own premises and sell it under their own name.
- eg most of the large Houses and brands Bollinger, Veuve Clicquot, Moet etc
38
Q
How did champagne come about?
A
- Historically fermentation of pink, pinot noir, still wine would halt in cold winters, but if bottled, could recommence causing slightly fizzy wine.
- Popular with English.
- In mid 17th C, English glass enabled bottles to withstand pressure.
39
Q
What must be displayed on a champagne cork?
A
the name “Champagne” and the vintage if appropriate
40
Q
What do the letters MA on a bottle of champagne mean?
A
- Marque d’ Acheteur (or Marque Auxiliaire)
- a “brand name” owned by someone else unrelated to producer or grower.
- The champagne is made and labelled in champagne; and the producer’s name appears on the bottle, but teh barnd name is owned by the client.
- eg M&S Champagne, Berry Bros Champagne
41
Q
What are the four training systems approved in Champagne since 1938?
A
- Taille Chablis - best for chardonnay. Cane pruning but with lots of permanent wood (cordons) to protect against frosts. Max 5 cordons (us. 3-4) old wood. Each cordon has spur of up to 5 buds. Spurs grown annually, trained to max 0.6m to ensure fruit gets reflected solar (heat and light) from chalk.
- Cordon du Royat - PN & Meunier. Single cordon, spur-pruned, VSP.
- Guyot - Single or double replacement cane pruned with VSP: permitted for all varieties in lesser-rated vineyards
- Vallée de la Marne - like Guyot (cane-pruned) but more buds per cane. On decline.
42
Q
How is the Champagne harvest date set?
A
- The Comité Champagne sets dates & yields - to prevent over-cropping (dilution), maintain quality, price, regulates supply and demand
- Takes grape samples from 450 control plots from time of véraison, measures rate of colour change, av weight, sugar concentration, acidity, incidence of botrytis.
- Determine dates, yields & min required pot alcohol
- Harvest dates are only start: producers can start later
- Or, by derogation (exemption) can apply to INAO (institut national de’origine et de la qualité) for village to pick earlier eg botrytis threat & need to pick below level set
43
Q
How long can lees ageing last?
A
- Many years, but no effect after 10 years
- Keeping wine on lees protects against oxidation and helps make “late disgorged” champagnes (higher prices, but of course higher cost of longer ageing)
44
Q
Describe the structure of the Champagne industry
A
- 16000 growers (who own 90% of vineyards)
- 320 champagne houses (who own 10% vineyards)
- Growers sell to champagne houses or co-operatives
- Brokers also important in finding wine for houses
- Houses sell most of the champagne
- Top 5 champagne groups = 2/3 all sales in value
- Biggest: LVML owns Moet & Chandon, Dom Perignon, Veuve Clicquot, Ruinart & Krug
- No 2: Vranken Pommery Monopole owns Vranken, Pommery, Monopole Heidsieck, Charles Lafitte, Bissinger
45
Q
Why does it require expertise and experience to achieve the desired colour in rosé champagne
A
Because yeast absorbs colour pigments in both fermentations
46
Q
Name 5 trends in the champagne market
A
- Brut Nature (in spec shops/restaurants)
- Dry - Brut Nature & Extra Brut doubled exports 2011-2016 (also grew in domestic hospitality)
- Launches of sweet styles eg Moet & Chandon Ice Imperial demi-sec drink over ice/cocktails promoted to upmarket travel sector
- Rosé generally. Up from 3% to 10% since 2000. Both Moet & Veuve C recently invested heavily in production/marketing.
- Super-premium single-vineyard champagnes. (Not new Philipponnat’s Clos des Goisses since 1935, Krug’s Clos de Mesnil since 1989, but higher prices now)
47
Q
What will you never see on a champagne label?
A
Champagne AC (even though it is a single, very large wine region)
48
Q
How does Champagne insure against poor vintages?
A
- By setting aside a proportion of the crop as reserve wines in good vintages
- Comité Champagne manages levels of reserve stocks
- EU Law controls upper yields at 15,500 kilos/ha (eg 2006 and 2007) - part put into reserve.
49
Q
How is champagne supply controlled?
A
- Comité Champagne takes a/c of
- current stocks
- world demand
- progress of current season, then in late July
- sets max yields (kilos/hectare) for coming harvest in 2 parts
- i) grape yields for base wines
- ii) allowance to go into reserve
- Av yield over last 10 yr = 10,500 kils/ha
- If producer needs more wine, can take it from reserves
- Ongoing review as to possibility of extending perimeter of land available to make champagne
50
Q
Montagnes de Reims
A
- More a wide plateau than a mountain
- mainly black grapes, some good chard.
- 6 Grand Crus villages on chalky soil:
- Ambonnay, Ay, Bouzy, Mailly, Verzenay, Verzy
- Some villages face N - excellent cool-climate, but frost prone
- High acid, austere young.
51
Q
Vallée de la Marne
A
- Frost prone valley
- So late bud/early ripe Meunier dominates, esp E of Epernay on clay, marl & sand.
- Fruity Meunier & rich (slightly riper) Chardonnay to blend for early drinking wines
52
Q
Côte des Blancs
A
- Runs right angle to Marne valley
- 95% Chardonnay (hence name)
- Long, intense, austere in youth
- Purest chalk.
- 4 Grand Crus
- Cramant, Avize, Oger, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger
53
Q
Côte de Sézanne
A
- continuation South of Cote de Blancs,
- but mostly clay and silt rather than chalk
- most Chardonnay on warmer SE facing slopes
- riper grapes (lower quality)
54
Q
Cote de Bar
A
- Côte des Bar 25% of champagne
- Mainly Pinot Noir, which ripens well on steep slopes
- Kimmeridgian calcareous marl (like Chablis & Sancerre), stony, limestone - excellent drainage
- V important source of fruity Pinot Noir for NV blends, mainly bought by merchants in Northern Champagne
55
Q
What was ‘blocage”
A
- ‘blocage’ system (later called reserve wines)
- initially set aside some young wine as insurance
- now enables blending for consistent NV wines
- adds depth & complexity, raised standard of NV
56
Q
When was the current AOC boundary of Champagne set and why was it particularly important?
A
- 1927
- Critical in Comité Champagne’s later defence of the Geographical Indication “Champagne only comes from Champagne”
