Champagne - General Flashcards
What is Dom Perignon’s lasting contribution to Champagne?
Assemblage
Where was Dom Perignon cellar master?
Abbey of Hautvillers in the Marne
What is the oldest Champagne house still in operation? When was it founded?
Gosset in 1584
What is the oldest sparkling Champagne house still in operation? When was it founded?
Ruinart in 1729
What did the Champenoise use to color their wines?
Elderberry
What did Madame Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin pioneer? Who was she?
She was the Veuve (Widow) Cliqout
She pioneered the process of “remuage” or riddling to remove sediment from bottles during disgorgement
Who discovered the relationship between sugar and fermentation?
Jean-Antoine Chaptal
Who released the first Brut Champagne, and when?
Pommery “Nature”
1874
When was the region of Champagne first delimited?
1908
When was the Aube reinstated as a Champagne producing region?
1927
When was the Commission de Chalons founded? What were its roles?
1935
To promote quality standards and regulate pricing
What organization grew from the work of the Commission de Chalons to regulate Champagne? When, and who founded it?
Comite Interprofessional du Vin de Champagne (CIVC)
1941
Count Robert-Jean de Vogue of Moet et Chandon
What wine started the trend of tete de cuvee bottlings? When was it released?
“Dom Perignon” by Moet et Chandon
1921
When was the last time Champagne’s borders were broadened?
2009
In what parallels is Champagne located?
Between the 48th and 49th
What are the major viticultural hazards of Champagne?
Frost, hail, rain, fungal disease
Cold and moisture
What is a “bouvreux?”
A second crop caused by rain interrupting flowering
It rarely ripens
What is the most famous soil of Champagne? The second?
Belemnite Chalk, found on the slopes
Micraster Chalk is found in the valleys
What is the dominant soil type of the Aube?
Clay
What are “le bleus de ville?”
Remnants of bags used to transport compostable garbage to Champagne
The practice was outlawed in 1998
What are the less well-known grapes allowed for Champagne?
Pinot Blanc Vrai
Arbane
Pinot Gris
Petit Meslier
What are the limits of extraction on wine?
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
What are the four pruning methods allowed in Champagne?
Cordon de Royat
Chablis
Vallee de la Marne
Guyot (double and simple)
What are “blocage” and “deblocage?”
The reserve and release of wine stocks for use
What is the “Echelle de Crus?”
A percentile system in use until 1990 that determined the prices for grapes
Set by CIVC until 1990
What range on the Echelle de Crus denoted 1er Cru status?
90% to 99%
What 1er Crus have a 99% rating?
Mareuil-sur-Ay in Vallee de la Marne
Tauxieres in Montagne de Reims
What percentage of grapes must be produced by a grower to be labeled a Recoltant Manipulant?
95%
Aside from NM and RM, what are the other types of producers in Champagne?
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
What are the three wines produced during pressing?
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
What is “debourage?”
The process of settling at a cool temperature so that solids (bourbes) can be racked off
What is “vin clair?”
High-acid base wine of around 11% ABV that results from primary fermentation
What is “liquer de tirage?”
A mixture of still wine, yeasts, sugar, and fining agents used to ignite the secondary fermentation
What is the “prise de mousse?”
Secondary fermentation
What is the plastic capsule affixed to Champagne bottles used to capture sediment?
Bidule
What is the general pressure within a Champagne bottle?
5 to 6 atmospheres
What is “sur latte?” What is “sur pointe?”
Storing of a bottle on its side
Storing of a bottle upside down
What is the minimum amount of time that wines must spend on their lees for NV? How much total aging?
12 months on lees
15 months total (including lees)
What is “pointage?”
The shaking of bottles to prevent sediment from sticking
What is a “pupitre?”
Wooden planks fastened together into an “A” that allowed bottles to be placed neck down and spun to remove sediment
How many bottles can a modern gyropallette hold for remuage?
504
What is “degorgement a la glace?” What is “degorgement a la volee?”
Using freezing brine to expel sediment
Expelling sediment without the freezing brine solution
What is “liqeur de expedition?”
Mixture of sugar syrup and wine used for dosage
What are the sweetness levels for Champagne? How much RS?
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
What is a “muselet?”
The wire cage affixed to a Champagne bottle
There are 6 and a half twists
What is the minimum aging for vintage Champagne?
36 months in the cellar
For what size bottles is “transvesage” allowed? What is it?
It is the transfer method
It is allowed for bottles smaller than a half size, and larger than a Jeroboam
What are the names and volumes of larger bottle sizes in Champagne?
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)
What is the “Club Tresors?”
Group of RM producers
When did Special Club bottlings begin?
1971
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?
80%
100%
Who produced “Clos de Goisses?” When? Where?
Philliponnat
1935 inaugural vintage
Mareuil-sur-Ay
What are the still wine appellations of Champagne? What do they make?
Coteaux Champenois - Red, White, Rose
Rose de Riceys - 100% Pinot Noir Rose produced in Les RIceys in the Aube
What are the Grand Crus of Montagne de Reims?
Sillery Puisieulx Beaumont-Sur-Vesle Verzenay Mailly-Champagne Verzy Louvois Bouzy Ambonnay
What are the Grand Crus of the Vallee de la Marne?
Ay
Tours-sur-Marne
What are the Grand Crus of the Cote des Blancs?
Chouilly Oiry Cramant Avize Oger Le Mesnil-sur-Oger
What is the smallest Grand Cru? The Largest?
Puisieulx (18.8ha)
Chouilly (522.5ha)
What 1er Cru Villages had a 99% rating under the echelle de crus?
Tauxieres
Mareuil-sur-Ay
Where is the Clos St-Hilaire vineyard located? What wine is made by who?
Mareuil-sur-Ay, Vallee de la Marne
Blanc de Noirs by Billecart Salmon
Where is the Clos du Moulin vineyard located? What wine is made by who?
Chigny-les-Roses 1er Cru, Montagne de Reims
Both Brut and Brut Rose are made
Champagne Cattier beginning in 1952
What wine is produced from the Les Beguines vineyard? By who? What is special about it?
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
Where is the Terres de Noel vineyard? What wine is produced by who?
Oger in the Cote des Blancs
Blanc de Blancs
Jean Milan
Where is the Les Chetillons vineyard located? What wine is produced by who?
Le Mesnil sur Oger
Cuvee Speciale by Pierre Peters
Where is Salon? What was its first vintage? What was the first commercial vintage?
Le Mesnil-sur-Oger
First vintage was in 1905 for private consumption
First commercial vintage was in 1921
What is considered the first blanc des blancs Champagne?
Salon
It is always vintage, and the wines spend 10 years on the lees
What Champagne houses have the first rights to Salon’s fruit if a wine is not made?
Delamotte first, then Laurent-Perrier
What is the inaugural vintage of “Clos du Mesnil?” “Clos d’Ambonnay?”
1979
1995
What is MCR in Champagne?
Mout Concentre et Rectifie
Concentrated and rectified grape must used as liquer d’expedition
When was the sale of wine in bottle legalized? By who?
1728 by King Louis XV
This made modern Champagne possible
What is the process of “sur latte” trading?
Buying stocks of wine from other houses or growers, and using using a more famous label.
What highly successful vintage also set the stage for long running disagreements between Negociants and Growers?
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.
