Certified Sommelier - Champagne And Sparkling Wine

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Type of soil in Champagne

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Chalk
Belemnite Chalk in the slopes
Micraster Chalk in the valleys

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Montagne de Reims Grand Cru's
(9)

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Sillery
Puisieulx
Beaurmont-sur Vesle
Verzenay
Mailly
Verzy
Louvois
Bouzy
Ambonnay

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Vallee de la Marne Grand Cru
(2)

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Ay
Tours sur Marne (red grapes only)

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Cote des Blancs Grand Cru
(6)

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Chouilly (white grapes only)
Oiry
Cramant
Avize
Oger
Le Mesnil-sur-Oger

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Negociant Manipulant (NM)

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Houst that purchases grapes and or base wines from growers and smaller houses.
May own vineyards.
Most large champagne houses fall under this.
Ex.
Krug, Billecart-Salmon, LP

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Recolant Manipulant (RM)

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A grower producer who makes Champagne from estate grown fruit. 95% of the grapes must originate in the producers own vineyard

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Cooperative Manipulant (CM)

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a growers' co-op that produces the wine under a single brand

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Recoltant Cooperateur (RC)

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A grower whose grapes are vinified at a co-op but sells the wine under his own label.

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Societe de Recoltants (SR)

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A firm, not a co-op. set up by a union of often related growers. Share resources to make their wines and collectively market several brands.

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Negociant Distributeur (ND)

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a middleman company that distributes Champagne it did not make.

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Marque d'Acheteur (MA)

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A buyers won brand, often a large supermarket chain or restaurant, that purchases Champagne and sells it under its own label

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Vin de Cuvee

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First 2,050 liters extracted from 4,000 kb of grapes.

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vin de taille

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second extraction
next 500 liters from 4,000 kg.

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rebache

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third extraction
required by law
1-10% of total extraction
usted for distillate

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debourbage

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second step in Methode Champenoise.
Settling of juise at a cool temperature for 8 to 15 hours.
remainin solids in the must can be removed by racking prior to fermentation.

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Press

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1 step in Methode Champenoise.
Black grapes must be pressed very quickly to prevent color in the must.

First extraction called vin de cuvee
second extraction called vin de taille
third extraction called rebeche

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Primary Fermentation

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Step 3 in Methode process

usually juice is chaptalized then fermented.

result is a high acid base wine called (vin Clairs) with about 11%ABV

Fermentation can take place in Stainless steel or oak.

Malolactic fermentation may take place if desired by maker.

wines are generally clarified through fining, filtering or centrifuge.

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Vins Clairs

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base wine used to blend to make champagne

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Assemblage

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4th step in process
Blend all the vin clairs along with wines from previous vintages to make the "House Style"

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Tirage

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5 step of M.C.
after wines are blended, they are bottled and a liqueur de tirage is added and the bottle is capped with a bottle cap.

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Liqueur de tirage

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a mixture of still wine, yeasts, sugar and fining agents that will serve to ignite the second fermentation.

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Second Fermentation

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aka Prise de mousse
6 step of MC.
heart of M.C
lasts up to 8 weeks.
ABC rises 1.2 - 1.3%
CO2 creates a pressure of 5 to 6 atmospheres
wine sill sit on lees for required aging time.

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Autolysis

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the breakdown of dead yeast cells. forms sediment or lees.

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Remauge

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Step 7 of MC
aka riddling
Developed by widow Clicquot.
Process of moving the sediment to the neck of the bottle by moving the bottle back and forth and tilting it downward.
process lasts about 8 weeks.

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Pupitre

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2 large wooden planks fastened together in an upright "A".

Has sixty angled holes.

Only prestige cuvvees possibly still done in this process.

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Gyropalette

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Spanish invention.
Automated device for riddling that can hold 504 bottles at a time.
reduces the process from 8 weeks to about a week.
most houses uses this instead of riddlers.

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Disgorgement

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Process of freezing the bottle next so the bottle can be opened and the frozen lees are popped out by the pressure.

The dosage is added and the bottles is corked

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Dosage

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aka. liqueur d'expedition

a liquid that is put into the champagne during the process of disgorgment that determines the sweetness level of the Champagne.

made up of a lixquid mixture of sugar syrup and wine.

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Extra Brut g/L

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pre 2010: 0-6
current: 0-6

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Brut g/L

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pre 2010: 0-15
current 0-12 g/L

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Extra Dry g/L

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pre 2010: 12-20
current: 12-17

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Sec g/L

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Pre 2010: 17-35
current: 17-32

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Demi-sec

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pre 2010: 33-50
current: 32-50

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Doux g/L

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Both 50+ g/L

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Champagne Bottle Size
187 ml

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Quarter Bottle (Piccolo)

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375 ml

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Half Bottle (demi)

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750 ml

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Bottle

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1.5 L (2 bottles)

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Magnum

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3L (4 bottles)

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Jeroboam

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4.5 L (6 bottles)

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Rehoboam
discontinued in 1989

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6L (8 bottles)

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Methuselah

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9L (12 bottles)

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Salmanazar

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12 L (16 bottles)

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Balthazar

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15 L (20 bottles)

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Nebuchadnezzar

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18 L (24 bottles)

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Solomon

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Non-Vintage NV

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Generally brut in style.

Represents house's signature style

Blender's job is to ensure its consistency from year to year

75% of market

aged min. of 1 year

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Vintage Champagne

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100% of the blend must come from stated vintage

Max of 80% of annual harvest ay be sold as vintage

usually only in exceptional years.

min aging is 3 years

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Blanc de Blanc

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100% chardonnay

can be vintage or NV

austere and often steely in youth. develop an intense bouquet with maturity

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Blanc de Noirs

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White wine from black grapes.
The wine usually displays richness, intensity and weight. Although it can lack the supreme elegance and finesse of Blanc de Blancs.

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Prestige Cuvee

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aka Tete de Cuve
Usually the finest and most expensive bottling that a house offers.

Normally vintage dated.

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Special Club Prestige Cuvee

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aka Special Club

Developed by a group of growers to promote their prestige cuvee through identical packaging.

Current members
March Hebart
Pierre Gimmonet
Paul Bara
J. Lassalle
Gaston Chiquet

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Rose Champagne

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can be NV or vintage

can be made by blending or by saignee method.

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Saignee method

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creates the rose color by skin contact instead of the easier method of blending red still wine.

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Rose champagne and Champagne AOP

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Champagne is the only AOP that allows a rose to be made by blending red and white grapes

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Mousseux

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fully sparkling wines

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petillant

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lighly sparkling wines.

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Methode Acestrale

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aka method rurale

Oldest and most rudimentary process to making sparkling wine

Single fermentation begins in tank, wine is transferred to bottles before process is finished.
no dosage is allowed.
Typically the wine is disgorged, filtered and rebottled in clean glass prior to sale.

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Charmant Process

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aka Cuve Close/ Tank Method

Developed by Eugene Charmat in the early 20th cent.

Same process as Champenoise but it all happens in one tank.
Wine is pressure fed to bottling after process is done.
Tend to have larger and coarser bubbles that traditional method.

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Continuous Method/Russian Continuous Method

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Developed in USSR.
Similar to tank method but the base wine is pumped through a series of interconnected tanks while undergoing the second fermentation.
Liqueur de tirage is constantly added to the wine and lees accumulate in the first several tanks allowing more autolyzed style.

Majority of German Sekt is made using this method

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Carbonation method

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cheapest method of sparkling winemaking.
CO2 is injected to still wine.
bubbles do not integrate and fade quickly upon opening.