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43 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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CHAMPAGNE
location, soil, grapes |
- LOCATION: 90 miles northeast of Paris. France's northernmost wine region
- SOIL: chalk, sometimes covered w/ topsoil of clay, marl, lignite - GRAPES: chardonnay, pinot meunier, pinot noir |
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Champagne vineyard rating system
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- assigned % value to all vineyards within a village or commune
- all vineyards within single village presumed to have same rating - <i>cru</i> - 80 to 90% - <i>premier cru</i> - 90 to 99% - <i>grand cru</i> - 100% |
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Champagne's main subregions
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Montagne de Reims
Côte des Blancs Vallée de la Marne Côtes de Sézanne Côte des Bar |
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MONTAGNE DE REIMS
location, landscape, grapes |
- LOCATION: most northerly subappellation of Champagne
- LANDSCAPE: best vineyards on north-facing slopes - GRAPES: mostly pinot noir, w/ chard and pinot meunier |
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MONTAGNE DE REIMS
Grand Cru villages |
Sillery
Puisieulx Beaumont-sur-Vesle Verzenay Mailly Verzy Louvois Bouzy Ambonnay |
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VALLÉE DE LA MARNE
location, soil, grapes |
- LOCATION: acts almost as a horizontal divider between the Mongane (north) and Côte de Blancs (south)
- SOIL: clay and marl - GRAPES: mostly pinot meunier, w/ pinot noir and very little chardonnay |
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VALLÉE DE LA MARNE
Grand Cru villages |
Aÿ
Tours-sur-Marne (red grapes only) |
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CÔTE DE BLANCS
soil, grapes |
- SOIL: chalk
- GRAPES: chardonnay |
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CÔTE DE BLANCS
Grand Cru villages |
Chouilly (white grapes only)
Oiry Cramant Avize Oger Le Mesnil-sur-Oger |
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CÔTES DE SÉZANNE
location, grapes |
- LOCATION: southeast of Côte de Blancs
- GRAPES: Chardonnay - no premier or grand cru sites |
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CÔTE DES BAR
location, soil, grapes |
- LOCATION: southwest of Côte de Sézanne
- SOIL: same chalky marl as Pouilly and Sancerre - GRAPES: mostly Pinot Noir |
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Champagne vineyard practices
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BY LAW:
- grapes hand-picked into small crates to ensure no accidental crushing of grapes on bottom - w/ chance of damaging spring frosts, growers use aspersion |
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Champagne winemaking practices
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- whole bunches w/ stems pressed gently/quickly
- each grape variety harvested/pressed separately - no juice clarification/fining after fermentation - most ferment in stainless, some in barrels - assemblage created - 30 to 70 wines blended - liqueur de tirage added, then bottled/capped, 2nd ferment - bottle aged minimum 15 months, riddled - dégorgement - topped up, corked, aged |
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Champagne RESERVE wines
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- houses must, by law, reserve 20% of their stills made from harvest for blending in future years
- adding reserve wines to blend contributes more depth and richness - also used as the reservoir from which wine is drawn to top up bottles after second fermentation |
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Champagne BASE WINE characteristics
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- screechingly high in acid
- low in alcohol - tastes meager |
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REMUAGE
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riddling
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CRAYÉRES
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- chalk quarries dug by the Romans
- now used by Champagne houses to age Champagne |
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LIQUEUR DE TIRAGE
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combination of sugar and wine, added to bottles w/ yeast for 2nd ferment
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PUPITRE
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A-frame used for riddling
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Name for the person responsible for hand-riddling
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rémuer
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DÉGORGEMENT
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- process in which each bottle is placed upside down into a brine solution, which freezes the entire length of the neck and its contents
- bottle is then quickly turned upright and cap removed - entire "plug" of spent yeasts shoots out |
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SUR LIÉ
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on the lees
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AUTOLYSIS
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process by which spent yeast cells enhance the complexity and texture of a wine
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DOSAGE
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combination of wine and sugar added to bottle after 2nd fermentation and dégorgement
- a.k.a. "liqueur d'expédition" |
