Champagne Quiz Flashcards

1
Q

What parallel does Champagne lie?

A

Between 48 - 49.5 degrees

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2
Q

What is the climate in Champagne?

A

Dual - Continental and Maritime

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3
Q

What are weather threats?

A

Low temps
Frost
Hail
Fog
Rain
Humidity

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4
Q

Soils of Champagne?

A

3 types
Chalk
Limestone
Sand/Clay

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5
Q

What is the best chalk in Champagne?

A

Belemite

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6
Q

What are the 2 types of chalk?

A

Belemite - dart like squid
Micraster - sea urchin

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7
Q

What soils does Pinot Noir prefer?

A

Limestone rich marls

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8
Q

What do clay soils produce?

A

Tight and taut wines that need aging

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9
Q

What do sandy soil wins produce?

A

Easy drinking open wines that are fruit forward

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10
Q

What is the most northern part of Champagne?

A

Massif de St-Thierry

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11
Q

What is the most southern part of Champagne?

A

Les Riceys

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12
Q

What type of chalk is found in the upper to mid vineyard slopes, and so is ideal for sun exposure and water drainage?

A

Belemite

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13
Q

What is the name of the upland sub-region to the north of Épernay?

A

Montagne de Reims

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14
Q

Who was baptised in Reims on Christmas Day 496, by Saint Remigius, the Bishop of Reims?

A

Clovis

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15
Q

Which Champagne house can claim to be the oldest?

A

Ruinart

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16
Q

What is the best root stock in Chalk soils?

A

41B keeps chlorosis eg iron deficiency away

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17
Q

What training method is used exclusively for Meunier?

A

Vallée de la Marne training protects against frost

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18
Q

What is the term for blending the various base wines – vins clairs – to create the cuvée?

A

Assemblage

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19
Q

What names can be given for the mixture added to each bottle towards the end of the process that defines the champagne style?

A

Liqueur de Dosage
Liqueur d’Expedition

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20
Q

Which champagne grape gives the least amount of acidity to a blend?

A

Pinot Noir

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21
Q

What is the 3rd most planted grape in Champagne?

A

Chardonnay

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22
Q

What is the ranking of grapes in Champagne?

A
  1. Pinot Noir 38%
  2. Meunier 32%
  3. Chardonnay 30%
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23
Q

Name the AOCs in Champagne?

A
  1. Rosé des Riceys - PN 100%
  2. Coteaux Champenois - 2X production from Ricey
  3. Champagne AOC - Only sparkling
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24
Q

Number of villages
Grand Cru
Premier Grand Cru

A

17
42

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25
Q

In which sub-region of Champagne is Rosé des Riceys produced?

A

Côte des Bar

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26
Q

What is the system for deciding whether a village is a Premier Cru, Grand Cru, or neither, called?

A

Échelle des Crus

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26
Q

What can Blanc de Noirs be made from?

A

Although Blanc de Noirs champagnes are most associated with Pinot Noir, Meunier can also be used – or they can be a blend of both.

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27
Q

Tirage

A

Bottling

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27
Q

Cuvee?

A

Used for both the purest part of the pressed juice and a blend.

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27
Q

Dégorgement

A

Removal of the yeast sediment from the bottle.

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27
Q

If your bottle of Champagne is made solely from grapes grown in the Côte des Blancs, what style of champagne are you most likely to be drinking?

A

Blanc de Blancs
since almost 100% Chardonnay grown there

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28
Q

What can Blanc de Blanc be made from

A

Chardonnay
Pinot Blanc
Pinot Gris
Arbanne
Petit Meslier

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29
Q

Vins Clairs

A

The still wines, after the first fermentation but before bottling – the base wines.

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30
Q

The solution of wine and sugar to sweeten champage?

A

Dosage

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30
Q

Blending the base wines

A

Assemblage

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30
Q

Machine and handpicked?

A

The AOC regulations state that grapes for champagne have to be picked by hand.

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31
Q

Turning, twisting, shaking and tilting the bottles to move the sediment to the neck

A

Remuage

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32
Q

Which French King championed champagne and is said to have drunk it with every meal?

A

Louis the XIV

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33
Q

Which Champagne sub-region has the same soils as those in Chablis – Kimmeridgean Marls?

