Champagne/Sparkling Wine Flashcards
What are Dom Perignon’s contributions to Champagne?
lie in the techniques of assemblage (blending) and viticulture
Where was Dom Perignon a cellarmaster?
Abbey of Hautvillers from 1668 until his death in 1715
Back in the 17th century was the vessel for Champagne and what did they transition to?
the English transferred Champagne from cask to stronger, coal-fired glass that could contain the pressure, and were likely the first to enjoy true sparkling Champagne
What is the oldest Champagne house still in operation today?
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).
Who created remuage/riddling?
Madame Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin, the Veuve (“widow”) Clicquot
Who is Jean-Antoine Chaptal?
the French chemist and statesman for whom the process of chaptalization is named, identified the relationship between sugar and fermentation in a seminal 1801 work.
Who is André François’?
pharmacist André François’ measurement of the precise amount of sugar required to induce it without breaking the bottle, allowed Champagne houses to produce sparkling wines with greater confidence.
In 1908, the French government delimited the Champagne region. What happened when they did that?
Vignerons from the southern Aube region, who had long supplied Champagne houses with base white wine, protested and nearly rioted in 1911 after being excluded from the region. The Aube was reinstated as a full region of the appellation in 1927.
What year was the Aube reinstated as a full region of the appellation?
1927
In (year) the Commission de Châlons, a consortium of growers and merchants, was formed to develop quality standards and regulate pricing.
1935
When did phylloxera strike Champagne?
1890’s
When was the Comité Interprofessional du Vin de Champagne (CIVC) created?
in 1941 during Nazi Occupation
Commission de Châlons, 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.
When was Moët et Chandon’s “Dom Pérignon,” first released?
1921
What are the largest export markets of Champagne?
UK
USA
Germany
Japan
The region of Champagne is located between the (blank and blank) parallels.
48th and 49th
Whats the average temp in Champagne?
With a mean annual temperature of only 50°F, ripening is extremely variable, and quality can differ greatly from year to year, requiring the houses of Champagne to blend between vintages to achieve a consistency in their house styles.
What are the viticultural threats of Champagne?
Frost, rain, fungal disease and hail are serious concerns for growers in the cold, Atlantic-influenced climate. Rain often interrupts flowering, resulting in a bouvreux, or second crop, that rarely ripens and is left on the vine.
What are the soil types of Champagne?
Belemnite chalk, derived from the fossilized remains of millions of extinct cephalopods, has a high limestone content, which allows vine roots to dig deeply and is linked to increased acidity.
A second layer of micraster chalk, named for an extinct sea urchin, characterizes the valley vineyards.
A thin layer of clay and sand covers much of the chalk in Champagne
What is special about the belemnite chalk subsoil?
belemnite chalk subsoil is pushed to the surface on the appellation’s slopes, absorbing heat to protect the vines at night and providing excellent drainage in the wet climate.
What is the soil in the Aube?
in the Aube to the south clay is the dominant soil type.
When was composting outlawed?
The Champenoise have a long history of relying on recycled Parisian garbage to fertilize their vineyards. Composting is admirable, but the portion of inorganic and toxic waste grew over time, and the practice was outlawed in 1998. Les bleus de ville remain, a reminder to a new generation of growers and caretakers.
What are the three main grapes for Champagne production?
Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and the black grape Meunier (formerly Pinot Meunier—“miller’s” Pinot—named for the dusty appearance of its leaves).
In 2018, what the percentage of plantings for the three main grapes?
Pinot Noir accounted for 38% of total plantings
Chardonnay accounted for 31%
Pinot Meunier accounted for 31%
What characteristics do the three grapes provide to Champagne?
Chardonnay provides elegance and longevity
Pinot Noir supports the wine’s structure, richness and body
Pinot Meunier lends a youthful fruitiness and approachability.
What are the grapes that could be used in Champagne?
Pinot Blanc Vrai (“true” Pinot Blanc, a white form of Pinot Noir)
Arbane
Pinot Gris
Petit Meslier
There are 0.3% of these plantings out there
Only four pruning methods are permitted. What are they?
Cordon de Royat, Chablis, Vallée de la Marne, and Guyot (double and simple)
What is the average vine age in Champagne?
20 years
In 1992, the CIVC set a limit of 102 liters of must for every 160 kg of grapes, or 2,550 liters per 4,000 kg—a marc of grapes, the amount held in a traditional Coquard basket press. This restriction brings the final yield to (blank)
66 hl/ha.
