Champagne and Sparkling Wines Flashcards
Dom Pérignon’s lasting contributions to modern Champagne lie in the techniques of
assemblage (blending) and viticulture
Dom Perignon was a cellar master at the?
Abbey of Hautvillers from 1670 to 1715
Which are the oldest Champagne Houses?
Gosset, the oldest Champagne house still in operation today, was founded in 1584 as a still wine producer (Ruinart, established in 1729, can claim to be the oldest sparkling Champagne house)
The Champenoise even colored their wines with?
elderberry, in an attempt to achieve the deeper hues of Burgundy
Remuage or Riddling was pioneered by?
Madame Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin, the Veuve (“widow”) Clicquot
Who identified the relationship between sugar and fermentation in a seminal 1801 work
Jean-Antoine Chaptal, the French chemist and statesman for whom the process of chaptalization is named
The first brut Champagne was launched by?
Pommery “Nature,” on the market in 1874
Champagne was enshrined in the new Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée system in?
1936
many houses released a tête de cuvée, or prestige cuvée after?
1921 vintage of Moët et Chandon’s “Dom Pérignon
The largest market for Champagne are?
UK, USA, Germany, and Japan, which account for half of all Champagne exports
The region of Champagne is located between the?
48th and 49th parallels
What is bouvreux?
second crop, that rarely ripens and is left on the vine
Which are the grapes used for Champagne?
The three principal grapes authorized for the production of Champagne are Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and the black grape Meunier (formerly Pinot Meunier—“miller’s” Pinot—named for the dusty appearance of its leaves). In 2018, Pinot Noir accounted for 38% of total plantings, Chardonnay accounted for 31%, and Meunier accounted for 31%. Larger houses will often blend Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, or all three varieties, in order to create a consistent non-vintage house style. Each grape contributes a different element: Chardonnay provides elegance and longevity, Pinot Noir supports the wine’s structure, richness and body, and Meunier lends a youthful fruitiness and approachability. In select areas, Pinot Blanc Vrai (“true” Pinot Blanc, a white form of Pinot Noir), Arbane, Pinot Gris, and Petit Meslier are authorized for Champagne AOP production, but they are rare, totaling less than 0.3% of plantings
What is the amount held in a traditional Coquard basket press
102 liters from 160 kg of grapes or 2,550 liters per 4,000 kg—a marc of grapes
Only four pruning methods are permitted:
Cordon de Royat, Chablis (the best), Vallée de la Marne, and Guyot (double and simple)
Average vine age hovers around?
twenty years, as the lowered productivity of old vines is undesirable to most houses in Champagne.
Many of the major commercial houses of Champagne are located in the cities of
Reims and the smaller towns of Épernay and Aÿ
The 357 villages authorized to grow grapes for Champagne are split between five districts:
the Montagne de Reims, Vallée de la Marne, Côte des Blancs, Côte de Sézanne, and the Côte des Bar in the Aube département
Pinot Noir is the prominent grape in both Montagne de Reims and the Aube, whereas Chardonnay is dominant in the Côte de Sézanne and almost exclusively planted, as its name indicates, on the southeast- and east-facing slopes of the Côte des Blancs. Meunier is heavily cultivated in the sheltered vineyards of the frost-prone Vallée de la Marne, where its tendency to bud late and ripen early is prized by growers
How many are the Granc Cru and Premier Cru villages in Champagne?
17 villages have grand cru status and 42 are classified as premier cru according to their rankings in the Échelle de Crus
What does CIVC responsible of?
The CIVC, the regulatory body responsible for mediating relations between growers and producers, oversees the production methods and promotion of Champagne. The CIVC regulates the size of harvests, authorizes blocage and deblocage—respectively the reserve and release of wine stocks for use in future vintages—and safeguards the protected designation of Champagne
Which are the villages that achieved an échelle of 90 through 99 were classified as premier cru?
Mareuil-sur-Ay in the Vallée de la Marne and Tauxières in Montagne de Reims were the only premier cru villages with a 99% ranking
What is NM?
(Négociant Manipulant): A house that purchases grapes and or base wines from growers and other smaller houses. Some NM houses own a significant portion of their own vineyards; others own none at all. Large Champagne houses with the most international presence are invariably in this category: Moët et Chandon, Louis Roederer, Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin, Billecart-Salmon, Lanson, Taittinger, Pol Roger, Perrier-Jouët, Mumm, and Laurent-Perrier. Quality varies widely, although prices are uniformly high. Many houses often fall under the same corporate parentage; for example, Moët et Chandon, Krug, Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin, and Mercier fall under the umbrella of the luxury conglomerate LVMH
What is RM?
(Récoltant Manipulant): A grower-producer who makes Champagne from estate-grown fruit. 95% of the grapes must originate in the producer’s own vineyards
What is CM?
(Coopérative Manipulant): A growers’ co-operative that produces the wine under a single brand
What is RC?
(Récoltant Coopérateur): A grower whose grapes are vinified at a co-operative, but whose wines are sold under the grower’s own label
What is SR?
(Société de Récoltants): A firm, not a co-operative, set up by a union of often related growers, who share resources to make their wines and collectively market several brands
What is ND?
(Négociant Distributeur): A middleman company that distributes Champagne it did not make
What is MA?
(Marque d’Acheteur): A buyer’s own brand, often a large supermarket chain or restaurant, that purchases Champagne and sells it under its own label.
The extracted juice is then divided into the ?
Vin de cuvée (the first 2,050 liters) and the vin de taille (the following 500 liters)
Third extraction is called?
rebêche, is required by law and must comprise 1-10% of the total. The rebêche is used for distillate, not Champagne
After pressing, the juice is allowed to?
settle (débourbage) at a cool temperature for eight to fifteen hours, so that remaining solids (bourbes) in the must can be removed by racking prior to fermentation
The must, which is often chaptalized, will then undergo primary fermentation, resulting in high-acid base wines (vins clairs) with an approximate alcohol content of ?
11%
The clarified base wines remain in either stainless steel or barrel (or, in rare cases, bottles) until?
late February or March of the year following the harvest
What is liqueur de tirage?
a mixture of still wine, yeasts, sugar, and fining agents that will serve to ignite the second fermentation
Rose Champagne is made by?
Saignee or by adding a small proportion of base red wine
prise de mousse refers to the?
second fermention
The secondary fermentation lasts up to?
eight weeks, as the yeast slowly converts the additional sugar to alcohol and carbon dioxide
The alc content during the second fermentation rises to?
1.2-1.3%
Atm for Champagne?
5-6 atm
NV Champagnes requiere a min ageing on the lees?
15 months (including the period of lees aging)
