Champagne / Sparkling

Front 1

Name the 5 districts of Champagne and what grape dominantes each region.

Back 1

1. Montagne de Reims (Pinot Noir)
2. Vallee de la Marne (Pinot Meunier)
3. Cote de Sezanne (Chardonnay)
4. Cote des Blancs (Chardonnay)
5. Cote de Bars (Aube) (Pinot Noir)

Front 2

What is autolysis?

Back 2

The breakdown of dead yeast cells, forms sediments, or lees, in bottle as second fermentation occurs.

Front 3

What is a Bidule?

Back 3

A plastic capsule that will serve to capture the sediment during remuage, more common alternative to cork.

Front 4

What is Blocage? Deblocage?

Back 4

1. The reserve of wine stocks for use in future vintages, authorized by the CIVC.

2. The release of wine stocks for use in future vintages, authorized by the CIVC.

Front 5

What is Debourbage? What is Bourbes?

Back 5

1. The process of allowing the press juice to settle, usually at cool temperatures for 8-15 hours.

2. Following pressing and debourbage, these are the remaining solids in the must that are removed by racking prior to fermentation.

Front 6

What is Bouvreaux?

Back 6

These are the second crop, that rarely ripens and is left on the vine if rain has interrupted flowering.

Front 7

What is Cap Classique?

Back 7

Methode traditionnelle sparkling produced in South Africe. Graham Beck is the producer at the forefront of these wines.

Front 8

What is Carbonation?

Back 8

Carbonation is the cheapest method of sparkling winemaking; involves a simple injection of carbon dioxide into still wine. The bubbles do integrate into the texture of the wine at all, and fade upon opening. This method is not used for quality wines.

Front 9

What is Beleminte? Micraster?

Back 9

1. Beleminte chalk, derived from the fossilized remains of millions of extinct cephalopods, has a high limestone content, which allows vine roots to dig deeply and is linked to increased acidity.

2. Micraster Chalk, a second layer, characterizes the valley vineyards.

Front 10

What are the two appellations in Champagne that make still wine? What grapes are authorized?

Back 10

1. Coteaux Champenoise AOP - covers still red, white, and rose from entire appellation. Same 7 grapes that are allowed in sparkling.

2. Rose de Riceys AOP - 100% Pinot Noir produced in Les Riceys, a cru village in the Aube.

Front 11

What is the Continuous Method?

Back 11

Russian Continuous Method: Developed in USSR, this method is similar to the tank method, but the base wine is pumped through a series of interconnected (continuous) tanks while undergoing the 2nd fermentation. Liqueur de tirage is constantly added to the wine, and lees accumulate in the first several tanks, offering a higher degree of autolyzed flavors than the standard tank method. The majority of German Sekt is produced by either tank method or continuous method.

Front 12

What is a Coquard?

Back 12

Traditional basket press of Champagne

Front 13

What are the 7 appellations that produce Cremant wines?

Back 13

1. Cremant de Bordeaux
2. Cremant de Bourgogne
3. Cremant de Loire
4. Cremant de Limoux
5. Cremant de Die
6. Cremant du Jura
7. Creamnt d'Alsace

Front 14

What is Club Tresor?

Back 14

Special Club Presitge Cuvee: The "Special Club" concept originated in 1971, with a dozen grower-producers. Lacking the marketing budgets of larger houses, these producers banded together to promote their prestige cuvees through identical packaging. Today, the Club Tresor comprises two-dozen RM producers as members. The Special Club bottlings are estate-bottled, vintage-dated wines that represent the pinnacle of each individual grower's style and production.

Front 15

Name a few RM's that are part of Club Tresor.

Back 15

1. Marc Hebrart
2. Pierre Gimmonent
3. Paul Bara
4. J. Lasalle
5. Gaston Chiquet

Front 16

What does CM stand for?

Back 16

Cooperative Manipulant: A grower's co-operative that produces the wine under a single brand.

Front 17

When producing Cremant wines, what are the pressing limits?

When producing Champagne wines, what are the pressing limits?

Back 17

100 liters from 150 kg, or 2666 liters per 4000 kg

102 liters from 160 kg, or 2550 liters per 4000 kg

Front 18

What is Degorgement?

Back 18

Disgorgement: The process used to expel sediment deposits from bottle necks by plunging the top of the bottle into a bring bath of -68 F and then popping off the temporary stopper to remove the frozen deposits. Labels stamped with RD show that a bottle has recently been disgorged.

Front 19

What is Degorgement a la glace?

