sparkling wines of the world

Question 1

how about the aop status of champagne ?

Answer 1

Champagne AC is the only app
- certain villages have crus
– 44 prem cru
—17 grand cru
these are not seperate app, also no separate vineyards or aspects
— not every vineyard in the grand cru villages will have the same potential,…

Question 2

what is the climate of champagne ?

Answer 2

1) cool continental
2) challenges: freeze, spring frost, rainy cloudy weather
3) even in the warmest years, grapesugar remain very low and acid level very high
- —– ideal for sparkling wines

Question 3

What are they doing about frost in champagne ?

Answer 3

The vineyards are planted on slopes, so the frost stays at the bottom or highets points

Question 4

how are the soils in champagne ?

Answer 4

Dominated by chalk

• provides good drainage after rain storms
• • but retain sufficient water in dry periods

Question 5

champagne is now fully committed to sustainable argiculture to reduce?

Answer 5

the man made fertilisers and pesticides

Question 6

the Three most famous sub regions of champagne which are close to the major production centres of ____ and _____, are:

Answer 6

Reims and epernay

1) montagne de reims
2) vallée de la marne
3) côte des blancs

Question 7

the cotes des blancs lies approximately (ongeveer) 30km ____ of ______.

Answer 7

South of Epernay

Question 8

and cotes des bar ____ km ____ of epernay

Answer 8

100km southeast of epernay

Question 9

the wineregions has 100 villages, but not every village is entitled for champagne.

Answer 9

true, if you read this one you need to notice that i finally writed ‘true’ correctly XD

Question 10

what are the grape varieties ?

Answer 10

1) Chardonnay: mostely planted in cotes des blanc (south of epernay) and cotes de sezanne
- — theyre lighter in body than the most burgundies and they displays wines with high acidity, floral and citrus fruit character
2) pinot noir rules in montagne de reims and cote de bar
- - greater body
- – provides structural backbone to the most blends
- — sometimes a red fruity character
3) Pinot meunier is planted in the valley de la marne, because it buds late, so its more protected against the frequently spring frosts in this area
- — fruity flavours to the blend

Question 11

how is champagne made ?

Answer 11

1) its made using the traditional method
2) grapes must be hand picked to retain whole healthy bunches
3) the pressing will also be highly controlled
- - the first liquid come of called the cuvée !!
- — the remainder (overblijvende) juice called the Taille
4) prem ferm in stainless steel or oak vats depends on the style
5) mlf can be encouraged or prevented, depends on the style
6) the weather can vary from year to year, so blending is an important key point
7) non vintage wines: ageing 15 months: min of 12 on the lees
- - vintage: 36 months (no extra requirement for the lees)
- – there are winemakers who let age the wines longer
8) champagne comes in a range of style but:
- - they all have high acidity, and autolytic flavours
- – non vintage: generally lighter in body, fresh fruit flavours and a little florality
- — vintage: only in best years and are more concentrated
- - blanc de blanc: fresh with citrus character
- – blanc de noir: fuller body and more red fruit flavours

Question 12

which are the most important cremants ?

Answer 12

1) cremant d’alsace
2) cremant de bourgogne
3) Cremant de loire

Question 13

how is cremant made ?

Answer 13

1) methode traditionelle
2) min of 9 months on their lees
3) mostly cremant is made from grapes in the region
- - but in alsace is muscat and gewurztraminer not alowed
- —- but chardonnay is well allowed

Question 14

how about cremant de loire ?

Answer 14

1) after champagne this is next biggest centre of sparkling wine production
2) Sparkling saumur can be made from a range of local varieties like chenin, chardonnay and cab franc
3) sparkling vouvray is more producted then still vouvray
- – and vast majority is made solely from chenin
- — it takes not as much of a bready, biscuity character as chardonnay and pinot noir, when present it will tend to be more smoky and toasty
4) sparkling vouvray and saumur are both made in methode traditionelle

Question 15

cava is only in one region of spain ?

Answer 15

No it covers a number of oncontigious (niet aaneengesloten) geographic areas in spain

Question 16

but the vast majority of cava comes from:

Answer 16

catalunya, penedes, town: sant sadurni anoia

Question 17

where else cava ?

Answer 17

1) navarra
2) rioja
3) valencia

Question 18

how is cava made ?

Answer 18

1) traditional method

2) 9 months of the lees

Question 19

which grapes for cava ?

