Champagne Flashcards
What part of France is Champagne located in?
The north-east, just south of the 50th parallel and directly east of Paris
What is the CIVC? What does it do?
The Comité Interprofessionel du Vin du Champagne, also known as the Comité Champagne. It is responsible for ensuring that wines labelled ‘Champagne’ are made in the traditional method from grapes grown in the Champagne region.
What are the styles of Champagne?
Non-vintage Vintage Rosé Blanc de Blancs Blanc de Noirs Grand Cru Premier Cru Prestige Cuvée Late Release/Recently Disgorged
In what style is the majority of Champagne produced in?
White, non-vintage, fully sparkling, and brut from the three principle Champagne varieties
What are the three main Champagne varieties? Are they black or white grapes?
Pinot Noir (black)
Meunier (black)
Chardonnay (white)
What is the typical character of the majority of Champagne?
Brut
High acid
Medium alcohol
Medium intensity green apple, lemon, and biscuity autolytic notes
What is the typical quality and pricing of Champagne?
Good to outstanding quality
Mid- to premium priced
What is the usual pricing for Vintage and Prestige Cuvée Champagne?
Premium and super premium
Describe non-vintage Champagne.
A fully sparkling wine made from multiple vintages that adheres to a house style.
Why is non-vintage Champagne a viable product? What does it allow Champagne producers to achieve?
The blending of multiple vintages of wine helps to smooth out vintage variation, allowing Champagne houses to deliver a product with consistent aroma and flavor components. The consistency offers market security and product identity.
Describe Vintage Champagne.
A fully sparkling traditional method wine that comes entirely from the declared vintage.
How are vintages determined in Champagne?
Each producer decides if the vintage was good enough to declare. Some vintages are universally declared, while most are left to each producer’s discretion.
What are two vintages of the 21st century that were universally declared in Champagne?
2002 and 2008
Describe Rosé Champagne.
A fully sparkling traditional method rosé wine made by blending red and white wine (rosé d’assemblage) or, far less often, through short maceration (rosé de saignée
What is rosé de saignée? What is its significance in Champagne?
A rosé wine made by short maceration. In Champagne, this method is rarely used and requires a great deal of expertise as yeast absorbs color pigments.
What is rosé d’assemblage? What is its significance in Chanpagne?
A rosé wine that is made by blending red wine with white wine. This is the typical process of producing rosé styles of Champagne.
Describe Blanc de Blancs Champagne.
A fully sparkling traditional method white wine made entirely from white grapes.
Describe Blanc de Noirs Champagne.
A fully sparkling traditional method white wine made entirely from black grapes
What is the popular opinion on the ageability of Blanc de Blancs versus Blanc de Noirs produced in Champagne?
Blanc de Blancs are believed to age slower than Blanc de Noirs
True or False
Blanc de Blancs are fuller bodied than Blanc de Noirs.
False
What aromas do Champagne Blanc de Blancs typically develop from aging?
Biscuit and hazelnut
Describe Grand Cru Champagne.
A fully sparkling trarditional method wine with grapes that have grown within one of the Grand Cru villages.
How many Grands Crus of Champagne are there? What are they?
17
Ambonnay Avize Ay Beaumont-sur-Vesle Bouzy Chouilly Cramant Louvois Mailly Champagne Le Mesnil sur Oger Oger Oiry Puisieulx Sillery Tours-sur-Marne Verzenay Verzy
Describe Premier Cru Champagne.
A fully sparkling traditional method wine made from grapes grown within Premier Cru and/or Grand Cru villages.
Describe Prestige Cuvée Champagne.
Usually the top wine made by a producer. A fully sparkling traditional method wine made from top-quality grapes with meticulous winemaking rechniques from a single vintage or multiple vintages.
True or False
Some producers specialize in making a range of Prestige Cuvée Champagne
True, such as Krug
Describe Late Release/Recently Disgorged Champagne.
A fully sparkling traditional method wine that has extended lees aging and was disgorged close to release for immediate market consumption.