Back 19

The modern method of degorgement involves dipping the neck of bottle in a freezing brine solution. The bottle can than be turned upright. The force of internal pressure will expel the semi-frozen sediment (and a small portion of wine) as the crown cap is removed.

Front 20

What is Degorgement a la volee?

Back 20

An older method of degorgement that utilizes the same principles; however, without freezing the sediment excess wine is invariably lost along with it.

Front 21

What is Demi-mousseux?

Back 21

Cremant: a sub-designation of "Mousseux" which refers to a degree of effervescence between petillant and grand mousseux. Utilized outside the Champagne region.

Front 22

What is Dosage?

Back 22

Liqueur d'expedition, a liquid mixture of sugar syrup and wine. Rarely, bone-dry non-dosage styles are produced. The amount of sugar in the dosage is determined by the desired style of the wine.

Front 23

What is Encepagement?

Back 23

The French term used for the assortment of grape varieties planted on a particular property.

Front 24

What is a gyropalette?

Back 24

An automated device for riddling that holds 504 bottles. The gyropalette has replaced hand-riddling at all of the major houses, although some prestige cuvees are still handled manually.

Front 25

What is Les Bleus de Ville?

Back 25

Shreds of blue plastic scattered throughout many of the Champagne vineyards-remnants os bags used to ship composted trash.

Front 26

What is Liqueur d'expedition?

Back 26

Another name for dosage. It is a liquid mixture of sugar syrup and wine.

Front 27

What is liqueur de tirage?

Back 27

A mixture of still wine, yeasts, sugar, and fining agents that will serve to ignite the second fermentation. It is added after the assemblage, cold stabilization and racking.

Front 28

What is cold stabilization?

Back 28

A technique pioneered in Champagne by Billecart-Salmon. The wine's temperature is sunk to 5 C for two days and then dry yeast is added to the fermentation, which takes place in stainless steel vats for 3 weeks. The slow fermentation is made possible by keeping vat's temperature at around 12 C. The wine must then be heated up so malolactic fermentation may occur. The purpose behind CS is to decrease the acid levels by removing all tartrate crystals from a wine during its fermentation stage.

Front 29

What is LVMH?

Back 29

A luxery conglomerate that serves as an umbrella for several NM: Moet & Chandon, Krug, Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin, and Mercier fall under this corporate parentage.

Front 30

What is Methode Ancestrale?

Back 30

Alternative method of sparkling production. Also known as the methode rurale, this is the oldest and most rudimentary of sparkling winemaking procedures. A single fermentation begins in tank, but the wine is transferred to bottles before the process is complete; liqueur de tirage is unnecessary. Yeasts continue to ferment the remaining sugars in the bottle, giving the wine its sparkle. The residual sweetness of the finished wines varies by appellation, but dosage is not allowed. Typically, the wine is disgorged, filtered, and rebottled in clean glass prior to sale.

Front 31

Name 3 appellations that use Methode Ancestrale.

Back 31

Bugey Cerdon, Clairette de Die Methode Dioise Ancestrale, Gaillac Mousseux Methode Gaillacoise

Front 32

What is Mousseux?

Back 32

A general term to imply effervescence. It indicates fully-sparkling wine if utilized in one of the other appellations in France producing traditional method sparkling wines.

Front 33

Name some appellations that use the term "Mousseux".

Back 33

Vouvray, Montlouis-sur-Loire, Vin de Savoie, Seyssel, Cotes du Jura, Arbois

Front 34

What is a Muselet?

Back 34

Wire cage used to secure the cork to the bottle in six, half-twists.

Front 35

What does ND stand for?

Back 35

Negociant Distributeur, a middleman company that distributes Champagne it did not make.

Front 36

What does NM stand for?

Back 36

Negociant Manipulant: A house that purchases grapes and or base wines from growers and other smaller houses. Some NM houses own a significant portion of their own vineyards; others none at all.

Front 37

What is Oltrepo Pavese Metodo Classico? What is the grape used for production?

Back 37

A (red wine only) DOCG within Lombardy that consistently produces the best traditional method sparkling wines along with Franciacorta DOCG.

Pinot Nero

Front 38

What is Petillant?

Back 38

A term used to indicate lightly sparkling wines produced in one of the other appellations in France producing methode sparkling wines.

Front 39

What is Pointage?

Back 39

A process once used in preparation for degorgement whereby the sediment must first be trapped in the neck of the bottle. During pointage each bottle would be briskly shaken in order to prevent the sediment from sticking to the sides of the bottle.

Front 40

What does Prise de Mousse mean?

Back 40

French term for secondary fermentation in-bottle.

