History

Question 0

Sparkling wines made in the fashion of Champagne but produced elsewhere may be labeled as ____________?

Answer 0

Traditional Method (méthode traditionnelle) or 
classic method (méthode classique)

Question 1

A complicated process involving secondary fermentation in the bottle.

Answer 1

méthode Champenoise

Question 2

Dom Pérignon’s lasting contributions to modern Champagne lie in the techniques of _______ and______ despite the persistent myth that anoints him as the inventor of sparkling winemaking. As cellar master at the Abbey of Hautvillers from 1668 until his death in 1715, Pérignon struggled with the problem of natural refermentation.

Answer 2

assemblage (blending) and viticulture

Question 3

In the late 17th century, the _______ transferred Champagne from cask to stronger, ______that could contain the pressure, and were likely the first to enjoy true sparkling Champagne—the merits of effervescence are praised in English literary works whose publication predates Pérignon’s tenure.

Answer 3

the English; to stronger, coal-fired glass

Question 4

Throughout the 18th century most serious producers labored to make still red and white wines that could compete with the wines of Burgundy. However, in 1724 the word _______—implying effervescence—appeared in connotation with the wines of Champagne, although the Champenoise may have enjoyed intentionally sparkling wines as early as 1700’s.

Answer 4

mousseux

Question 5

In 1662, the English scientist_______ presented a paper detailing how the presence of sugar in a wine led to it eventually sparkling and that by adding sugar to a wine before bottling it, nearly any wine could be made to sparkle. This is one of the first known accounts of understanding the process of sparkling wine and even suggests that British merchants were producing “sparkling Champagne” before the French Champenois were deliberately making it.

Answer 5

Christopher Merret

Question 6

The _____ were the first to see the tendency of wines from Champagne to sparkle as a desirable trait and tried to understand why it produced bubbles.

Answer 6

British

Question 7

During the 17th century, _____ glass production used coal-fueled ovens and produced stronger, more durable glass bottles than the wood-fired French glass. The ____ also rediscovered the use of cork stoppers, once used by the Romans but forgotten for centuries after the fall of the Roman empire.

Answer 7

English; English

Question 8

What is the oldest Champagne house still in operation today and was founded in 1584 as a still wine producer?

Answer 8

Gosset

Question 9

What Champagne house was established in 1729 and can claim to be the oldest sparkling Champagne house?

Answer 9

Ruinart

Question 10

The houses of Ruinart, Taittinger, Moët et Chandon, Delamotte and Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin were founded in what century? Sparkling Champagne production would remain problematic and imprecise until the early _____, when several key developments in both method and science provided a great leap forward for sparkling wines.

Answer 10

18th century; 1800s

Question 11

Madame Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin, the Veuve (“widow”) Clicquot, assumed control of the house that bears her name after her husband’s death shortly after the turn of the 19th century. Under her leadership, the house pioneered the process of _______—a procedure that allows sediment to be easily removed from a bottle during dégorgement (disgorgement).

Answer 11

remuage, or riddling—a procedure that allows sediment to be easily removed from a bottle during dégorgement (disgorgement)

Question 12

Who is 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?

Answer 12

Jean-Antoine Chaptal

Question 13

Who is the pharmacist with a fundamental understanding of the connection between sugar and the second fermentation, coupled with the 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. Improvements in both cork and glass paralleled the advancing science, and Champagne quickly evolved into a huge industry; its major brands developed international reputations.

Answer 13

André François

Question 14

What Champagne house put the first brut Champagne, _____“Nature,” on the market in 1874. Champagne counted the royal Tsars of Russia, the kings of Belgium and Greece, and most of the English aristocracy as regular customers, and a longstanding association with French royalty served to buttress the new status of sparkling wine as a luxury product.

Answer 14

Pommery; Pommery “Nature”

Question 15

In what year did the French government delimited the Champagne region?

Answer 15

1908

Question 16

In 1935 the Commission de Châlons, a consortium of growers and merchants, was formed to develop quality standards and regulate pricing. In what year was Champagne enshrined in the new Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée system. Champagne remains the only AOC/AOP that does not need to include Appellation Contrôlée (or Protégée) on the label.

Answer 16

1936

Question 17

Who identified the relationship between sugar and fermentation in 1801 and what is the name of the process?

Answer 17

Jean-Antoine Chaptal; chaptalization

Question 18

When was Champagne enshrined in the new Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée system?

Answer 18

1936

Question 19

Does Champagne require “Appellation Contrôlée (or Protégée)” on the label? Y or N

Answer 19

No

Question 20

When (year) did Phylloxera strike Champagne?

Answer 20

1890s

Question 21

War had threatened the region before—Champagne’s vineyards were devastated in the _______wars —but the bloody, nearly immovable Western Front of World War I cut right through the region. Reims suffered constant bombardment for nearly four years; the wives, children, and those too infirm or old to fight risked life and limb to haul in the harvests.

Answer 21

Hundred Years’ War, 16th century religious conflicts, and the Thirty Years’ War

Question 22

The repression of fraud became a key component of the initial delimitation of the region in 1908, and a source of great friction between merchants and growers. Collusion amongst producers to drive down Champagne grape prices was common, even as they sourced fruit from the Loire, the Languedoc, and other countries. The growers finally revolted in what YEAR? Ransacking houses and rioting in the streets until the French military stepped in to secure order. Negotiations between the parties were still underway in 1914 when the German army entered Reims.

Answer 22

1911

Question 23

Braving artillery explosions and suffering from a lack of manpower, horses and fertilizer, the Champenoise delivered one of the finest vintages of the 20th century in what year?

Answer 23

1914

Question 24

In 1941, WHO 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. That organization, the Comité Interprofessional du Vin de Champagne (CIVC), remains a powerful force in the complex mediation between the large Champagne houses and the numerous smaller growers from whom they source grapes.

Answer 24

Count Robert-Jean de Vogüé of Moët et Chandon

Question 25

Merchant houses own just over 10% of Champagne’s vineyards, as the Contrôle des Structures prohibits any firm from farming more than____ owned or rented hectares. As a collective, the approximately 20,000 growers have a very powerful voice, despite selling under a quarter of all wine produced.

Answer 25

fifteen

Question 26

Following the inaugural 1921 vintage of Moët et Chandon’s “Dom Pérignon,” many houses released a _____?—a premier bottling often carrying a vintage date.

Answer 26

tête de cuvée, or prestige cuvée

Question 27

Which of the following villages was elevated to Grand Cru status in 1985?

Answer 27

Verzy

Question 28

When was the CIVC formally established?

Answer 28

1941