How do late release or recently disgorged Champagnes compare to other Champagnes?
They initally seem more youthful and have a different flavor profile, but they age quicker than standard vintage wines.
What are two prominent examples of recently disgorged wines?
Louis Roederer R.D.
Dom Perignon P2
Why is it believed that Late Release/Recently Disgorged wines age faster than other Champagne?
The disgorgement process, specifically the oxygen and the disturbance of the liquid, more profoundly affect older wine.
What terms for sweetness are used in Champagne?
The EU standard
True or False
The area within AOC Champagne can only grow grapes for the production of sparkling wine
False.
There are appellations for the production of still wine, such as AOC Rosé des Riceys (for still P. Noir rosé) and AOC Coteaux Champenoise (any color of still wine, but generally light bodied, high acid, pale ruby P. Noir)
What is AOC Coteaux Champenoise?
An appellation within the Champagne region for still white, rosé, and red wines. The wines are generally a high acid, light bodied, pale ruby wine made from Pinot Noir
What is AOC Rosé des Riceys?
An appellation withing the Côtes des Bar sub region of Champagne that produces still rosé wines from Pinot Noir
What was the historic style of Champagne?
Still rosé made from Pinot Noir
Why were the first sparkling ines from Champagne becoming sparkling wines?
In the cold winters, fermentation of the wine would be stopped due to cold weather. The wine was then bottled and in the spring, fermentation would resume.
What technological advancement permitted Champagne to be bottled at higher pressures?
Glass produced in England using coal-fired ovens.
What was Dom Pierre Perignon’s contribution to winemaking in Champagne?
The first to produce white wine from black grapes
The inventor of the Coquard press, still widely used today
The first to blend wines from different areas of Champagne
Pioneer of the use of English glass bottles
He reintroduced cork stoppers to France
What advancements were seen in Champagne during the 19th Century?
Controlled second fermentation in the bottle
Riddling by using pupitres
Disgorgement following the freezing of the bottle neck in an ice cold salt bath
Establishment of dry Champagne
What is the French word for ‘riddling’?
Remuage
Who invented remuage in Champagne?
Madame Cliquot
The use of ice cold salt baths for disgorgement facilitated Champagne production in what way?
It allowed mass production of Champagne
What major developments in Champagne occurred during the 20th century?
The AOC boundary was determined in 1927
The concept of eschelles des crus (‘ladder of crus’) that used to determine Champagne prices
The ‘blocage’ system, which later became reserve wines
What effect did the 1927 definition of Champagne’s borders have on the product?
It enabled the defences of Champagne’s geographical indication, specifically that all Champagne must come from the region
What effect does the eschelles des crus have on today’s prices for Champagne?
Very little. The market defines the prices, but the ladder of crus helped define the Grand Cru and Premier Cru villages
What is the ‘blocage’ system in Champagne? Describe its use.
An old system of storing portions of young wines to use in case a future disaster reduced yields. It is no longer in use, but it inspired reserve wines that reduce vintage variation and improve quality and consistency of NV Champagne.
How large is Champagne?
An area that extends 150km north to south and about 120km east to west
How many sub regions are there in Champagne? What are they?
5
Montagne de Reims
Vallée de la Marne
Côte des Blancs
Côte des Sézanne
Côte des Bar
What is the climate in Champagne?
Cool continental with oceanic influences
How much rain does Champagne receive during the growing season?
700 mm
How does the climate affect the ability to produce table wine in Champagne?
There would only be two vintages a decade in which grapes would ripen enough to be made into table wine
What is the average annual temperature in Champagne?
11⁰C (51.8⁰F)
What factors in Champagne give the grapes freshness and crispness associated with the region’s wines?
Moderate sunshine and consistent annual rainfall
What has been the effect of climate change on Champagne over the past 30 years?
Harvest dates are 18 days earlier on average
Acidity has dropped
Potential alcohol has risen .7%
Grapes ripen more consistently
There are fewer poor vintages
What type of soil can be found in Champagne and the greater Paris basin? Why?
