Maisons And Styles

Question 1

Name two iconic maisons who fermented their champagne base wines in old-oak casks.

Answer 1

Krug and Bollinger have long been exponents of fermenting their base wines in oak.

Question 2

Which is the producer who led the way for oak ageing champagne?

Answer 2

Anselme Selosse, in Avize (Côte des Blancs).

Question 3

Which is by far the dominant group in Champagne?

When it absorbed Mercier and Ruinart?

Answer 3

In the 1960s and 1970s, moët & chandon absorbed Mercier and Ruinart, the latter the oldest firm in the region, and after further acquisitions, including veuve clicquot and krug, today represents by far the dominant grouping in Champagne.

Question 4

Which is the oldest maison in Champagne?

Which is her stylistic footprint?

Answer 4

Ruinart (la plus ancient maison de Chamoagne), founded on the 1st September 1729 by Nicolas Ruinart, at Reims, during the enlightenment period, as symbol of the art de vivre.

Ruinart, constantly striving for excellence and the absolute, choose Chardonnay, a delicate even potent grape variety, the emblem of the Maison itself, as the leitmotif for all its cuvées.

Question 5

Which was the strongest tendency and style, regarding dosage, throughout most of the 19th?
At the time, how was differentiate that between Russian and England -market?
Which is the tendency nowadays?

Answer 5

Throughout most of the 19th century, champagne was very sweet. Champagne destined for Russia was sweetest of all, containing as much as 250–300g/l of sugar. At the other end of the spectrum, champagne destined for England contained ‘only’ 22–66g/l of sugar. Today, the popular style of champagne, brut, contains 6–12g/l of sugar, and the sweetest style, doux, can contain as little as 50g/l.

Question 6

Which are 2 iconic BdB?
Chardonnay compared with PN can maybe age well?

Answer 6

Some of the grandest champagnes such as Taittinger’s Comtes de Champagne and Ruinart’s Dom Ruinart are 100% Chardonnay, so-called blanc de blancs.

Compared to Pinot Noir, Chardonnay has the greater ageing potential.

Question 7

Which are two maisons who not encourage the MLF?

Answer 7

Lanson and Gosset.

Question 8

Who registered the brand Dom Pérignon?

Answer 8

Eugene Mercier registered the brand name Dom Pérignon before Moët & Chandon acquired it (in 1832) and used it to launch the first champagne marketed as a prestige cuvée, a 1921 vintage launched in 1936.

Question 9

When was founded the Champagne house which producing the single most important champagne brand in the world, also part of the vast lvmh group, i.e. Moët et Chandon?

Answer 9

The Champagne house was founded by Claude Moët, in 1743.

Question 10

When Moët et Chandon made the fusion with Hennessy cognac house?

Answer 10

In 1970, Moët merging with the cognac house of Hennessy in 1971 to form the holding company Moët Hennessy.

Question 11

When Moët Hennessy merged with LV group?

Answer 11

In 1987, Moët Hennessy merged with the Louis Vuitton Group, to form LVMH.

Question 12

Which is the highest prestige cuvée of Moët et Chandon?

Answer 12

The house prestige cuvée is named after Dom pérignon, the legendary figure of the Abbey of Hautvillers, and broke new ground in terms of packaging, pricing, and qualitative ambitions when it was launched in 1936. Susy

Question 13

When was founded the iconic maison Veuve Cliquot Ponsardin?

Answer 13

After the premature death of her husband in 1805, the 27 year-old widow (Nicole Barbe Ponsardin) took over the reins of the company, which she renamed Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin.

Question 14

Which were the most important inventions of Madame Ponsardin, founder of Veuve Cliquot maison?

Answer 14

‘La grande dame de la Champagne’ is credited with inventing the riddling process called remuage, and adapting a piece of her own furniture into the first riddling table for that purpose. In 1818, she was first to elaborate a rosé champagne by addition of red wine from Bouzy.

Question 15

After the death of the Madame Ponsardin, who was the owner of the maison? When Veuve Cliquot was absorbed into the LVMH luxury goods empire?

Answer 15

On her death, the company passed to her former chief partner, another shrewd operator, Édouard Werlé who introduced the famous yellow label, still used for the non-vintage wine, and the house remained in the hands of the Werlé family until in 1987 it became part of the Moët Hennessy-Louis Vuitton group.

Question 16

Which is the signature style of the maison Veuve Cliquot?

Answer 16

The house style is based on Pinot Noir grapes and, in particular, those grown at Bouzy, where the house has large holdings.

Question 17

Which is the Prestige Cuvée of the maison Veuve Cliquot?

Answer 17

La Grande Dame is Clicquot’s prestige cuvée, named, of course, after the widow.

Question 18

When and where was founded maison Krug? From who?

Answer 18

1843, Rheims, by Johann Krug (who was born in Mainz, Germany, in 1800).

Question 19

What is the identity of Krug?

Answer 19

1. Krug is the only house to persist in barrel fermentation of its entire production of base wine, in old 205-l/54-gal casks (WINEMAKING CONSISTENCY).
2. Krug does not make an ordinary non-vintage champagne but specializes exclusively in prestige cuvées -of which the multi-vintage Grande Cuvée is the flagship, having replaced the rather fuller-bodied Private Cuvée in 1979. Grande Cuvée was first made with a blend of 60 to 70 wines from five to six different years, in addition to the current harvest, but a total of 148 wines from more than ten years went into the blend in 2014- (THE ART OF ASSEMBLAGE).

Question 20

When Clos du Mesnil was acquired and replanted by Krug?

