Chapter 7

Question 1

T/F: Sparkling wines are a kind of table or natural wine which contain large amounts of dissolved carbon dioxide gas

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Which is the most common method of producing sparkling wines?

Answer 2

Trap the CO2 from a second alcoholic fermentation

Question 3

You have just inherited a vineyard of Grenache grapes–a red variety which has been used for mass-market blush varietal wines by some producers–and you want to make an inexpensive, fresh, fruity sparkling wine. You hire a consulting enologist who recommends you build a winery for the ____ process.

Answer 3

Tank fermentation (or Charmat process).

Question 4

According to the legend, the methode champenoise was discovered by ___ sometime during the period ____ to ___

Answer 4

Dom Perignon: 1668-1715

Question 5

T/F: The term “champagne” may be used on the label for a wine made in any part of France as long as the precise steps that are prescribed by the French law for the methode champenoise process are followed.

Answer 5

False. Champagne may only be used–in France and other countries who agreed to follow this law–for wines produced in the Champagne district of France. For the Champagne district, French label law sets a variety of general grape growing and winemaking guidelines including the maximum yields of fruit per hectare and the allowed yield of juice per ton, and specifies which varieties may be used as well as other general winemaking procedures, however, there is no precise legal definition of “methode champenoise”

Question 6

Which grape variety below is not likely to be used for methode champenoise sparkling wine production in France or California?

Answer 6

Sauvignon Blanc

Question 7

To emulate the characteristics of grapes produced under conditions in France’s Champagne district, ____grape growing regions are preferred and the grapes are harvested____ wherever methode champenoise wines are made.

Answer 7

Cool, early

Question 8

T/F: Recognizable varietal aroma is not usually sought in grapes to be used for the methode champenoise

Answer 8

True

Question 9

The blended wine that will be bottled for a second fermentation is called the vin de _____.

Answer 9

cuvee

Question 10

T/F: Pressing whole clusters is one fruit-handling procedure which was originally developed to minimize color extraction from dark skinned Pinot Noir grapes

Answer 10

True

Question 11

Why are the fruit-handling techniques developed to minimize color extraction from Pinot Noir also used to handle Chardonnay for methode Champenoise?

Answer 11

Because those procedures minimize tannin extraction as well

Question 12

T/F: In sparkling wine production, as in white table wine production, the wines produced from the free-run juices are of higher quality and those from the harder pressings are distilled.

Answer 12

True

Question 13

The most prestigious wine of a sparkling wine producer may be called______.

Answer 13

Tete de cuvee

Question 14

What is reserve wine and how is its used in methode champenoise sparkling wine production?

Answer 14

Reserve wines are blends of stil wines from previous vintages which are added to cuvees to minimize vintage-to-vintage variation, especially in a producer’s non-vintage champagnes.

Question 15

About how much of a cuvee would be made up of reserve wine?

Answer 15

As much as 20-30%

Question 16

T/F: You would expect to see about the same proportion of vintage-dated wines among the sparkling wines are among the varietal table wines on the shelves of your wine shop.

Answer 16

False. Vintage-dated varietal table wines are much more common than vintage-dated sparkling wines. This is especially the case of US wines because the labeling law requires that 95% of the wine be from the vintage named and reserve wines from earlier vintages commonly constitute more than the allowed 5% from other harvests. In the case of French Champagnes the statement is also false because a vintage dateis only used in those years when the wine is exceptionally good.

Question 17

Which producer would encourage the malolactic fermentation?

Answer 17

Domaine Longtaste whose vineyardsare in the coldest regions and who specialize in the driest, longest-aged, most complex sparkling wines.

Question 18

T/F: The wines to be blended into a cuvee would not be very attractive as still table wines because they would seem too tart, too low in alcohol, and lacking in varietal character.

Answer 18

True

Question 19

Why is experience particularly important for winemakers who are blending the wines for a cuvee?

Answer 19

Because they must be able to envision what the wine will be like in 2-4 years– after it is fermented a second time and after a period of aging on the yeast in the bottle.