Chalk, due to the presence of an old seabed
What part of Chmpagne is the most valuable for growing high quality grapes? Why?
The hills in the northern part of the region due to the chalky soils there. Chalk is believed to be important for high quality Chardonnay production
What are the most common soils in Champagne?
Chalky soils with limestone subsoils or simply chalk
What is the structure and water retention of chalk? Why is this important?
Porous with high water retention. This allows water to drain away from the vines but be retained in the soil during dry periods
True or False
Water logging poses a problem on Champagne
False. The soils are well draining and vineyards are planted on slopes
At what altitude are Champagne’s vineyards planted?
90-300m ASL
What grapes are Montagne de Reims known for?
Black grapes, though some important Chardonnay vineyards are located here
What Grand Cru villages in Montagne de Reims are known for the production of black grapes?
Ay Mailly Verzenay Verzy Ambonnay Bouzy
True or False
Montagne de Reims can most accurately be described as a mountain with most of the top villages facing south
False. It is more of a plateau with some of the top quality villages facing north
What are the benefits and risks of growing in one of the north facing villages of Montagne de Reims?
They are excellent cool climate sites but prone to spring frost
What is the general character of wine from Montagne de Reims?
High in acid and austere in youth
What type of soil is found in Montagne de Reims?
Many types, though the Grand Cru villages are chalky soils
What grapes are most common in Vallée de la Marne?
Meunier and Chardonnay
What types of soil is Meunier planted on in Vallée de la Marne?
Clay, mar, and sandy soils
What is the quality of Chardonnay grown in Vallée de la Marne?
Rich Chardonnay used as a blending component for early-drinking wines
What risks do grapes in Vallée de la Marne face? Why is Meunier suitable for viticulture there?
Meunier is a late-budding and early-ripening variety, making it reliable in the frost-prone Vallée de la Marne
What important locations are within the Vallée de la Marne?
Epernay
Ay-Champagne
What grapes are grown in Côte des Blancs?
White grapes
95% of plantings are Chardonnay
What type of soil is located in the Côte des Blancs? What is the quality there compared to other parts of Champagne?
Chalky soils which are purer than other chalk sites in Champagne
Where does the Côte des Blancs get its name from?
The large plantings of white grape varieties
Which Grand Cru villages are located in the Côte des Blancs?
Cramant
Avize
Oger
Le Mesnil-sur-Oger
Are the wines of the Côte des Blancs Grand Crus as aromatically generous in their youth as they are after aging?
No. These wines are generally more austere, developing intensity after longer periods of aging
What grapes are the Côte de Sézanne known for?
Chardonnay, the dominant planting in the area
What type of soil is found in the Côte de Sézanne?
Clay and clay/silt soils with some pockets of chalk
Where is Côte de Sézanne located in comparison to the rest of the Champagne AOC subzones?
South of Vallée de la Marne on a continuation of the hill line from Côte des Blancs
What is the quality of grapes grown in Côte de Sézanne compared to the Côte des Blancs? Why?
The grapes are riper and fruitier due to being planted farther south on southeast facing slopes with less chalk soil. The quality is considered lower.
What grapes are the Côte des Bar known for?
Pinot Noir
Where is Côte des Bar located in comparison to the rest of the Champagne AOC subzones?
100 km south of Epernay and closer to Chablis than to the other Champagne subzones
How much of Champagne’s vineyard area is within the Côte des Bar?
Nearly 25%
What soils are found in Côte des Bar?
Kimmeridgian calcareous marls with stony limestone elements on the slopes
What characteristics of the terroir in Côte des Bar help Pinot Noir to ripen fully?
Exposure and excellent drainage from the steep slopes and Kimmeridgian soils with stony limestone elements
Why is Côte des Bar important for Champagne production?
There is a lack of Pinot Noir production in the other Champagne subzones and Côte des Bar is responsible for producing full-flavored, ripe Pinot Noir used across the region