Champagne Flashcards

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1
Q

What is the oldest champagne house still in production?

A

Ruinart est in 1729 is the oldest sparkling champagne house however Gosset as a still wine house was founded in 1584

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2
Q

Name the 5 oldest major champagne houses?

A

Ruinart
Taittinger
Mort et Chandon
Delamotte
Veuve Cliquot Ponsardin

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3
Q

Who discovered the process of remuage?

A

Remuage or riddling was attributed to the house under control of Madame Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin of Veuve Cliquot at the start of the 19th century

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4
Q

What was the first brut champagne?

A

Pommery “Nature” from Pommery in 1874

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5
Q

What is the only region in France that does not need to print either AOP or AOC on its bottling?

A

Champagne

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6
Q

What is the CIVC in champagne and what are they responsible for?

A

Comité interprofessional du vin champagne is a major group of growers, producers and shippers in the champagne industry. Est 1941 in response to nazi occupation. The group is largerly responsible for negotiation between small growers and large champagne houses. The houses own just over 10% of the vines in champagne

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7
Q

How much of the wine from champagne is grower based?

A

Under 25%

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8
Q

What was the first prestige cuvée?

A

Louis Roederer produced Cristal in 1876 for the Tsar Alexander the 2nd. It came in a flat bottomed lead crystal bottle

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9
Q

What is Téte de cuvée?

A

Tete cuvée is prestige cuvée. These are the top (often vintage) bottling of champagne houses

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10
Q

When was the boarders of champagne expanded and why?

A

In 2009 the boarders of champagne where expanded to accomodate growing demand. Increasing the villages from 319 to 357 that can bottle under the appellation. In 2017 there where 16000 growers and 320 houses.

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11
Q

Name the prestige cuvees for the following houses.
•Billecart salmon
•Bollinger
•Deutz
•Delemont
•Diebolt-Vallois
•Duval-Leroy
•Gosset
•Charles Heidsieck
•Laurent-Perrier
•Moët et Chandon
•G.H.Mumm
•Perrier-Jouet
•Piper-Heidsieck
•Pol Roger
•Pommery
•Ruinart
•Louis Roederer
•Taittinger
•Veuve Cliquot
•Nicolas Feuilatte
•Krug
•Jacques Selosse

A

•Billecart salmon - Nicolas Francois Billecart, Grande Cuvée, Elisabeth Salmon rose

•Bollinger - La Grande Anne

•Deutz - Cuvée William Deutz and Amour de Deutz

•Delemont - Nicolas Belmont? Double check

•Diebolt-Vallois - Fleur de Passion

•Duval-Leroy - Femme de Champagne

•Gosset - Celebris (both nv, vintage extra brut and extra brut rose)

•Charles Heidsieck - Blanc des Millenaires

•Laurent-Perrier - Grand Siècle (typically NV), Alexandra (Vintage rose)

•Moët et Chandon - Dom Perignon

•G.H.Mumm - Cuvée R. Lalou

•Perrier-Jouet - Belle Époque/Fleur de Champagne(USA discontinued. Brut, rose and bdb

•Piper-Heidsieck - Rare

•Pol Roger - Cuvée Winston Churchill

•Pommery - Cuvée Louise

•Louis Roederer - Cristal

•Ruinart - Dom Ruinart

•Taittinger - Comtes de Champagne

•Veuve Cliquot - La Grande Dame (Brut and rose)

•Nicolas Feuilatte - Palmes d’Or(Brut and rose)

•Krug - vintage unnamed

•Jacques Selosse - Substance

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12
Q

What are the top 5 largest champagne houses by sales?

A

Moët et Chandon
Veuve Cliquot
Nicolas Feuillatte
G.H.Mumm
Laurent Perrier

Taittinger

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13
Q

Where is champagne located on the latitude parallels?

A

Between the 48th and and 49th

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14
Q

What is the iconic soil of Champagne and what affect does it have on the region?

A

The Belemnite chalk is the white, porous soil that absorbs heat to protect the grapes over the cold nights and provides excellent drainage in a wet climate. The chalk is made up from fossilised sea life and has a high limestone content connected to deep roots and high acidity.

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15
Q

What is les bleus de ville?

A

Les bleus de ville is French that translates to “the city blues”. It refers to the inorganic and toxic waste incorporated into the Parisian garbage used as compost in champagne before the practice was banned in 1998. Much of this garbage remains especially the shredded remains of the blue bags used to transport it.

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16
Q

What percentage of planting’s does each major grape make up in champagne?

A

Pinot noir 38%
Chardonnay 30%
Pinot Meunier 32%

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17
Q

What does each grape in the champagne blend provide for the wine?

A

Chardonnay - elegance and longevity

Pinot noir - structure, richness, body

Pinot Meunier - youthful fruitiness and approachability

18
Q

What are the minor grapes allowed in champagne AOP bottlings?

A

Pinot Blanc Vrai(true Pinot Blanc)
Arbane
Pinot Gris
Petit Meslier

These collectively make up less than 0.3% of plantings

19
Q

What are the towns where most of the major commercial champagne houses are located?

