General Flashcards
Dom Perignon was the cellar master at what Abbey? From when to when?
- Abbey of Hautvillers
- from 1668 until his death in 1715
Vineyards in Champagne date back to what century?
5th century
Oldest Champagne house still in operation today and year founded
- Gosset, founded 1584 as still wine producer
- Ruinart, est 1729, can claim to be the oldest sparkling Champagne house
Jean-Antoine Chaptal
French chemist and statesman for whom the process of chaptalization is named, identified the relationship between sugar and fermentation in a seminal 1801 work.
Andre Francois
Andre Francois figured out the measurement of the precise amount of sugar required to induce second fermentation without breaking the bottle.
1st Brut Champagne
- Pommery “Nature”
- 1874
Year Champagne region was delimited by the French government
1908
Year Aube was reinstated as a full region of Champagne
1927
Commision de Chalons
Year est.
- Consortium of growers and merchants formed to develop quality standards and regulate pricing
- 1935
Champagne
4 permitted pruning methods
- Cordon de Royat
- Chablis
- Vallee de la Marne
- Guyot (double and simple)
Champagne
Avg. vine age
around 20 years
- as the lower productivity of old vines is undesirable to most houses in Champagne
Number of villages with grand cru status
17 grand crus
Number of villages classified as premier cru
42 premier cru
- acording to their rankings in the Echelle de Crus
echelle (“scale”) rating for grand cru village
100
echelle rating for classified premier cru
90 - 99
NM (Negociant Manipulant)
3 examples
- Moet et Chandon
- Louis Roederer
- Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin
- Billecart-Salmon
- Lanson
- Taittinger
- Pol Roger
- Perrier Jouet
- Mumm
- Laurient-Perrier
larger Champagne houses with the most interantional presence are invariably in this category
NM
Negociant Manipulant
- 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
RM
Recoltant Manipulant
- Grower-producer who makes Champagne from estate-grown fruit
- 95% of the grapes must originate in the producer’s own vineyards
CM
Cooperative Manipulant
- Grower’s co-operative that produces the wine under a single brand
RC
Recoltant Cooperateur
- Grower whose grapes are vinified at a co-operative, but sells the wine under his own label
SR
Societe de Recoltants
- 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
ND
Negociant Distributeur
- 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
MA
Marche d’Acheteur
Buyer’s own brand, often a large supermarket chain or restaurant, that purchases Champagne and sells it under its own label
RM (Recoltant Manipulant)
% of the grapes that must originate in the producer’s own vineyards
95%
Number of liters of must that may be extracted from 160 kg of grapes
Year CIVC set the limit
- 102 liters of must / 160 kg of grapes
- or, 2,550 liters / 4,000 kg
- CIVC set the limit in 1992
The 2,550 liters of must, extracted from the 4,000 kg of grapes, is pressed and divided into what two parts?
- vin de cuvee (first 2,050 liters)
- vin de taille (the following 500 liters) - 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
Vin de cuvee
1st 2,050 liters of the press
(out of a total of 2,550 liters)
Vin de taille
500 liters from the 2nd part of the press
(out of a total 2,550 liters)
3rd press, required by law
rebeche
- Must comprise 1-10% of the total
- Used for distillate, not Champagne
How long does 2nd fermentation generally last?
up to 8 weeks
- As the yeast slowly convert the additional sugar to alcohol and carbon dioxide
Appx alcohol increase after 2nd fermentation
1.2-1.3%
Philipponnat ‘Clos de Goisses’
Vintage of the original release
1935
- Benchmark botting for Single Vineyard Champagne
Special Club
- Year est.
- Number of grower-producers at the time
- 1971
- 12 grower-producers
dosage, liqueur d’expedition
Liquid mixture of sugar syrup and wine added after degorgement that determines level of sweetness
Wire cage on a bottle of Champagne
muselet