Chapter 7 Flashcards
T/F: Sparkling wines are a kind of table or natural wine which contain large amounts of dissolved carbon dioxide gas
True
Which is the most common method of producing sparkling wines?
Trap the CO2 from a second alcoholic fermentation
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.
Tank fermentation (or Charmat process).
According to the legend, the methode champenoise was discovered by ___ sometime during the period ____ to ___
Dom Perignon: 1668-1715
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.
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”
Which grape variety below is not likely to be used for methode champenoise sparkling wine production in France or California?
Sauvignon Blanc
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.
Cool, early
T/F: Recognizable varietal aroma is not usually sought in grapes to be used for the methode champenoise
True
The blended wine that will be bottled for a second fermentation is called the vin de _____.
cuvee
T/F: Pressing whole clusters is one fruit-handling procedure which was originally developed to minimize color extraction from dark skinned Pinot Noir grapes
True
Why are the fruit-handling techniques developed to minimize color extraction from Pinot Noir also used to handle Chardonnay for methode Champenoise?
Because those procedures minimize tannin extraction as well
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.
True
The most prestigious wine of a sparkling wine producer may be called______.
Tete de cuvee
What is reserve wine and how is its used in methode champenoise sparkling wine production?
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.
About how much of a cuvee would be made up of reserve wine?
As much as 20-30%
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.
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.
Which producer would encourage the malolactic fermentation?
Domaine Longtaste whose vineyardsare in the coldest regions and who specialize in the driest, longest-aged, most complex sparkling wines.
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.
True
Why is experience particularly important for winemakers who are blending the wines for a cuvee?
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.
A cuvee blended from white grapes only is called______ and if only red grapes are used it is _________.
Blanc de Blancs, Blac de Noirs.
Why are sugar and yeast nutrients added along with an actively growing yeast culture to start the prise de mousse.
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.
The term for drawing off the cuvee with its yeast, sugar, and nutrients into bottles for the second fermentation is: ___
tirage
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.
True
In methode champenoise, the wine ages with the yeast for about:
2-4 years
What are the two processes that occur during aging of the champenoise sur lie?
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.
The process of collecting the yeast for removal is:____
riddling
After the yeast cells are collected, the bottles may be stored neck down until the yeast cells are removed during:___
disgorging
The sugar is adjusted in the methode champenoise after the yeast is removed. The step is called:
dosage
The neck of the bottles are frozen in the _____ step in order to ______ collected by ______.
Disgorging, trap the yeast, riddling
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.
True
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.
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.
T/F: Most methode champenoise sparkling wines are best if drunk within 2-3 years after they are released.
True, but some vintage and reserve sparkling wines can best be enjoyed many years after disgorging.
About ___% of sparklingwine made inthe US is produced by the methode champenoise process.
17
Describe the transfer process.
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
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.
True
Charmat process wines have ___ yeast character compared to methode champenoise wines.
Very limited
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.
75%;10
Imported sparkling wine makes up about __% of the U.S. market
29
An example of sparkling wine made up by trapping the CO2 from only one alcoholic fermentation is:
Asti Spumante
T/F: A Brut Charmat Process wine will probably be drier than a Brut sparkling wine made by the methode champenoise
False. It will probably be the opposite, Charmat being sweeter.
T/F: Scrupulous rinsing of glasses is important to avoid accelerated bubble dissipation while tasting sparkling wines.
True
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.
True
