Champagne wine Flashcards
(87 cards)
1
Q
Oldest Champagne house
A
Gosset, est 1584
Founded as still wine producer
2
Q
Oldest sparkling Champagne house
A
Ruinart, est 1729
3
Q
remuage
A
riddling
Cliquot
4
Q
dégorgement
A
disgorgement
5
Q
Jean-Antoine Chaptal
A
French chemist and statesman for whom the process of chaptalization is named, identified the relationship between sugar and fermentation in a seminal 1801 work
6
Q
André François
A
Pharmacist, perfected measurement of the precise amount of sugar required to induce it without breaking the bottle which allowed Champagne houses to produce sparkling wines with greater confidence
7
Q
Champagne production in 1800
A
300,000 bottles
8
Q
Champagne production in 1883
A
36 million
vs. 300,000 in 1800
9
Q
First brut Champagne
A
Pommery “Nature” in 1874
10
Q
First official delimitation of Champagne region
A
1908
11
Q
1911 Riots
A
Vignerons from the southern Aube region, who had long supplied Champagne houses with base white wine, protested after being left out of first official limits
12
Q
Aube reinstated in Champagne region in what year?
A
1927
13
Q
When did German troops enter Reims? (WWI)
A
1914
14
Q
Otto Klaebisch
A
Nazi agent, nicknamed the “Weinführer”
Resided at Veuve Cliquot Ponsardin residence
Demanded huge sums of Champagne for troops
15
Q
CIVC
A
Comité Interprofessional du Vin de Champagne
est. 1941
From the existing but limited framework of the Commission de Châlons, Count Robert-Jean de Vogüé of Moët et Chandon in 1941 organized a new, broader consortium of growers, producers and shippers to represent the Champagne industry and protect its interests in the face of Nazi occupation.
16
Q
1st vintage Moët et Chandon’s “Dom Pérignon”
A
1921
17
Q
tête de cuvée
A
Prestige Cuvée
18
Q
bouvreux
A
Second crop, rarely ripens
Results after interrupted flowering from cold climate
19
Q
Champagne subsoil
A
belemnite chalk
20
Q
belemnite chalk
A
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.
21
Q
micraster chalk
A
amed for an extinct sea urchin, characterizes the valley vineyards
22
Q
Dominant soil type in Aube
A
clay
23
Q
Pinot Noir plantings
A
38% of region
24
Q
Chardonnay plantings
A
31%
25
Meunier plantings
31%
26
7 authorized grapes
PN, Meunier, Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc Vrai (“true” Pinot Blanc, a white form of Pinot Noir), Arbane, Pinot Gris, and Petit Meslier
27
authorized pruning methods
Cordon de Royat, Chablis, Vallée de la Marne, and Guyot (double and simple).
28
average vine age
20 years
29
limit of pressing
CIVC set a limit of 102 liters of must for every 160 kg of grapes, or 2,550 liters per 4,000 kg—a marc of grapes, the amount held in a traditional Coquard basket press
30
number of villages authorized to grow Champagne grapes
357
31
grand cru villages
17
32
premier cru villages
42
33
Échelle de Crus
Until 1990, the CIVC set the price of grapes through the Échelle de Crus, a percentile system by which the villages, or crus, of the Champagne appellation are rated. Villages that achieved the maximum échelle (“scale”) of 100 were classified as grands crus; villages that achieved an échelle of 90 through 99 were classified as premier cru.
34
blocage and deblocage
reserve and release of wine stocks for use in future vintages
authorized by CIVC
35
The only premier cru villages with a 99% rating?
Mareuil-sur-Ay in the Vallée de la Marne and Tauxières in Montagne de Reims
36
Name for villages under a 90 point echelle rating
crus
37
NM (Négociant 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 own none at all. Large Champagne houses with the most international presence are invariably in this category: Moët et Chandon, Louis Roederer, Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin, Billecart-Salmon, Lanson, Taittinger, Pol Roger, Perrier-Jouët, Mumm, and Laurent-Perrier. Quality varies widely, although prices are uniformly high. Many houses often fall under the same corporate parentage; for example, Moët et Chandon, Krug, Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin, and Mercier fall under the umbrella of the luxury conglomerate LVMH.
38
RM (Récoltant Manipulant)
A grower-producer who makes Champagne from estate-grown fruit. 95% of the grapes must originate in the producer’s own vineyards.
39
CM (Coopérative Manipulant)
A growers’ co-operative that produces the wine under a single brand.
40
RC (Récoltant Coopérateur)
A grower whose grapes are vinified at a co-operative, but sells the wine under his own label.
41
SR (Société de Récoltants)
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.
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ND (Négociant Distributeur)
A middleman company that distributes Champagne it did not make.
43
MA (Marque d’Acheteur)
A buyer’s own brand, often a large supermarket chain or restaurant, that purchases Champagne and sells it under its own label.