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Correlation between body of Champagne and the grapes used to create them
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- full-bodied often use larger % of pinot noir
- lighter-bodied use higer % of Chardonnay |
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Correlation between bubble size and Champagne's quality
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- the longer a Champagne ages, the smaller the bubbles will be
- the cooler the aging cellar, the smaller the bubbles will be - the smaller the bubbles, the better the quality |
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Champagne dryness levels
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- EXTRA BRUT: very, very dry (0 to 0.6% sugar)
- BRUT: very dry (less than 1.5% sugar) - EXTRA DRY: off-dry (1.2 to 2% sugar) - SEC: lightly sweet (1.7 to 3.5% sugar) - DEMI-SEC: sweet (3.3 to 5% sugar) - DOUX: very sweet (more than 5% sugar) |
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Champagne wine styles
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Nonvintage
Vintage Blanc de Blancs Blanc de Noirs Rosé Recently disgorged Cuvée de Prestige Coteaux Champenois |
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Nonvintage Champagne
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- aged minimum 15 months after 2nd ferment
- quality producers often age 30-36 months |
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Vintage Champagne
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- aged min. 3 years before dégorgement
- quality producers often age 4-5 yrs. - on average, vintages declared about 3x/decade - when a maker declares vintage, only allowed to use 80% of harvest, the other 20% left in reserve - must contain 100% grapes harvested that year |
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Prestige Cuvée
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- mostly vintage dated, but not always
- grapes from vineyards rated 100% - pinot meunier rarely included in blend - no aging requirement, though 4-7 years is most common |
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Blanc de Blancs and Blanc de Noirs
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1. white from whites - best come from Côte de Blancs
2. white from reds |
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methods for producing rosé Champagnes
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- HISTORICAL: letting some of base wine sit in contact w/ pinot noir skins until wine is tinted pink
- MODERN/COMMON: adding small amt. of pinot noir wine to bottle before 2nd ferment. |
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"NM" on Champagne label
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NÉGOCIANT-MANIPULANT: house that buys frapes to make their wine
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"RM" on Champagne label
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RÉCOLTANT-MANIPULANT: grower that makes and sells Champagnes from their own grapes
*RMs are able to purchase up to 5% of the grapes used in their wines |
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"RC" on Champagne label
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RÉCOLTANT COOPÉRATEUR: grower that makes and sells Champagnes with the help of a cooperative
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"CM" on Champagne label
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COOPÉRATIVE-MANIPULANT: gathering of growers that make/sell Champagne on behalf of its members
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"MA" on Champagne label
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MARQUE D'ACHETEUR: a brand owned by a 3rd party and not by the maker of the wine
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What do both the quantity and persistance of Champagne bubbles rely on?
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- holding power of colloids (extremely tiny particles that aren't easily filtered out of wine
- amount of protein found in various grape varieties - Ex: certain strains of yeast liberate more colloids than others - Ex: chardonnay is generally higher in proteins than pinot noir |
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Champagne bottle sizes
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Split - 187.5mL (1.5 glasses)
Half bottle - 375mL (2.5 glasses) Bottle - 750mL (5 glasses) Magnum - 2 bottles Jeroboam - 4 btls Methuselah - 8 btls Salmanazar - 12 btls Balthazar - 16 btls Nebuchadnezzar - 20 btls |
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Proper way to open a Champagne bottle
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1. break/remove foil, not the cage
2. place thumb firmly on top of cork/cage 3. unscrew wire/loosen cage 4. holding the cork, twist in on direction as you twist bottle in opposite direction 5. ease the cork out so it makes a light hissing sound |
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Proper service of Champagne
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1. Fill each glass w/ about 2 inches of Champagne, then go back and top them all up
2. If there's Champagne left, seal the bottle using Champagne stopper and place it into an ice bucket 3. Do not immediately top up glasses w/ fresh Champagne every time a sip has been taken. Wait until there's about one sip remaining |
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Coteaux Champenois
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- covers all same areas as for other Champagne AOCs
- covers only still wines - most produced are non-vintage |