Front 41

What is a pupitre?

Back 41

A system developed by Veuve Cliquot for the process of remuage. It is comprised of two large wooden planks fastened together in an upright 'A' shape, with sixty angled holes cut in each plank of wood.

Front 42

What is a RC?

Back 42

Recoltant Cooperateur, a grower whose grapes are vinified at a co-operative, but sells the wine under his own label.

Front 43

What is RD?

Back 43

Recemment Degorge: a technique whereby wine is kept sur point for a number of years, and only disgorged upon order. Bollinger's "RD" is the most famous example of such.

Front 44

What is Ratafia?

Back 44

A sweet French aperitif made from a mixture of unfermented grape juice and brandy. The best known are Ratafia de Bourgogne and Ratafia de Champagne (typically made with grape juice and the distilled rebeche). Ratafia is similar to the better-known Pineau des Charentes.

Front 45

What is Rebeche?

Back 45

A third extraction from a marc of grapes (following Vin de cuvees and vin de taile) required by law and must comprise 1-10% of the total press wine. The rebeche is used for distillate, not Champagne, and produces Vin de Rebeche (component in Ratafia)

Front 46

What is Remouage?

Back 46

Riddling: A process that manipulates the sediment into the neck of the bidule through sharp twists and inversion of the bottle. It is an important process in preparation for degorgement.

Front 47

What is a Remuer?

Back 47

A worker who, during the traditional method of remuage, at a pupitre, would fractionally turn and tilt each bottle over a period of about 8 weeks, slowly inverting the bottles with the neck pointing downward.

Front 48

What is RM? List some examples.

Back 48

Recoltant Manipulant, a grower-producer who makes Champagne from estate-grown fruit. 95% of the grapes must originate in the producers own vineyards.

Examples: Egly-Ouiret, Pierre Moncuit, J Lasalle, Pierre Peters, George Laval

Front 49

What is Rose de Riceys AOP?

Back 49

Along with Coteaux Champenoise, Rose de Riceys is one of two still wine appellations within the region of Champagne. Rose de Riceys is reserved for 100% Pinot Noir rose wines produced in Les Riceys, a cru village in the Aube.

Front 50

What is Saignee?

Back 50

Bleeding: a traditional rose production method, in which the wine gains its hue through extended skin contact, is less common than blending.

Front 51

What is Sekt?

Back 51

Traditional method sparkling wine produced in Germany.

Front 52

Talk about Single Vineyard Champagne.

Back 52

Single Vineyard Champagne bottlings may be produced by a large house or a smaller grower-producer, and may or may not be advertised as a prestige cuvee. SV wines are not required to carry a vintage date, although they invariably do, and the style represents a stark departure rom the blending philosophy of the region.

Front 53

What is SR?

Back 53

Societe de Recoltants, a firm, not a co-operative, set up by a union of often related growers, who share resources to make their wines and collectively market several brands.

Front 54

What is Sur Latte?

Back 54

Term to imply that bottles are stored horizontally as is typical during the process of secondary fermentation.

Front 55

What is Sur Pointe?

Back 55

Term to imply that bottles are stored upright as in time prior to degorgement. Once the sediment is successfully collected in the neck of the bottle, the bottles remain in the upside-down vertical position ("sur point") for a short period of time prior to degorgement.

Front 56

What are Tartrates?

Back 56

Newly fermented wine is supersaturated with natural potassium bitartrate(cream of tartar). If not removed from the wine, chilling the wine will result in the precipitation of the tartrates into glass-like crystals commonly referred to as wine crystals. In order to insure the wine's clean and clear appearance for the consumer, these potential sediments are removed.

Front 57

What are three ways to remove Tartrates?

Back 57

1. Ion Exchange
2. Seeding
3. Cold Stabilization

Front 58

What is Seeding?

Back 58

Adding certain chemicals to the wine then chilling for one or two days.

Front 59

What is Transversage?

Back 59

Transfer method: permitted in Champagne for bottles smaller than 1/2 and larger then Jeroboam. In this method, remuage is unnecessary, as the wine is disgorged into a pressurized tank and filtered. Dosage is added, and the wine is transferred to a clean bottle under pressure.

Front 60

What is UMC?

Back 60

Union des Maisons de Champagne (French: Union of Houses of Champagne; Rheims, France est 1882). Most of the major houses are members of this organization; often these houses are referred to as Grand Marques.

Front 61

What is Vin de Cuvees?