A

Côte des Bar

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34
Q

Production Stages

A
  1. Assemblage - blend
  2. Tirage - bottle
  3. Élevage - 2nd ferm
  4. Rémuage - riddling
  5. Dégorgement
  6. Dosage
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34
Q

Vintage

A

12 months on the lees and 36 months in total, minimum.

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34
Q

Non-vintage

A

12 months on the lees and 15 months in total, minimum.

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35
Q

Pinot Noir adds:

A

Moderate ABV and lowest Acidity

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35
Q

In what type of vessel is most champagne fermented?

A

Stainless steel tanks

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36
Q

Chardonnay adds:

A

High ABV and Acidity

37
Q

Why is the Champagne region relatively small?

A

The Champagne region is relatively small because the vineyards are planted on chalky slopes, rather than the arable flatland which covers most of the region.

38
Q

Meunier adds:

A

Least ABV & moderate Acidity

39
Q

Pinot Gris was name what in 9th-16th C

A

Fromenteau

40
Q

How are most Rosé made?

A

Although some Rosé champagne is made by the saignée method, most gets its color from the base wine being a blend of white with some red wine added.

41
Q

What does “Prise de Mousse” refer to?


A

2nd Fermentation

“Prise de Mousse” literally means to seize the foam and refers to the second fermentation that creates the sparkle in the champagne – which the French call the “mousse”

42
Q

If a champagne producer only vinifies grapes from their own vineyards, which producer code should they show on their label ?

A

RM: Récoltant-Manipulant

43
Q

What traumatic, historic event reduced the size of the Champagne region to a fifth of its previous size?

A

Phylloxera

44
Q

Before the Champagne Method was perfected in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the wines of Champagne were produced using a less sophisticated process. This is still used in other regions – what is it called?

A

Ancestral Method

45
Q

List in order of sweetness

A

Brut Nature
Extra Brut
Brut
Extra Sec/Dry
Sec
Demi-Sec
Doux

46
Q

Champagne producer who buys grapes from others

A

NM: Négociant-Manipulant

47
Q

A cellar which vinifies grapes for its members

A

CM: Cooperative-Manipulant

48
Q

Grape owners who jointly vinify and sell to 1 communal brand(s)

A

SR: Société de Récoltants

49
Q

Grape grower affiliated with winemaking Coop

A

RC - Réclotant-Cooperateur

50
Q

Private label wines registered by a group or individual

A

MA - Marque Auxillaire

51
Q

What is “disgorgement”?

A

Removal of yeast after the 2nd fermentation

52
Q

What is “disgorgement à la volée”?

A

Disgorgement by hand, as opposed to by machine.

53
Q

What is the climate of the Champagne region?

A

Continental with maritime influences

54
Q

What is a “mosser”?

A

A whisk used to release trapped gas from wine.

54
Q

In what year did the King of France allow wine to be sold and transported in bottle?

A

1728

55
Q

What is the most popular style of Champagne?

A

Brut Non-Vintage

56
Q

Which city was historically the capital of the Champagne region?

A

Troyes

56
Q

What is chalk?

A

A porous limestone – a sedimentary rock composed of calcium carbonate.

57
Q

Which was the first Champagne house?

A

Ruinart – founded in 1729.

58
Q

How are Champagne vineyards ranked?

A

It is the village that is ranked and not the individual vineyards.

59
Q

In Champagne, which is the higher ranking, “Grand Cru” or “Premier Cru”?

A

Grand Cru

60
Q

What are the two types of chalk found in Champagne?

A

Belemnite and Micraster

61
Q

What is Kimmeridgean Marl?

A

A limestone-rich clay whose dominant fossil is Exogyra virgula, a small comma-shaped oyster.

62
Q

What is the dominant grape variety grown in the Grande Montagne de Reims?

A

Pinot Noir

63
Q

What is the dominant grape variety grown in the Vallée de la Marne?

A

Meunier

64
Q

What is a “Mono-Cru”

A

A single village

65
Q

What is a “Mono-Parcelle”

A

A single vineyard

66
Q

What is the dominant fossil found in Belemnite chalk?

A

Ancient dart-like relatives of the modern-day squid.

66
Q

What is a “Blanc de Blancs”?