What are the three main towns of Champagne?
Reims
Épernay
Aÿ
The 357 villages authorized to grow grapes for Champagne are split between five districts. What are they?
Montagne de Reims Vallée de la Marne Côte des Blancs Côte de Sézanne Côte des Bar in the Aube département.
Where is Pinot Noir dominate?
Montagne de Reims and the Aube
Where is Chardonnay dominant?
Cote de Sezanne
Where is majority of Pinot Meunier planted?
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 is Cru status awarded?
Cru status is awarded to entire villages in Champagne, rather than individual vineyards or properties.
How many villages are grand cru and premier cru?
17 villages have grand cru status
42 are classified as premier cru according to their rankings in the Échelle de Crus.
What is 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.
What is the Échelle de Crus?
Until 1990, the CIVC set the price of grapes through the Échelle de Crus, a percentile system by which the villages, or crus, of the Champagne appellation are rated.
What is the Echelle de Crus rating system?
Villages that achieved the maximum échelle (“scale”) of 100 were classified as grands crus;
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.
Villages with a rating below 90 were simply crus. Originally, the Échelle de Crus was a true percentile system;
In the early 2000’s what was abolished?
Échelle de Crus
the CIVC abolished the system entirely, but the premier and grand cru villages retain their titles, and producers may continue to label wines from these villages as such.
What are the digits on every bottle of Champagne?
Every bottle of Champagne bears a series of digits—the matriculation number—a code assigned to each
producer by the CIVC. A set of initials precedes the number, denoting the type of producer who made the wine.
What is a 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 are 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 are CM (Coopérative Manipulant)?
A growers’ co-operative that produces the wine under a single brand.
What are 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 are 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 are ND (Négociant Distributeur)?
A middleman company that distributes Champagne it did not make.
What are 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.
What is vin de cuvee and vin de taille?
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).
The vin de taille is usually richer in pigment and tannin, and many producers sell off this lesser component of the must or include it in a minor proportion as a structural element in a blend.
What is rebêche?
A third extraction, the 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.
What are vin clairs?
The base wine
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%.
What is liqueur de tirage?
a mixture of still wine, yeasts, sugar, and fining agents that will serve to ignite the second fermentation.
What is the second fermentation also called?
prise de mousse
How long does secondary fermentation last up to?
8 weeks
How long is lees aging required?
The wine will be aged on the lees for an appropriate period—a minimum of 12 months is required for non-vintage wines—prior to their removal from the bottle through dégorgement.
What is a pupitre?
wo large wooden planks fastened together in an upright “A” shape, with sixty angled holes cut into each plank of wood.
for remuage/riddiling
How long does riddiling last?
typically 8 weeks
What is a gyropalette?
automated device that holds 504 bottles
cava producers created it
What is dosage?
a mixture of sugar syrup and wine
What are the sweetness levels of champagne?
Brut Nature/Non-Dosé Extra Brut Brut Extra Dry Sec Demi-Sec Doux
What are the residual sugar ranges for the sweetness levels?
Brut Nature/Non-Dosé - 0-3 grams per liter, no added dosage
Extra Brut - 0-6 grams per liter Brut - 0-12 grams per liter Extra Dry - 12-17 grams per liter Sec - 17-32 grams per liter Demi-Sec - 32-50 grams per liter Doux - 50+ grams per liter
What is a muselet?
a wire cage that is put on top of the cork
What are the aging requirements for NV Champagne?
Non-vintage styles must remain in the cellar for a total minimum of 15 months (including the period of lees aging),
What are the aging requirements for vintage Champagne?
whereas vintage wines require 36 months in the cellar.
What are the Champagne bottle sizes?
Name some Prestige Cuvee (Tete de Cuvee).
Moët et Chandon “Dom Pérignon,”
Taittinger “Comtes de Champagne,”
Louis Roederer “Cristal,”
Laurent-Perrier “Grande Siècle,”
Perrier-Jouët “Belle Époque” (previously bottled as “Fleur de Champagne” for the US market),
Pol Roger “Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill,”
Ruinart “Dom Ruinart,”
Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin “La Grande Dame.”
Philipponnat’s “Clos de Goisses,” first released?
1935
What is special club?