Answer 19

1) white:
- xarel-loo
- macabeo (viura)
- parellada
- - chardonnay, pinot noir recently added, they contribute acidity and fruit flavours
2) rosé:
- monastrell
- garnacha

Question 20

how does cava taste ?

Answer 20

• dry, med acidity

- - little autolytic character, depends on style

Question 21

cava has higher acidity than champagne.

Answer 21

Fault: they have lower acidity mofo

Question 22

most cava is non vintage and ready to drink on release of the winery.

Answer 22

yes, but there are also producers of premium cava whit longer lees ageing,…

Question 23

aisti DOCG is located in:

Answer 23

Piemonte

Question 24

asti is made of:

Answer 24

muscat a petit grains

Question 25

how does a Asti sparkling wine taste ?

Answer 25

1) distincty grapey character
2) the best: pronounced fruity character of peach and grape overlaid with a floral character
3) all asti is sweet, approximately 7% abv
4) is made without any autolytic characters
5) should be drunk as young as possible

Question 26

Prosecco has a doc and docg tell me:

Answer 26

1) Prosecco DOC
2) Prosecco Conegliano - Valdobiadene DOCG:
- - the latter must be made in the towns Conegliano and valdobiadene
- – on the steep limestone hills in the north west of venice

Question 27

what is a prosecco called from exceptional vineyard sites ?

Answer 27

1) Cartizze

2) Rive

Question 28

how is prosecco made ?

Answer 28

1) tank method
2) med acidity, green apple, melon
3) brut, extra dry and dry style
- - dry styles have more residual sugar than champagne and cava

Question 29

The most grapes for sect cones from ?

Answer 29

France or italy, if it is deutscher sekt, tha grapes must come from germany

Question 30

how is sekt made ?

Answer 30

1) tank methode

2) base wines generally comes from italy or france

Question 31

the best sekts are made of;

Answer 31

riesling

Question 32

if the grapes comes from one of the quality wineregions the sekt can have the app:

Answer 32

sekt bA

Question 33

some producers will produce sekt from grapes of one vineyard, using traditional method.

Answer 33

yes but these are rare

Question 34

what about the sparkling wines of australia ?

Answer 34

1) variety of styles, mostly from cooler regions like:
- Adelaide Hills south aus,
- yarra valley victoria
- tasmania
- — these are capable of making complex, elegant traditional methode wines
2) usually from pinot noir and chardonnay
3) non- vintage, vintage, rosé, blanc de blancs, blanc de noirs
4) inexpensive sparkling wines comes from regions like riverina (victoria more inland)
- - generally produced as tank methode or carbonisation a
- - fruity and range of sweetness levels
5) aus is also known for its sparkling red wines:
- full bodied, smooth tann, red berry fruit, some residual sugar
- - inexpensive one: tank method and carbonisation
- – better examples: transfer methode and traditionelle

Question 35

what about the sparkling wines of New Zealand ?

Answer 35

1) high quality sparkling wines
2) chardonnay and pinot noir:
- southern hemisphere
- maritim climate
- cooling sea breezes
- — chardonnay and pinot noir can ripe slowly
- —- very elegant styles
3) grapes can be grown in all the regions for sparkling wines with the exception of auckland
4) range of styles
5) Marlborough produces the highest volumes
6) north island produces a richer style
7) also sparkling wines from sauv blanc: tank method or carbonisation to retain the fresh varietal character of the sauvignon

Question 36

what is méthode cap classique ?

Answer 36

sparkling wines made by the traditional method.

Question 37

where can the grapes come from for cap classique ?

Answer 37

from whole the Western Cape region

Question 38

how about the climatological conditions for grape growing ?

Answer 38

1) warm climate
2) grapes on hills for higher altitude and fresher temp
3) southeastern aspect away from the sun

Question 39

how about ageing of a cape classique ?

Answer 39

many of the producers correspondence the Cap Classique Producers Association

• • they recommends their producers to a min lees ageing of 12 months
• • others not in this association needs to have a min of 9 months

Question 40

how about sparkling wines of USA?

Answer 40

1) california has the vast majority of the production
2) cooler regions: Los Carneros (napa and sonoma)
- - alexander valley (mendocino north)
3) chardonnay and pinot noir
4) long time lees ageing: 5y is not uncommon
5) concentrated complex flavours balanced by high acidity
6) also large volume of inexpensive wines
- – made in the high yielding areas as central valley
- – fruity and mostly med sweet to sweet
- – range of grapevarieties