CHAMPAGNE Flashcards
What is Champagne?
A protected region and wine style made from grapes grown within the appellation, as ensured by the Comité Interprofessionel du Vin de Champagne CIVC.
What are the different styles of Champagne?
- Non Vintage: blend of numerous vintages to smooth out vintage variations and produce a consistent profile every year
- Vintage: 100% from year indicated, usually from best vintages reflecting the house style and showing characteristics of a part. year
- Rosé: blended red and white wine (rosé d’assemblage), or through black grape maceration and bleeding off (rosé de saignée)
- Blanc de Blancs: white grapes only, leaner and more austere in youth with incredible ageing potential
- Blanc de Noirs: black grapes only, fuller bodied and rapidly ageing
- Grand Cru: quality statement, all grapes must come from Grand Cru villages only
- Premier Cru: quality statement, all grapes must come from Premier Cru and/ or Grand Cru villages
- Prestige Cuvée: top of the range, made of a strict selection of the best grapes coupled with meticulous winemaking. May be vintage or non-vintage
- Late release, recently disgorged: extended lees ageing, disgorged just before release to be consumed immediately.
What are the other appellations found in Champagne?
- AOC Rosé des Riceys - still rosé from Pinot Noir in côte des bar
- AOC Coteaux Champenois - can be red, light bodied, high acidity pale ruby Pinot Noir
Name the 5 subregions of Champagne.
- Montagne de Reims (Epernay)
- Vallée de la Marne (Epernay)
- Côte des blancs (Epernay)
- Côte de Cézanne (South of Côte des blancs)
- Côte des Bar (closer to Chablis)
Describe the climate of Champagne and how it affects grape growing and wine styles.
Cool continental with some oceanic influence.
700 mm/ an rainfall
Low average temperature 11°C => light-bodied acidic wines ideal for trad. sparkling wine production
Moderate sunshine levels and rain spread throughout the year => freshness and crispness
How has climate change (global warming) affected Champagne viticulture and wine styles?
Harvest dates moving forward by 18 days on average, average acidity is lower, potential alc. higher by 0.7%, more consistently ripe grapes and fewer poor vintages.
What topography and soil types make up Champagne, and how do they affect vine growth?
Chalky hillsides in the northern part are ideal for growing high quality grapes suitable to make base wine, esp. Chardonnay.
Chalky soils with limestone subsoils with high water retention, providing steady supply or water in dry periods. 90-300 m above sea level. Well drained soils and plantings on slopes preventing water logging.
Describe Montagne de Reims.
Known for black grapes, especially Grand Cru villages of Aÿ, Mailly, Verzenay, Verzy, Ambonnay and Bouzy. Some north facing villages with cool climate sites, although frost prone. High acidity, austere young wines. Variable soil types but chalky Grand Cru sites with good water retention and drainage.
Describe Montagne de Reims.
Known for black grapes, especially Grand Cru villages of Aÿ, MAilly, Verzenay, Verzy, Ambonnay and Bouzy.
Describe Valée de la Marne.
Frost prone valley => major plantings of Meunier (late bud break and late ripening) on clay, marl and sandy soils. Fruity Meunier and rich Chardonnay used to blend into early-drinking wines.
Describe Côte des Blancs.
Almost exclusively devoted to white grapes. Purest chalk and 95% Chardonnay producing wines with great intensity and longevity, austere in youth. 4 Grand Cru villages: Cramant, Avize, Oger, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger.
Describe Côte de Sézanne.
Mostly clay and clay/silt soils and some chalk, mostly planted with Chardonnay on warmer south-east facing slopes => fruitier, riper grapes rated of lesser quality than other regions’.
Describe Côte des Bar
1/4 Pinot Noir plantings. Kimmeridgian calcareous marls on steep slopes and soils with stony limestone and excellent drainage. Important source of full-flavoured Pinot Noir to blend into non-vintage blends.
What are the main varieties planted in Champagne?
Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay.
What other varieties are planted and blended into niche cuvées?
Pinot Blanc, Arbanne, Petit Meslier and Fromenteau.
Describe Meunier.
A mutation of Pinot Noir. Early budding variety, but later than Pinot Noir. Less prone to spring frost and coulure. Also does well on heavier soils. It ripens earlier than Pinot Noir = very handy when harvest is interrupted by rain. Sensitive to botrytis infection.
Reliable producer or fruity wines and contributes softness to Champagne blends, especially non vintage blends that age on lees for shorter times and drunk on release rather than cellared and bottle aged.
What are the 4 approved training systems in Champagne?
Taille Chablis, Cordon du Royat, Gyot, Valée de la Marne.
Describe Taille Chablis training.
a form of spur pruning. Best for Chardonnay, 3 -4 cordons with up to 5 buds. Large proportion of permanent wood protects against frosts, trained to max 0.6 m above ground to ensure the fruit gets solar energy reflected from soil.
Describe cordon du Royat.
Use for PN and Meunier. A single cordon, spur-pruned and VSP.
Describe Guyot.
Replacement cane system with VSP, single or double permitted.
Describe Vallee de la Marne training.
Similar to Guyot but with more buds.
What are the main hazards and diseases found in Champagne?
- sever winter frost that can kill vines or parts
- spring frost that can destroy buds and reduce yields
- cold and rainy weather that can disrupt flowering and fruit set/ coulure
- downy mildew
- storms and hail in summer
- hot and humid weather in summer, leading to spreading botrytis rapidly
- dagger nematode that can spread fanleaf virus
Sustainable viticulture practices in Champagne.
- reduced pesticides, instead, sexual confusion techniques to control pest population
- increased use of cover crops to enhance biodiversity and manage groundwater on slopes
- lighter weight bottles for non-vintage cuvees to reduce carbon footprint.
Outline Champagne Method steps.
- Whole bunches pressed gradually to ensure high juice quality, low phenolics
- Traditionally 4000 Kg of marc pressed = juice separated into 2 fractions, cuvee (2,050 L) and taille (500L) to avoid over-extraction of phenolics and maintain fruit flavours. Chaptalisation is permitted to produce a wine with min. alc. level of 11%, max. 13% by law. Some oak may be used, usually large format foudres to introduce richness and mouthfeel.
Malo is encouraged during that stage to reduce and soften acidity in final wine. Not always though, depending on style of wine. Assemblage aims to create a wine that is greater than the sum of its parts. It is critical for non vintage wines as it achieves a consistent style from year to year.