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vin de cuvée
the first 2,050 liters of pressing
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vin de taille
the second 500 liters of pressed juice
minor proportion of the blend
sold of
46
rebêche
3rd extraction, required by law
1-10% of total
used in distillate
47
débourbage
The settling of the juice/must after pressing
| 8-15 hours in the cold, allows solids (bourbes) to be collected
48
vin clair
high acid base wine fermented to 11%
49
iqueur de tirage
a mixture of still wine, yeasts, sugar, and fining agents that will serve to ignite the second fermentation
50
prise de mousse
2nd fermentation
51
bidule
located in crown cap, a plastic capsule that will serve to capture the sediment during remuage
52
sur latte
storing bottles horizontally
53
Autolysis
breakdown of yeast cells
54
remuage
riddling
55
pupitre
two large wooden planks fastened together in an upright “A” shape, with sixty angled holes cut into each plank of wood
56
gyropalette
an automated device that holds 504 bottles
The gyropalette has replaced hand-riddling at all of the major houses, although some prestige cuvée bottlings are still handled manually.
57
sur pointe
bottles held upside-down and vertical
58
dégorgement à la glace
neck of bottle dipped in freezing brine solution
59
dégorgement à la volée
old method, not using freezing brine
| loses more wine
60
Brut Nature/Non-Dosé
0-3 grams per liter, no added dosage
61
Extra Brut
0-6 grams per liter
62
Brut
0-12 grams per liter
63
Extra Dry
12-17 grams per liter
64
Sec
17-32 grams per liter
65
Demi-Sec
32-50 grams per liter
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Doux
50+ grams per liter
67
muselet
wire cage
68
Transvasage
Permitted for bottle sizes larger than a Jeroboam and smaller than a half bottle.
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.
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Quarter Bottle (Piccolo)
187 ml
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Half Bottle (Demi)
375 ml
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Bottle size
750 ml
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Magnum
1.5 L (2 bottles)
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Jeroboam
3 L (4 bottles)
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Rehoboam (discontinued in 1989)
4.5 L (6 bottles)
75
Methuselah
6 L (8 bottles)
76
Salmanazar
9 L (12 bottles)
77
Balthazar
12 L (16 bottles)
78
Nebuchadnezzar
15 L (20 bottles)
79
Solomon
18 L (24 bottles)
80
Non-Vintage (NV)
Generally brut in style, the NV cuvée represents a house’s signature style, and the blender’s job is to ensure its consistency from year to year. Non-vintage Champagne makes up at least three-quarters of the market.
81
Vintage
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. The better houses declare a vintage only in exceptional years. These are usually brut in style, and good examples can age for a decade or more.
82
Blanc de Blancs
100% Chardonnay is required, but it is not always sourced from the Côte des Blancs. They may be vintage-dated or NV. The Blanc de Blancs category represents some of Champagne’s most ageworthy bottlings; while austere and often steely in youth, better examples develop an intense bouquet with maturity.
83
Blanc de Noirs
White wine produced solely from black grapes. The wine usually displays richness, intensity, and weight, although it can lack the supreme elegance and finesse of Blanc de Blancs.
84
Prestige Cuvée (Tête de Cuvée)
Usually the finest and most expensive bottling that a house offers, the prestige cuvée is typically (but not always) vintage-dated and aged for a number of years prior to release. Prestige Cuvées are usually only released in superior vintages, and may undergo more traditional vinification procedures, such as barrel fermentation, riddling by hand, and cork-finishing during the second fermentation. Many of the large houses produce prestige cuvées from their own vineyards—even single vineyards in exceptional cases. Prestige cuvées may be Blanc de Blancs, Blanc de Noirs or rosé in style. Not all houses produce a prestige cuvée, and some produce several. Classic examples include Moët et Chandon "Dom Pérignon," Taittinger "Comtes de Champagne," Louis Roederer "Cristal," Laurent-Perrier "Grande Siècle," Perrier-Jouët "Belle Époque" (bottled as "Fleur de Champagne" for the US market), Pol Roger "Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill," Ruinart "Dom Ruinart," and Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin "La Grande Dame."
85
Single Vineyard Champagne
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 cuvée. Single Vineyard wines are not required to carry a vintage date, although they invariably do, and the style represents a stark departure from the blending philosophy of the region. Philipponnat’s “Clos de Goisses,” originally released for the 1935 vintage from one of the few walled vineyards of the region, remains a benchmark bottling.
86
Special Club Prestige Cuvée
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 cuvées through identical packaging. Today, the Club Trésors comprises over 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. Special Club bottles and labels share identical design. Current members include Marc Hébrart, Pierre Gimmonet, Paul Bara, J. Lassalle and Gaston Chiquet.
87
Rosé Champagne
Vintage, NV, and prestige cuvées may also be produced in pink versions. The traditional saignée method, in which the wine gains its hue through extended skin contact, is less common than blending. Champagne is the only AOP in France that allows a rosé to be produced by blending red and white wine. A rosé prestige cuvée, a novelty in years past, is usually the most expensive and rare product a house offers.