The “Special Club” concept originated in 1971, with a dozen grower-producers. Lacking the marketing budgets of larger houses, these producers banded together to promote their prestige cuvées through identical packaging. The Club Trésors comprises 28 RM producers as members. The Special Club bottlings are estate-bottled, vintage-dated wines that represent the pinnacle of each individual grower’s style and production. Special Club bottles and labels share identical design. Current members include Marc Hébrart, Pierre Gimonnet, Paul Bara, J. Lassalle and Gaston Chiquet.
When did the special club originate?
1971
True or False: Champagne is the only AOP in France that allows a rosé to be produced by blending red and white wine. A rosé prestige cuvée, a novelty in years past, is usually the most expensive and rare product a house offers.
True
Name two still wine appellations in Champagne?
Coteaux Champenois and Rosé de Riceys are still wine appellations within the region of Champagne. Coteaux Champenois covers still red, white, and rosé wines from the entire appellation; Rosé de Riceys is reserved for 100% Pinot Noir rosé wines produced in Les Riceys, a cru village in the Aube.
For vintage dated wine how much can the harvest be sold?
Max. 80% of a year’s harvest may be sold as vintage Champagne
What is the Continuous Method/Russian Continuous Method?
Developed in the USSR, this method is similar to the tank method, but the base wine is pumped through a series of interconnected (continuous) tanks while undergoing the second fermentation. Liqueur de tirage is constantly added to the wine, and lees accumulate in the first several tanks, offering a higher degree of autolyzed flavors than the standard tank method. The majority of German Sekt is produced by either the tank method or the continuous method.
What is the most common grape found in Montagne de Reims?
Pinot Noir
What is the most southerly region of Champagne?
The Aube
True or False: Champagne AOP is the only French appellation NOT required to place Appellation Contrôlée (or Protégée) on the label.
True
For vintage-labeled Champagne, what is the minimum percentage of grapes that must be from the indicated vintage?
100%
What does “RM” indicate on a bottle of Champagne?
The wine was produced by a grower-producer.
What is dosage?
An addition of sugar and wine that determines the wine’s final sweetness.
In which region does the Salon estate produce wine?
Côte des Blancs
Champagne vineyards are best characterized by which of the following soil types?
Chalk
is the French term for the release of older vintages of base wine for use in assemblage.
Deblocage
A finished Champagne with a residual sugar of 20 g/L would be labeled with which of the following designations?
Sec
In which country does the Jansz estate produce sparkling wine?
Australia
Which of the following indicates a growers’ co-operative that produces the wine under a single brand?
Coopérative Manipulant
Which region contains the village of Aÿ?
Vallée de la Marne
True or False: All members of the Club Trésors must bottle their submitted wines with the same bottle shape.
True
How many villages in the Champagne AOP are designated as Grand Cru?
17
How many five-ounce glasses of Champagne would a Jeroboam yield? (Assume exact pours)
20
Which of the following designations produces wines most similar to Champagne?
Franciacorta
During the second fermentation of sparkling wine, the bottles are usually stored horizontally in the ________ position.
sur latte
Select the permitted method(s) of dégorgement for Champagne.
dégorgement à la volée
dégorgement à la glace
Crémant wines must spend a minimum
(blank) months on the lees prior to release.
9 months
Which region contains the village of Aÿ?
Vallée de la Marne
The second fermentation, or (blank)
, is the heart of the méthode Champenoise.
prise de mousse
True or False: Rosé Champagne must be produced via the saignée method.
False
What are the Champagne Grand Crus Villages of Montagne de Reims?
Sillery Puisieulx Verzenay Beaumont-Sur-Vesle Verzy Mailly-Champagne Louvois Bouzy Ambonnay
What are the Grand Cru Villages of Vallée de la Marne?
Aÿ
Tours-sur-Marne
What are the Grand Cru Villages of the Cote des Blancs?
Chouilly, Oiry (off to the east of Couilly) Cramant Avize Oger Le Mesnil-sur-Oger
How many Montagne de Reims Premier Cru Villages?
25
How many Vallée de la Marne Premier Cru Villages?
8
How many Côte des Blancs Premier Cru Villages?
9
Name some members of the Special Club.
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) Nominé-Renard (Villevenard) Pertois-Moriset (Le Mesnil-sur-Oger) Salmon (Chaumuzy) Sanchez-Le Guédard (Cumières) Vazart-Coquart et Fils (Chouilly)