A

Reims
Epernay
Äy

20
Q

What are the major districts of champagne and what are their most associated grape?

A

Montagne de Reims
Vallie de la Marne
Cote de blancs
Cote de Sezanne
Cote de Bars(the Aube)

21
Q

What is the Echelle des Crus and what kind of wine does it produce?

A

Echelle des Crus or “the ladder of growth” is the ranking of champagne villages. Villages as a whole revive a ranking and not just a site. Each village would receive a score between 80 and 100% and that is how much of the champagne grape price would be payed.

100% - Grand Cru
90-99% - Premier Cru
80-89% - Cru

22
Q

How many grand and premier crus are their in champagne?

A

17 Grand crus
42 Premier crus

23
Q

What are the 2 99% rated premier crus of champagne?

A

Mareuil-sur-Ay in Vallée de la Marne

Tauxières in Montagne de Reims

24
Q

What is blocage and deblocage?

A

Blocage - French for blockage. The act of authorising the % of harvest that must be held as juice for future harvests to ensure blending and quality in future years. Decided by CIVC

Deblocage - the release of these reserve wines

25
Q

What does NM mean in champagne?

A

Negociant manipulant - a house that purchases grapes or base wines from growers. They may own some or none of their own vineyards

26
Q

What does RM mean in champagne?

A

Recoltant Manipulant - Grower producer who makes champagne from their own estate. 95% of grapes must originate from producers own vineyard.

27
Q

What does CM mean in champagne?

A

Cooperative Manipulant - cooperative that produces wine under a single brand

28
Q

What does RC mean in champagne?

A

Recoltant Cooperateur - grower who’s wines are vinified at a cooperative but sells wine under their own label

29
Q

What does SR mean in champagne?

A

Société de Recoltants - A firm, not cooperative, set up by a union of often related growers, who share resources to make wines and collectively market several brands

30
Q

What does ND mean in champagne?

A

Negociant Distributeur - a middle man company that sells but does not produce champagne

31
Q

What does MA mean in champagne?

A

Marque d’Acheteur - buyers on brand, often large supermarket chains or restaurants buying champagne then selling it under their own label

32
Q

What are the 3 classes that extracted grape juice is separated into in champagne?

A

From 4000kg of grapes 2550L of juice may be extracted

Vin de Cuvée - (first 2050L) most prized due to to purity of the juice

Vin de Taille - (The following 500L) usually richer in pigment and tannin. Normally sold off or used as minor proportion as a structural element.

Rebêche - (third extraction) required by law to make up 1 to 10% of the total. Is used for a distillate not Champagne.

33
Q

What is Vin Clairs?

A

Vin Clairs is the high acid base wine used in the methode traditionale to produce sparkling wine. Approximately 11% alcohol

34
Q

What are the sweetness level designations of Champagne and their levels of residual sugar?

A

•Brut Nature/Non Dosé - 0-3g/L, no dosage
•Extra Brut - 0-6g/L
•Brut - 0-12g/L
•Extra Dry - 12-17g/L
•Sec - 17-32g/L
•Demi Sec - 32-50g/L
•Doux - 50+g/L

35
Q

How many twists in a Muselet?

A

6.5 twists in the wire cage that covers a champagne cork

36
Q

What is the minimum aging requirements for champagne?

A

12 months on lees

NV - 15 months in total
Vintage - 36 months in total

37
Q

In what cases is the transfer method allowed in champagne?

A

In bottles smaller than a half bottle and larger than a Jeroboam(3L)

38
Q

What are the names of different sized champagne bottles for- 187ml, 375ml, 750ml, 1.5l, 3l, 4.5l, 6l, 9l, 12l, 15l, 18l?

A

187mL - Piccolo
375mL - Demi
750mL - Bottle
1.5L - Magnum
3L - Jeroboam
4.5L - Rehoboam (discontinued 1983)
6L - Methuselah
9L - Salmanazar
12L - Balthazar
15L - Nebuchadnezzar
18L - Solomon

Sovereign and Primat are larger but are extremely rare.

Melchior is an 18L bottle in Bordeaux

39
Q

What is a champagne special club prestige cuvée?

A

Lacking the massive marketing budgets of large houses, in 1971 a group of growers formed the special club and all released their top cuvée with identical packaging. 27 RM producers are currently in the club and the wines from the group must all,

•be estate bottled
•vintage dated
•top cuvée of each growers style and production

40
Q

What are the still wine appellations of champagne and why kind of wine do they produce?

A

Coteaux Champenois - still red, white and rose wine of the whole appellation

Rose de Riceys(re-ces)- 100% PN rose produced in les riceys, cru village in the Aube

41
Q

What is the continuous method of sparkling wine production?

A

The continual method or Russian continual method was invented by the ussr. Similar to the tank method but the base wine is constantly pumped through a series of interconnected tanks while undergoing secondary fermentation. Triage is constantly added and lees accumulate in the first several tanks offering a higher degree of autolytic flavours than standard tank. Very popular for most german sparkling