Champagne

Question 1

Champagne Method steps:

Answer 1

• Still wine is made
• Assemblage of cuvée
• Still wine bottled with liqueur de triage
• Second fermentation happens in bottle creating bubbles
• Dead yeast falls from suspension (autolysis) and sur lie aging begins
• Riddling (remuage) by hand, pupitre or gyropalette (504 bottles) to consolidate yeast
• Disgorging (degorgement) to eject yeast
• Dosage added using liqueur d’expedition for final sweetness level

Question 2

Champagne grapes and percentage of plantings

Answer 2

• Pinot Noir, 38% of plantings
• Pinot Meunier, 32% of plantings
• Chardonnay, 30% of plantings

Question 3

Aging requirement for Non-Vintage Champagne? Vintage?

Answer 3

• Non-Vintage: 12 months on lees, minimum 15 months total
• Vintage: Minimum 36 months total

Question 4

Oldest Champagne Houses?

Answer 4

• Gosset
  — Founded in 1584 as a still wine producer
  — Oldest house still in operation
• Ruinart
  — Founded in 1729 as a true sparkling producer
  — Oldest sparkling Champagne house still in operation

Question 5

Jean-Antoine Chaptal

Answer 5

• French chemist identified the relationship between sugar and fermentation in 1801
• Chaptalization is named after him

Question 6

The ONLY Appellation Contrôlée NOT required to put AOC/AOP on the label?

Answer 6

• Champagne!!

Question 7

Soil types of Champagne

Answer 7

• Limestone chalk
  — Belemnite chalk
  — Micraster chalk
  — Helps with drainage and keeps acidity high
• Clay more common down south (Aube)
  — Thin layer of clay covers most of the chalk

Question 8

Sweetness levels of Champagne

Answer 8

• Brut Nature : 0-3 g/L RS
• Extra Brut : 0-6 g/L RS
• Brut : 0-12 g/L RS
• Extra Sec (Extra Dry) : 12-17 g/L RS
• Sec (Dry) : 17-32g/L RS
• Demi Sec : 32-50 g/L RS
• Doux : 50+ g/L RS

Question 9

5 Districts of Champagne and their prominent grapes

Answer 9

• Montagne de Reims (Pinot Noir)
• Vallée de la Marne (Meunier)
• Côtes des Blancs (Chardonnay)
• Côte de Sézanne (Chardonnay)
• Côte des Bar

Question 10

Échelle des Crus

Answer 10

• ‘Ladder of growth’
• Champagne classification based on the village where the vineyards are located
  — NOT based on the vineyards themselves (like in Bordeaux/Burgundy)
• Percentile system from 1-100
• 17 Grand Crus (100%)
• 42 Premier Crus (90-99%)

Question 11

Comité Interprofessionnel du vin de Champagne (CIVC)

Answer 11

• Control production, distribution and promotion of Champagne
• Founded in 1941 to have a unified front against the Germans

Question 12

Récoltant-Manipulant (RM)

Answer 12

• Grower-Producer: Estate grown, estate owned
• Terroir focused rather than consistent ‘house style’

Question 13

Name three champagne Grower Producers

Answer 13

• Pierre Peters (Blanc de Blanc)
• Savart
• Selosse
• Chavost

Question 14

Special Club

Answer 14

• Grower-Producers’ tête de cuvée
• Organization started in 1971
• Rigorous tasting panel
• Unique bottle: fat bottomed and uniform label (only difference being the producer)

Question 15

Answer 15

• Cristal: Louis Roederer’s tête de cuvée
• Created for Tsar Alexander II with clear glass and a flat bottom to prevent hidden bombs in 1876
• Not available to the public until 1945!
• Biodynamically produced since 2000

Question 16

Answer 16

• Dom Pérignon: Möet & Chandon’s tête de cuvée
• Named for 17th century monk
  — He did NOT invent champagne
  — He did pioneer technique for making white wine from red grapes
• Always a vintage champagne
• Always a blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay
• Same vintage released 3 times
  — First after ~9 years, second after ~18 years (P2), third after ~25 years (P3)

Question 17

Answer 17

• La Grande Dame: Vueve Clicquot’s tête de cuvée
• Pinot Noir dominant
• Veuve Clicquot is named for Madame Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin whom took control of the House after her husband passed
  — Veuve means widow
  — V.C. created first vintage champagne, the riddling table and the first blended rosé champagne

Question 18

Answer 18

• Comtes de Champagne: Tattinger’s tête de cuvée
• Blanc de Blanc

Question 19

Answer 19

• Blanc de Millienaires: Charles Heidsieck’s tête de cuvée
• Extremely rare (only made five time since 1983)
• Aged at least 10 years

Question 20

Answer 20

• Clos du Mesnil: Krug’s tête de cuvée
• From a single walled plot
• 100% Chardonnay
• Founded by Joseph Krug (a German!)

Question 21

Answer 21

• Bollinger Grande Année: Bollinger’s tête de cuvée
• Still family owned
• 60% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay
• Vinified in oak barrels and casks
• Hand riddled and hand disgorged

Question 22

Geography of Champagne

Answer 22

• Marne River
  — Flows through Champagne to Paris
  — Vital trade route! Easy to sell juice
• City of Reims
  — Kings coronated here for centuries
• Village of Aÿ
  — Heart of Champagne

Question 23

crayères

Answer 23

• Vertical chalk pits
• Romans dug them to build Reims
• Cold, dark and humid
• Used by champagne houses to age champagne
  — Ruinart, Taittinger, Charles Heidsieck

Question 24

Négociant Manipulant (NM)

Answer 24

• Any house that purchases grapes or base wine from other growers/houses
• Most international houses are in this category
  — Möet & Chandon, Krug, Veuve, Roedere, Tattinger, Pol Roger etc.

Question 25

muselet

Answer 25

- Wire cage around champagne cork - 6 half twists

Question 26

Champagne bottle sizes (mnemonic)

Answer 26

Michael Jackson Really Makes Small Boys Nervous - Quarter Bottle (Piccolo) - 187 ml - Half Bottle (Demi) - 375 ml - Standard - 750ml - 25oz - Magnum - 1.5L - 2 bottles - Jeroboam - 3L - 4 bottles - Rehoboam (discontinued in 1983) - Methuselah - 6L - 8 bottles - Salmanazar - 9L - 12 bottles - Balthazar - 12L - 16 bottles - Nebuchadnezzar - 15L - 20 bottles

Question 27

Notable vintages

Answer 27

Very good: 2014, 2013, *2012, *2008, 1996, 1990 Very meh: 2017, 2011 *Exceptional

Question 28

Answer 28

Le Clos Pompadour- Pommerys tet de cuvee