With which grape variety is planted the Krug’s part of Clos d’Ambonnay vineyard?

Answer 20

In 1971, the small walled vineyard (2ha/5 acres) Clos du Mesnil (Côte des Blancs district) was acquired by the maison, and replanted just with Chardonnay grapes, that provide one of Champagne’s very few single-vineyard, or cru, wines of which the 1979 vintage was the first.

The 0.68 ha/1.7 acres of Clos d’Ambonnay (Montagne de Reims district) planted exclusively with Pinot Noir is responsible for an ever more expensive wine launched with the 1995 vintage.

Question 21

When Krug introduced its label code identifying system? For which purpose?

Answer 21

In 2012, acknowledging the considerable variation between the Grande Cuvées produced each year, Krug introduced back label codes identifying when each cuvée was disgorged.

Question 22

When Krug was owned by the LVMH luxury goods empire?

Answer 22

Krug has been owned by LVMH since 1999 although sixth-generation Olivier Krug is part of the tasting committee and represents the house in Champagne and abroad.

Question 23

Which is the signature of maison Bollinger?

Answer 23

1. It produces top quality champagne from mainly Pinot Noir grapes.
2. In 1865, the house started to ship low-dosage champagne to Britain, which was unusual for a period in which most champagne reaching the country was sweet.
3. The historical Madame (Elizabeth ‘Lily’ Bollinger) Bollinger’s rules: I. The majority of the grapes from the maison own’s vineyard (situated in the village of Äy, near Epernay, in the Vallée de la Marne district), which the 85% are coming from Grand and Premier Cru sites; II. Pinot Noir dominance in the blend; III. Barrel fermentation in oak casks, in order to permit micro-oxygenation; IV. Reserve wines aged in magnum; V. Bottle ageing for two to three times longer than required, even for the non-vintage Special Cuvée.

Question 24

Which important title received Bollinger? From who, and when?

Answer 24

Champagne Bollinger received the Royal Warrant as Official Purveyor of Champagne to Queen Victoria in 1884.

Question 25

Who was one of the most important person in the history of the maison Bollinger? Which rules she determined, that are still practices and that make the signature style of Bollinger?

Answer 25

Madame Bollinger. She believed that nothing should change the traditional Bollinger style, and to this day the following five rules are obeyed:
1. a majority of grapes from the house’s own vineyards, 85% of which are Grand and Premier Cru; 2. Pinot Noir dominance in the blend;
3. barrel fermentation in over 3,000 old barrels to encourage micro-oxygenation;
4. reserve wines aged in magnums;
5. and bottle ageing for two to three times longer than required, even for the non-vintage Special Cuvée.

Question 26

Which style of champagne introduced Madame (Elizabeth “Lily”) Bollinger, and when?

Answer 26

Bollinger RD (‘recently disgorged’, with marked autolysis as a result of being aged for a minimum of eight years) was introduced by Madame Bollinger with the 1952 vintage.

Question 27

Which is a rarity wine of Bollinger?

Answer 27

Rarest of all Bollinger champagnes is the Vieilles Vignes Françaises, a blanc de noirs produced exclusively from ungrafted Pinot Noir vines that grow in two walled vineyards were never affected by phylloxera.

Question 28

Generally, for what is particularly renowned the maison Louis Roederer?

Answer 28

Family-owned Champagne house known both for its early links with the 1. Russian court and for its 2. extensive vineyard ownership (250 ha in 2024, centred around Montagne de Reims, Vallée de la Marne and Côte des Blancs). 3. It was since ever independent, even if unusual for a Champagne winery, and still now it is.

Question 29

When was founded the maison Louis Roederer?

Answer 29

The original company was founded by a M. Dubois around 1776; Louis Roederer joined in 1827, becoming owner in 1833.

Question 30

When was born Cristal cuvée?

Answer 30

In 1876, Louis Roederer was commissioned by Tsar Alexander II to create a special personal cuvée in clear glass crystal bottles that was named Cristal.

Question 31

How Camille Orly-Roederer rebuilt the maison, after the 1917 Russian Revolution (and so, the down of the majority of their sales, represented by Russia)?

Answer 31

Camille Orly-Roederer, widow of the great-nephew of Louis, rebuilt the company after this blow, in particular:
1. by strengthening Roederer’s vineyard holdings at a time when other houses were selling, a move many later regretted;
2. In 1924, responding to demand for the legendary Cristal, she reintroduced it, bottled in the original design of crystal glass with no punt, creating the first prestige cuvée champagne.

Question 32

Which is the strength point of the maison Roederer?

Answer 32

Mainly thanks to these vineyard holdings (250 ha), Roederer produces more vintages of Cristal than is usual for a prestige cuvée (CONSISTENCY AND RELIABILITY).

Question 33

Which is the unicity of the maison Roederer?

Answer 33

The company, unusually for a substantial champagne house, remains independent.

Question 34

Who is the actual owner of the maison? What investments he made?

Answer 34

Jean-Claude Rouzaud, Camille’s grandson, continued in expansionist vein, buying more vineyards and investing in other wine regions.
(Roederer Estate in anderson valley, first released in 1988, was one of California’s finest sparkling wines. An investment in Jansz in tasmania was terminated. The company, now headed by Frédéric Rouzaud, seventh generation to lead the company, also owns Adriano Ramos Pinto in Portugal, Champagne Deutz, Delas Rhône wines, Domaines Ott in Provence, and in Bordeaux Chx de Pez and Haut-Beauséjour in St-Estèphe and, since 2007, second growth Ch Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande in Pauillac.)