Champagne Flashcards
(46 cards)
Houses of LVMH
Moet & Chandon, Dom Perignon, Veuve Clicquot, Mercier, Ruinart and Krug
Houses of Vranken Pommery Monopole
Vranken, Pommery, Monopole Heidsieck, Charles Lafitte and Bissinger
What is CIVC
Comité Interprofessionnel du vin de Champagne, now known as Comité Champagne
Champagne style
medium intensity of apple and lemon, autolytic flavours of biscuit and brioche, high acidity, medium alcohol. good to outstanding, mid to premium price
What is Rosé d’Assemblage
rose sparkling, done by blending red wine with white
What is Rosé Saignée
skin maceration of black grapes, then wine is ‘bled off’
Universally declared favorable vintages in Champagne
2002 and 2008
Where in Champagne is still rose wine made?
AOC Rose des Riceys, tiny appellation in Cote des Bar, made from Pinot Noir
Name AOC for still wine in Champagne
AOC Coteaux Champenois, can be red white or rose, in practice mainly a light bodied, pale ruby Pinot Noir
Name 2 examples of Late release, recently disgorged wines.
Bollinger’s R.D. (08, 07, 04, 02) and Dom Perignon’s P2 (06, 05, 04, 03, 02, 00)
What is the blocage system
reserve wines, portion of young wines set aside, insurance policy against future yield reductions.
Who first produced white wine from black grapes
Dom Pierre Perignon
Who developed controlled second fermentation
Madame Veuve Cliquot - measured sugar and yeast to produce a known pressure int he bottle, and developed riddling (reumage) using pupitres.
What enabled bottles to withstand pressure
In mid-seventeenth century, glass produced in coal-fired ovens in England enabled bottles to reliably withstand pressure.
What is échelle des crus
literally ladder of growths, rating system used to determine grape prices.
When was the current AOC boundary set for Champagne
1927
Name the 5 subregions
3 around Epernay: Montagne de Reims, Vallée de la Marne, Côte des Blancs. Côte de Sézanne, and Côte des Bar.
Climate of Champagne
cool continental, some oceanic influence
Annual rainfall, characteristics
700mm, spread throughout the year. Can be a problem at flowering, fruit set and harvest due to fungal disease and dilution.
Average annual temperature
11C
Soil
High chalk content, particularly suitable to chardonnay. old seabed. Most common soil is chalky with limestone subsoil and chalk itself. Highly porous, stores water.
Grand cru villages of Montagne de Riems
Mailly, Verzenay, Verzy, Ambonnay, and Bouzy, all best known for black grapes.
describe Montagne de Riems
Moreso wide plateau than mountain, top villages facing north - excellent cool-climate sites, more frost prone. Very high acidity and austere in youth. Soil types vary, grand crus are on chalky soils.
describe Vallée de la Marne
major plantings of Meunier on clay, marl and sandy soils, producing fruity wines. Frost-prone valley, benefits from later bud breaking and earlier ripening meunier. Chardonnay grown and blended into earlier drinking wine.
