Champagne General/History

Question 1

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

Answer 1

Gosset, founded in 1584 as a still wine producer

Ruinart, established in 1729 claims the oldest sparkling Champagne house

Question 2

In the 18th century, when the Champagne tried to compete with Burgundy what did the Champenoise use to deepen the hue of their wines?

Answer 2

Elderberry

Question 3

Name 5 Champagne houses founded in the 18th century still around today

Answer 3

The houses of Ruinart, Taittinger, Moët et Chandon, Delamotte and Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin were founded in the 18th century, yet sparkling Champagne production would remain problematic and imprecise until the early 1800s

Question 4

Who is Veuve “widow” Clicquot and what did she pioneer?

Answer 4

Madame Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin. Under her leadership, the house pioneered the process of remuage, or riddling.

Question 5

What is chaptalization and who developed it?

Answer 5

The correction or improvement of must by the addition of calcium carbonate to neutralize acid or of sugar to increase alcoholic strength.

Jean-Antoine Chaptal

-French chemist and statesman; identified the relationship between sugar and fermentation in a seminal 1801 work.

Question 6

What did advancement did André François provide in the advancement of Champagne?

Answer 6

François’, a pharmacist, found the precise measurement of sugar required to induce it without breaking the bottle, allowing Champagne houses to produce sparkling wines with greater confidence.

Question 7

What was the jump in numbers in Champagne in the 18th century?

Answer 7

300,000 bottles in 1800 to 36 million in 1883.

Question 8

Who put the first brut Champagne on the market and when?

Answer 8

Pommery with the Pommery “Nature” in 1874.

Question 9

When was Champagne originally delimited as a region and when was it enshrined as an AOC?

Answer 9

1908-defined the region excluding the Aube

1927-Based on protests and a near riot in 1911, the Aube was reinstated in the appellation.

1936-Champagne was enshrined in the new Appellation d’Origine Contrlee system.

Question 10

What vintage was known as one of the finest, even during the constant bombardment of WWI?

Answer 10

1914

Question 11

How did the CIVC form and when?

Answer 11

Count Robert-Jean de Vogüé of Moët et Chandon in 1941 organized a new, broader consortium of growers, producers and shippers to represent the Champagne industry and protect its interests in the face of Nazi occupation. That organization, the Comité Interprofessional du Vin de Champagne (CIVC), remains a powerful force in the complex mediation between the large Champagne houses and the numerous smaller growers from whom they source grapes.

Question 12

28 Special Club Members. How many can you name?

-Which producers were once part of Special Club and are no longer? (5)

Answer 12

Paul Bara (Bouzy)
Roland Champion (Chouilly)
Charlier et Fils (Montigny-sous-Châtillon)
Gaston Chiquet (Dizy)
Duménil (Chigny-les-Roses)
Forget-Chemin (Ludes)
Fresnet-Juillet (Verzy)
Pierre Gimonnet et Fils (Cuis)
J.M. Goulard (Prouilly)
Henri Goutorbe (Aÿ)
Grongnet (Etoges)
Marc Hébrart (Mareuil-sur-Aÿ)
Hervieux-Dumez (Sacy)
Vincent Joudart (Fèrebrianges)
Juillet-Lallement (Verzy)
Larmandier Père et Fils (Cuis)
J. Lassalle (Chigny-les-Roses)
Joseph Loriot-Pagel (Festigny)
A. Margaine (Villers Marmery)
Rémy Massin et Fils (Ville-sur-Arce)
José Michel et Fils (Moussy)
Moussé Fils (Cuisles)
Mouzon-Leroux et Fils (Verzy)
Nominé-Renard (Villevenard)
Pertois-Moriset (Le Mesnil-sur-Oger)
Salmon (Chaumuzy)
Sanchez-Le Guédard (Cumières)
Vazart-Coquart et Fils (Chouilly)

Pierre Peters left the Club in 1981, Larmandier-Bernier in 1996, Gosset-Brabant in 2006, Leclerc-Briant, and Launois.

Question 13

How long does secondary fermentation last?

Answer 13

Up to 8 weeks

Question 14

Two main types of chalk soils found in Champagne?

Where are each found?

Answer 14

—Belemnite (extinct cephalapods) pourous soils allows roots to dig deeply and linked to high levels of acidity (high limestone content). Found on the slopes
—Micraster (extinct sea urchin; found on the valley floors)

Question 15

Champagne:
Latitude/Altitude
Average growing season temperature
Average annual rainfall
Harvest month rainfall
Chief Viticultural hazards

Answer 15

49.31°/298 ft (91 meters)
58.4°F (14.7° C)
24.7 inches
September: 1.9 inches
Spring frost, fungal disease

Question 16

What grapes may be used in Champagne?

Answer 16

Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Meunier

Pinot Blanc (blanc vrai) 
Pinot Gris (fromentau)
Arbane
Petite Meslier- lean, green; huge acidity helpful in hot vintages; green bell pepper; green apple, citrus, and rhubarb

Question 17

When did the English begin transferring Champagne to stronger, coal-fired glass that contain the pressure?

Answer 17

Late 17th century

Question 18

What does mousseux mean?

Similar terms?

Answer 18

Implies “effervescence”

-With a lack of understanding behind the reason bottles contained a sparkle, some attributed the sparkle to the phases of the moon, and this early unpredictability created a need for additional terminology—pétillant, demi-mousseux (crémant), and grand mousseux—to define the level of effervescence, which survive today in other sparkling wine appellations.

Question 19

How did vestiges of vin gris Champagne production inform sparkling winemaking?

Answer 19

A 1718 winemaking treatise highlights the division in quality between vin de cuvée and vin de taille when pressing red grapes for white wine.

Question 20

When did the English begin transferring Champagne to stronger, coal-fired glass that contain the pressure?

Answer 20

Late 17th century

Question 21

Why is Meunier better suited to the Vallèe del la Marne?

Answer 21

Meunier better adapts to the Vallèe’s clay-rich soils, and its hard constitution allows it to cope better with the cool, damp weather and morning fog that forms in the narrow confines of the river valley.

Question 22

What are the 4 primary rivers in Champagne?

Answer 22

Marne
Siene
Aube
Vesle

Question 23

What is the first prestige cuvee?

Answer 23

The first publicly-available prestige cuvée was Moët & Chandon’s Dom Pérignon, launched in 1936 with the 1921 vintage. Until then, Champagne houses produced different cuvées of varying quality, but a top-of-the-range wine produced to the highest standards (and priced accordingly) was a new idea. In fact, Louis Roederer had been producing Cristal since 1876, but this was strictly for the private consumption of the Russian tsar. Cristal was made publicly available with the 1945 vintage