Back 61

The first portion of the press extraction. While the total is limited to 102 liters from 160 kg of must, or 2550 liters from 4000 kg, the total extracted juice is divided into the vin de cuvee (the first 2050 liters) and the vin de taille. The vin de taille is usually richer in pigment and tannin, and many producers sell of this lesser component of the must or include it in a minor proportion as a structural element in a blend.

Front 62

What is Vin de Taille?

Back 62

The second portion of the press extraction. While the total is limited to 102 liters from 160 kg of must, or 2550 liters from 4000 kg, the total extracted juice is divided into the vin de cuvee (the first 2050 liters) and the vin de taille. The vin de taille is usually richer in pigment and tannin, and many producers sell of this lesser component of the must or include it in a minor proportion as a structural element in a blend.

Front 63

What is Vin Gris Champagne

Back 63

Grey Wine: white wine made from red grapes, in particular pinot noir.

Front 64

What is Vins Clairs?

Back 64

High-acid base wines (with approx 11% abv) that are produced after the must is racked, often chaptalized, and then underwent primary fermentation.

Front 65

Talk about Vintage Champagne.

Back 65

100% of the blend must come from the stated vintage, yet a maximum 80% of a year's harvest may be sold as Vintage Champagne.

Front 66

What are the two premier cru's that are rated 99%?

Back 66

1. Mareuil-sur-Ay (Vallee de la Marne)
2. Tauxieres (Montagne de Rheims)

Front 67

Name the Grand Cru villages of Montagne de Reims.

Back 67

1. Puisieulx
2. Sillery
3. Beaumont-sur-Vesle
4. Verzenay
5. Mailly
6. Verzy
7. Louvois
8. Bouzy
9. Ambonnay

Front 68

Name the Grand Cru villages of Valle de la Marne.

Back 68

1. Ay
2. Tours-sur-Marne (red grapes only)

Front 69

Name the Grand Cru villages of Cotes de Blancs

Back 69

1. Chouilly (white grapes only)
2. Oiry
3. Avize
4. Cramant
5. Oger
6. Le Mesnil-sur-Oger

Front 70

Name the top Premier Cru Villages of Montagne de Reims.

Back 70

1. Chigny-les-Roses
2. Trepail
3. Vaudemange
4. Tauxieres-Multry (99%)

Front 71

Name the top Premier Cru Villages of Vallee de la Marne.

Back 71

1. Mareuil-sur-Ay (99%)
2. Tours-sur-Marne (90%, white grapes)
3. Hautvillers
4. Dizy

Front 72

Name the top Premier Cru Villages of Cote de Blancs.

Back 72

1. Vertus
2. Chouilly (red grapes only)
3. Bergeres-les-Vertus

Front 73

Name some Single Vineyard Champagnes & Producers of Montagne de Reims.

Back 73

1. Cattier - Clos du Moulin (Chigny-les-Roses)

2. Egly-Ouiret - Les Crayeres (Ambonnay)

3. Krug - Clos d'Ambonnay (Ambonnay)

Front 74

Name some Single Vineyard Champagnes and Producers of Vallee de la Marne.

Back 74

1. Billecart-Salmon - Clos St-Hilaire (Mareuil-sur-Ay)

2. Philipponnat - Clos de Goisses (Mareuil-sur-Ay)

Front 75

Name some Single Vineyard Champagnes & Producers in the Cote de Blancs.

Back 75

1.Veuve Fourny - Clos Notre Dame (Vertus)
2. Krug - Clos du Mesnil (le Mesnil-sur-Oger)
3. Duval Leroy - Clos de Bouveries (Vertus)

Front 76

List the 7 grape varietals authorized to make Champagne.

Back 76

1. Chardonnay
2. Pinot Noir
3. Pinot Meunier
4. Arbane
5. Pinot Gris
6. Petit Meslier
7. Pinot Blanc Vrai (true Pinot Blanc, a white form of Pinot Noir)

Front 77

Name the 6 levels of sweetness for Champagne and there ranges.

Back 77

1. Extra Brut (0 - 6 g/l)
2. Brut (0 - 12 g/l)
3. Extra Dry (12 - 17 g/l)
4. Sec (17 - 32 g/l)
5. Demi Sec (32 - 50 g/l)
6. Doux (50 + g/l)

Front 78

What is significant about each of these Champagne houses: Gosset, Ruinart, Pommery.

Back 78

1. Gosset - oldest Champagne house still in operation today, was founded in 1584 as a still wine producer

2. Ruinart - established in 1729, can claim to be the oldest sparkling Champagne House.

3. Pommery - put the first brut Champagne, Pommery 'Nature' on the market in 1874.