Question 20

A cuvee blended from white grapes only is called______ and if only red grapes are used it is _________.

Answer 20

Blanc de Blancs, Blac de Noirs.

Question 21

Why are sugar and yeast nutrients added along with an actively growing yeast culture to start the prise de mousse.

Answer 21

Because the wines blended to make the cuvee had been fermented to dryness, there is no fermentable sugar in the cuvee. In addition, the yeast that caused the alcoholic fermentation to occur probably depleted other essential nutrients while converting the sugar to alcohol.

Question 22

The term for drawing off the cuvee with its yeast, sugar, and nutrients into bottles for the second fermentation is: ___

Answer 22

tirage

Question 23

T/F: Because the conditions are so different–low sugar, high alcohol. increasing CO2 pressure–from those of the first alcoholic fermentation, yeast for the prise de mousse are often of a different strain of species.

Answer 23

True

Question 24

In methode champenoise, the wine ages with the yeast for about:

Answer 24

2-4 years

Question 25

What are the two processes that occur during aging of the champenoise sur lie?

Answer 25

The wine matures and gains the complexity which comes from bottle aging and yeast autolysis (the cells dissolve themselves) adding important champagne bouquet elements and enabling the CO2 to remain dissolved in the wine longer.

Question 26

The process of collecting the yeast for removal is:____

Answer 26

riddling

Question 27

After the yeast cells are collected, the bottles may be stored neck down until the yeast cells are removed during:___

Answer 27

disgorging

Question 28

The sugar is adjusted in the methode champenoise after the yeast is removed. The step is called:

Answer 28

dosage

Question 29

The neck of the bottles are frozen in the _____ step in order to ______ collected by ______.

Answer 29

Disgorging, trap the yeast, riddling

Question 30

T/F: YOu should wait 6-9 months after the yeast removal and sugar addition steps to drink methode champenoise wines. This period is recommended to allow the added sugar to become integrated into the wine.

Answer 30

True

Question 31

T/F: After the re-corking that follows the removal of the yeast and adjustment of sugar, sparkling wines develop in the bottle in much the same way as do white table wines.

Answer 31

False, because they are saturated with CO2, sparkling wines don’t undergo the same chemical changes as white table wines. Sparkling wines will not change as much as do white table wines in the bottle.

Question 32

T/F: Most methode champenoise sparkling wines are best if drunk within 2-3 years after they are released.

Answer 32

True, but some vintage and reserve sparkling wines can best be enjoyed many years after disgorging.

Question 33

About ___% of sparklingwine made inthe US is produced by the methode champenoise process.

Answer 33

17

Question 34

Describe the transfer process.

Answer 34

The transfer process is a method of producing sparkling wines in which the wines undergo their second fermentation in bottles which are then oeend and their pooled wine filtered to remove the yeast, receive a dosage, and be rebottled

Question 35

T/F: Sparkling wines made by the Charmat process reflect the fruity, youthful characteristics of the grapes they are made from because the process can be complete relatively quickly.

Answer 35

True

Question 36

Charmat process wines have ___ yeast character compared to methode champenoise wines.

Answer 36

Very limited

Question 37

One of the great advantages of tank fermentation for sparkling wines is low production costs. This is one important basis for the fact that about __% of US sparkling wine is made by the method by about ___ large-scale producers.

Answer 37

75%;10

Question 38

Imported sparkling wine makes up about __% of the U.S. market

Answer 38

29

Question 39

An example of sparkling wine made up by trapping the CO2 from only one alcoholic fermentation is:

Answer 39

Asti Spumante

Question 40

T/F: A Brut Charmat Process wine will probably be drier than a Brut sparkling wine made by the methode champenoise

Answer 40

False. It will probably be the opposite, Charmat being sweeter.

Question 41

T/F: Scrupulous rinsing of glasses is important to avoid accelerated bubble dissipation while tasting sparkling wines.

Answer 41

True

Question 42

T/F: To fully enjoy a sparkling wine it should be served in a flute so its bubbles will be displayed properly, and, unlike table wine, the glasses would be filled nearly all the way to the brim.

Answer 42

True