Champagne - General Flashcards

1
Q

What is Dom Perignon’s lasting contribution to Champagne?

A

Assemblage

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2
Q

Where was Dom Perignon cellar master?

A

Abbey of Hautvillers in the Marne

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3
Q

What is the oldest Champagne house still in operation? When was it founded?

A

Gosset in 1584

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4
Q

What is the oldest sparkling Champagne house still in operation? When was it founded?

A

Ruinart in 1729

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5
Q

What did the Champenoise use to color their wines?

A

Elderberry

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6
Q

What did Madame Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin pioneer? Who was she?

A

She was the Veuve (Widow) Cliqout

She pioneered the process of “remuage” or riddling to remove sediment from bottles during disgorgement

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7
Q

Who discovered the relationship between sugar and fermentation?

A

Jean-Antoine Chaptal

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8
Q

Who released the first Brut Champagne, and when?

A

Pommery “Nature”

1874

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9
Q

When was the region of Champagne first delimited?

A

1908

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10
Q

When was the Aube reinstated as a Champagne producing region?

A

1927

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11
Q

When was the Commission de Chalons founded? What were its roles?

A

1935

To promote quality standards and regulate pricing

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12
Q

What organization grew from the work of the Commission de Chalons to regulate Champagne? When, and who founded it?

A

Comite Interprofessional du Vin de Champagne (CIVC)

1941

Count Robert-Jean de Vogue of Moet et Chandon

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13
Q

What wine started the trend of tete de cuvee bottlings? When was it released?

A

“Dom Perignon” by Moet et Chandon

1921

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14
Q

When was the last time Champagne’s borders were broadened?

A

2009

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15
Q

In what parallels is Champagne located?

A

Between the 48th and 49th

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16
Q

What are the major viticultural hazards of Champagne?

A

Frost, hail, rain, fungal disease

Cold and moisture

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17
Q

What is a “bouvreux?”

A

A second crop caused by rain interrupting flowering

It rarely ripens

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18
Q

What is the most famous soil of Champagne? The second?

A

Belemnite Chalk, found on the slopes

Micraster Chalk is found in the valleys

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19
Q

What is the dominant soil type of the Aube?

A

Clay

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20
Q

What are “le bleus de ville?”

A

Remnants of bags used to transport compostable garbage to Champagne

The practice was outlawed in 1998

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21
Q

What are the less well-known grapes allowed for Champagne?

A

Pinot Blanc Vrai
Arbane
Pinot Gris
Petit Meslier

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22
Q

What are the limits of extraction on wine?

A

102 L per 160KG

2550 L per 4000 KG (a marc of grapes, the amount held by a traditional Coquard basket press)

All this brings the final yield down from 100 hl/ha to 66 hl/ha

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23
Q

What are the four pruning methods allowed in Champagne?

A

Cordon de Royat
Chablis
Vallee de la Marne
Guyot (double and simple)

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24
Q

What are “blocage” and “deblocage?”

A

The reserve and release of wine stocks for use

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25
Q

What is the “Echelle de Crus?”

A

A percentile system in use until 1990 that determined the prices for grapes

Set by CIVC until 1990

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26
Q

What range on the Echelle de Crus denoted 1er Cru status?

A

90% to 99%

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27
Q

What 1er Crus have a 99% rating?

A

Mareuil-sur-Ay in Vallee de la Marne

Tauxieres in Montagne de Reims

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28
Q

What percentage of grapes must be produced by a grower to be labeled a Recoltant Manipulant?

A

95%

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29
Q

Aside from NM and RM, what are the other types of producers in Champagne?

A

CM (Cooperative Manipulant): Growers co-op, single brand
RC (Recoltant Cooperateur): Grower vinifies at co-op, has own brand
SR (Societie de Recoltants): A firm set up by growers to make wines with several brands
ND (Negociant Distributeur): Company that distributes Champagne it didn’t make
MA (Marquee d’Acheteur): A buyers brand that purchases wine and sells under its own label

30
Q

What are the three wines produced during pressing?

A

Out of 2550 L

Vin de Cuvee: first 2050 L
Vin de Taille: the following 500 L
Rebeche: A third extraction mandated by law comprising 1-10% of the total

31
Q

What is “debourage?”

A

The process of settling at a cool temperature so that solids (bourbes) can be racked off

32
Q

What is “vin clair?”

A

High-acid base wine of around 11% ABV that results from primary fermentation

33
Q

What is “liquer de tirage?”

A

A mixture of still wine, yeasts, sugar, and fining agents used to ignite the secondary fermentation

34
Q

What is the “prise de mousse?”

A

Secondary fermentation

35
Q

What is the plastic capsule affixed to Champagne bottles used to capture sediment?

A

Bidule

36
Q

What is the general pressure within a Champagne bottle?

A

5 to 6 atmospheres

37
Q

What is “sur latte?” What is “sur pointe?”

A

Storing of a bottle on its side

Storing of a bottle upside down

38
Q

What is the minimum amount of time that wines must spend on their lees for NV? How much total aging?

A

12 months on lees

15 months total (including lees)

39
Q

What is “pointage?”

A

The shaking of bottles to prevent sediment from sticking

40
Q

What is a “pupitre?”