A

A white wine made from white grapes, the term is more commonly used for sparkling wines than still.

66
Q

What is the dominant grape variety of the Côte des Blancs?

A

Chardonnay

67
Q

What is a gyropalette?

A

A mechanized riddling machine.

67
Q

List the seven dosage levels from driest to sweetest.

A

Brut Nature

Extra Brut

Brut

Extra Sec (or Extra Dry)

Sec (Dry)

Demi-Sec

Doux

68
Q

What is the dominant grape variety of the Côte de Sézanne?

A

Chardonnay

69
Q

What is a “Blanc de Noirs”?

A

A white wine made from black grapes, the term is more commonly used for sparkling wines than still.

69
Q

What does the abbreviation “RM” refer to on a Champagne label?

A

Récoltant-Manipulant; a producer who vinifies only their own estate-grown grapes.

70
Q

What are the four authorized (but ancillary) grape varieties of Champagne?

A

Pinot Gris

Pinot Blanc

Arbane

Petit Meslier

70
Q

What are the three principal grape varieties of Champagne?

A

Pinot Noir

Meunier

Chardonnay

71
Q

What was the contribution of Veuve Cliquot (Ponsardin) to the champagne method?

A

The development of the riddling process.

72
Q

Describe Grand Cru

A

The grapes for “Grand Cru” Champagne are sourced from one, or more, of the 17 Grand Cru villages.

73
Q

What is a “Perpetual Reserve”?

A

A vat of reserve wine in which multiple vintages of wine are aged together in the same vessel – similar to a solera.

74
Q

What is a “Tête de Cuvée”?

A

A champagne house’s prestige cuvée.

75
Q

What is the difference between AOC Coteaux Champenois and AOC Champagne?

A

AOC Coteaux Champenois wines are still, while AOC Champagne wines are sparkling.

76
Q

Which grape variety is the most widely planted in Champagne?

A

Pinot Noir

76
Q

What are the “crayères”?

A

Chalk quarries dug by the Romans and now used as cellars for aging Champagne.

77
Q

There is a set blending formula for the Champagne AOC.

True or False?

A

FALSE.

Every champagne house has its own blend and house style.

78
Q

What does the abbreviation “NM” refer to on a Champagne label?

A

Négociant-Manipulant; a champagne producer that includes grapes purchased from other growers in their wines.

79
Q

What is “remuage”?

A

Riddling; the turning and tilting of champagne bottles from horizontal to vertical to collect the lees in the neck.

80
Q

What is the dominant grape variety of the Côte des Bar?

A

Pinot Noir - 85%

80
Q

What is another term for “liqueur d’expédition”?

A

Dosage

80
Q

What is “transversage”?

A

The process of using 750 ml bottles to fill larger or smaller bottles.

81
Q

What is the “prise de mousse”?

A

“Seizing of the foam”; in champagne production this is the second alcoholic fermentation, which creates the bubbles.

81
Q

What is the “liqueur d’expédition”?

A

The mix of sugar and still reserve wine added to champagne after dégorgement and before the cork is inserted.

82
Q

What is the primary grape variety of Rosé des Riceys?

A

Pinot Noir

83
Q

What river flows through Côte des Bar?

A

Aube River

84
Q

What are the 2 Côte des Bar terroirs?

A

Barsur-Aubois
Flanks Aube River and Barséquanais

85
Q

How much Chardonnay is produced in Côte des Blancs?

A

97%

86
Q

What are the terroirs of Vallée de la Marne

A

6 Total
1. Grand Vallée de la Marne
2. Vallée de la Marne Rive Gauche
3. Vallée de la Marne Rive Droit
4. Ouest
5. Conde
6. Côteaux Sud d’Epernay

87
Q

What are the five terroirs of Côte des Blancs?

A
  1. Côte des Blanc - most famous
  2. Val du Petit Morin
  3. Côte de Sézanne
  4. Vitryat
  5. Montguex
88
Q

What are the 2 terroirs of Cóte de Bar

A
  1. Bar sur Aubois
  2. Barséquanais
89
Q
A
90
Q

8 permitted grapes in Champagne

A

Voltis
Arbane
Petit Meslier
Pinot Gris
Pinot Blanc
Meunier
Pinot Noir
Chardonnay