A

Wooden planks fastened together into an “A” that allowed bottles to be placed neck down and spun to remove sediment

41
Q

How many bottles can a modern gyropallette hold for remuage?

A

504

42
Q

What is “degorgement a la glace?” What is “degorgement a la volee?”

A

Using freezing brine to expel sediment

Expelling sediment without the freezing brine solution

43
Q

What is “liqeur de expedition?”

A

Mixture of sugar syrup and wine used for dosage

44
Q

What are the sweetness levels for Champagne? How much RS?

A
Brut Nature: 0-3g/l
Extra Brut: 0-6 g/l
Brut: 0-12 g/l
Extra Dry: 12-17 g/l
Sec (Dry): 17-35 g/l
Demi-Sec: 35-50 g/l
Doux: 50+ g/l
45
Q

What is a “muselet?”

A

The wire cage affixed to a Champagne bottle

There are 6 and a half twists

46
Q

What is the minimum aging for vintage Champagne?

A

36 months in the cellar

47
Q

For what size bottles is “transvesage” allowed? What is it?

A

It is the transfer method

It is allowed for bottles smaller than a half size, and larger than a Jeroboam

48
Q

What are the names and volumes of larger bottle sizes in Champagne?

A
Jeroboam (3L - 4 bottles)
Rehoboam (4.5L - 6 bottles, discontinued in 1983)
Methuselah (6L - 8 bottles)
Salmanazar (9L - 12 bottles)
Balthazar (12L - 16 bottles)
Nebuchadnezzar (15L - 20 bottles)
Soloman (18L - 24 bottles)
49
Q

What is the “Club Tresors?”

A

Group of RM producers

50
Q

When did Special Club bottlings begin?

A

1971

51
Q

How much of a given years harvest may be sold as vintage Champagne? How much of a vintage bottling must come from the stated vintage?

A

80%

100%

52
Q

Who produced “Clos de Goisses?” When? Where?

A

Philliponnat

1935 inaugural vintage

Mareuil-sur-Ay

53
Q

What are the still wine appellations of Champagne? What do they make?

A

Coteaux Champenois - Red, White, Rose

Rose de Riceys - 100% Pinot Noir Rose produced in Les RIceys in the Aube

54
Q

What are the Grand Crus of Montagne de Reims?

A
Sillery
Puisieulx
Beaumont-Sur-Vesle
Verzenay
Mailly-Champagne
Verzy
Louvois
Bouzy
Ambonnay
55
Q

What are the Grand Crus of the Vallee de la Marne?

A

Ay

Tours-sur-Marne

56
Q

What are the Grand Crus of the Cote des Blancs?

A
Chouilly
Oiry
Cramant
Avize
Oger
Le Mesnil-sur-Oger
57
Q

What is the smallest Grand Cru? The Largest?

A

Puisieulx (18.8ha)

Chouilly (522.5ha)

58
Q

What 1er Cru Villages had a 99% rating under the echelle de crus?

A

Tauxieres

Mareuil-sur-Ay

59
Q

Where is the Clos St-Hilaire vineyard located? What wine is made by who?

A

Mareuil-sur-Ay, Vallee de la Marne

Blanc de Noirs by Billecart Salmon

60
Q

Where is the Clos du Moulin vineyard located? What wine is made by who?

A

Chigny-les-Roses 1er Cru, Montagne de Reims

Both Brut and Brut Rose are made

Champagne Cattier beginning in 1952

61
Q

What wine is produced from the Les Beguines vineyard? By who? What is special about it?

A

Jerome Prevost “La Closiere” and the very rare “Facsimile” Rose, which is made from virused vines

They are 100% Pinot Meunier, Prevost was the first to do so

They are always labeled Brut Nature or Extra Brut, there is no dosage

62
Q

Where is the Terres de Noel vineyard? What wine is produced by who?

A

Oger in the Cote des Blancs

Blanc de Blancs

Jean Milan

63
Q

Where is the Les Chetillons vineyard located? What wine is produced by who?

A

Le Mesnil sur Oger

Cuvee Speciale by Pierre Peters

64
Q

Where is Salon? What was its first vintage? What was the first commercial vintage?

A

Le Mesnil-sur-Oger

First vintage was in 1905 for private consumption

First commercial vintage was in 1921

65
Q

What is considered the first blanc des blancs Champagne?

A

Salon

It is always vintage, and the wines spend 10 years on the lees

66
Q

What Champagne houses have the first rights to Salon’s fruit if a wine is not made?

A

Delamotte first, then Laurent-Perrier

67
Q

What is the inaugural vintage of “Clos du Mesnil?” “Clos d’Ambonnay?”

A

1979

1995

68
Q

What is MCR in Champagne?

A

Mout Concentre et Rectifie

Concentrated and rectified grape must used as liquer d’expedition

69
Q

When was the sale of wine in bottle legalized? By who?

A

1728 by King Louis XV

This made modern Champagne possible

70
Q

What is the process of “sur latte” trading?

A

Buying stocks of wine from other houses or growers, and using using a more famous label.

71
Q

What highly successful vintage also set the stage for long running disagreements between Negociants and Growers?

A

1934

The crop was so bountiful and market so small that producers couldn’t buy grapes.

Growers had to start making their own wines to make use of the grapes.