General Champagne questions

Question 1

How many communes of production are in Champagne AOP?

Answer 1

357 villages

Question 2

What is the minimum potential alcohol of Champagne?

Answer 2

9%

Question 3

What is the maximum RS of Champagne?

Answer 3

10 g/l

Question 4

What are the time constraints for tirage?

Answer 4

Tirage may not occur until January 1 of the year following the harvest.

Question 5

Volume of wine may not increase by more than what percent per 1% alcohol increase?

Answer 5

1.12%

Question 6

Wines may not be disgorged until when?

Answer 6

At least 12 months after the date of tirage.

Question 7

Which bottle sizes are not sold in the same bottles in which tirage occurred?

Answer 7

Bottles smaller than 375ml and larger than 3 liters.

Question 8

For NV bottlings, how much of 375ml bottles can be transferred into new bottles?

Answer 8

20%

Question 9

How much of a vintage’s harvest can be sold as vintage Champagne?

Answer 9

80%

Question 10

How much of the stated vintage must make up the bottle?

Answer 10

100%

Question 11

What is the minimum must weight of Champagne?

Answer 11

143 g/l

Question 12

What is the minimum planting density of Champagne?

Answer 12

Max 2.5 square meters per vine

Question 13

What are the permitted training methods in Champagne?

Answer 13

Chablis
Cordon de Royat
Vallee de la Marne (for Meunier only)
Guyot (simple or double)

Question 14

What is the maximum yield of Champagne?

Answer 14

10,400 kilograms per hectare

Question 15

What is rebeche?

Answer 15

The end of the pressing

Question 16

When was Champagne AOC established?

Answer 16

1936

Question 17

What are the sweetness levels for Extra Brut Champagne, Pre-2010 and current?

Answer 17

0-6 grams per liter for both.

Question 18

What are the sweetness levels for Brut Champagne, pre-2010 and current?

Answer 18

0-15 grams per liter, 0-12 grams per liter.

Question 19

What are the sweetness levels for Extra Dry Champagne, pre-2010 and current?

Answer 19

12-20 grams per liter, 12-17 grams per liter.

Question 20

What are the sweetness levels for Sec Champagne, pre-2010 and current?

Answer 20

17-35 grams per liter, 17-32 grams per liter.

Question 21

What are the sweetness levels for Demi-Sec Champagne, pre-2010 and current?

Answer 21

33-50 grams per liter, 32-50 grams per liter.

Question 22

What are the sweetness levels for Doux Champagne, pre-2010 and current?

Answer 22

50+ grams per liter.

Question 23

How many Champagne Grand Cru Villages are there?

Answer 23

17

Question 24

How many Premier Cru Villages are in Champagne?

Answer 24

42

Question 25

How many Premier Cru Villages are in Montagne de Reims?

Answer 25

26

Question 26

How many Premier Cru Villages are in Vallee de la Marne?

Answer 26

7

Question 27

How many Premier Cru Villages are in Cote de Blancs?

Answer 27

9

Question 28

What does NM mean?

Answer 28

Negociant Manipulant responsible for the majority of champagne produced, houses that buy in grapes and wine with a huge variation in quality

Question 29

What does RM mean?

Answer 29

récoltant manipulant, a grower who makes champagne out of their own grapes which includes some very good (value) and some pretty dire wine

Question 30

What does CM mean?

Answer 30

A co-op

Question 31

What does RC mean?

Answer 31

récoltant co-opérateur, someone who's a member of a co-op and buys back wine from them to sell under their own label

Question 32

What is the encepagement of Rose de Riceys?

Answer 32

100% Pinot Noir

Question 33

What are vinification requirements of Rose de Riceys?

Answer 33

Grapes are vinified as whole bunches (semi-carbonic macearation)

Question 34

What is the city that's essentially in the middle of the 3 Champagne subregions?

Answer 34

Epernay

Question 35

What are the known and most relevant contributions by Dom Perignon?

Answer 35

assemblage (blending) and viticulture.

Question 36

What issues did Dom Perignon have with bottles, and where?

Answer 36

As cellar master at the Abbey of Hautvillers from 1668-1715, bottles would explode after refermenting.

Question 37

What kind of glass is stronger, good for use with Champagne?

Answer 37

Coal-fired glass

Question 38

How for back do Champagne vineyards date to?

Answer 38

5th Century

Question 39

What is the oldest Champagne house still in operation?

Answer 39

Gosset

Question 40

What would the Champenoise color their red wines with?

Answer 40

Elderberry

Question 41

Who pioneered remuage (riddling)?

Answer 41

Veuve Cliquot, under the leadership of Madame Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin

Question 42

Who and when identified the relationship between sugar and fermentation?

Answer 42

Jean-Antoine Chaptal in 1801.

Question 43

When did the French government delimit Champagne?

Answer 43

1908

Question 44

What was the first Brut Champagne on the market?

Answer 44

Pommery Nature

Question 45

What consortium of merchants and growers was formed to develop quality standards and regulate pricing?

Answer 45

Commission de Chalons (1935)

Question 46

When did growers revolt against producers?

Answer 46

1911

Question 47

What outstanding Champagne vintage happened as tragedy/chaos was happening around them (and in Reims)?

Answer 47

1914

Question 48

What consortium started in 1941?

Answer 48

Comite Interprofessional du Vin de Champagne

Question 49

What is Dom Perignon's inaugural vintage?

Answer 49

1921

Question 50

What is the mean annual temperature of Champagne?

Answer 50

50 degrees F

Question 51

What is bouvreux?

Answer 51

The second crop of Champagne that rarely ripens and is left on the vine.

Question 52

What kind of Champagne subsoil is pushed to the surface?

Answer 52

Porous, belemnite chalk.

Question 53

What kind of soil is the Champagne valleys?

Answer 53

Micraster chalk

Question 54

Champagne's natural cellars hover around what temperature?

Answer 54

53-54

Question 55

What is the dominant soil in Aube?

Answer 55

clay

Question 56

What limit did the CIVC set in 1992 for grape pressing?

Answer 56

102 liters of must for every 160 kg of grapes

Question 57

What direction are the slopes of Cote des Blancs?

Answer 57

southeast and east

Question 58

What is the difference between "vin de cuvee" and "vin de taille"

Answer 58

Vin de cuvee = the first 2,050 liters | Vin de taille = the following 500 liters

Question 59

The vin de taille is generally rich in what?

Answer 59

Pigment and tannin

Question 60

What third extraction is required by law? What is the required percentage of total?

Answer 60

Rebeche, 1-10%

Question 61

What are vins clairs?

Answer 61

High acid base wines

Question 62

How long is debourbage (settling)?

Answer 62

8-15 hours

Question 63

What is prise de Mousse?

Answer 63

Second fermentation

Question 64

How long does the secondary fermentation last?

Answer 64

Appx 8 weeks

Question 65

How much does the alcohol generally rise in Champagne's secondary fermentation?

Answer 65

1.2-1.3%

Question 66

What is the pressure during secondary fermentation?

Answer 66

5-6 atms

Question 67

What is the minimum requirement for lees aging in bottle, for non-vintage wines?

Answer 67

1 year

Question 68

What is the name for the mostly antiquated practice of briskly shaking bottles so yeast don't stick to the bottle, so they can be more easily degorged?

Answer 68

Pointage

Question 69

What is a bidule?

Answer 69

A small plastic cup that fits into the bottle's neck and into which the sediment eventually settles.

Question 70

Who developed the pupitre? What is it?

Answer 70

the "Widow Cliquot". A frame of two large planks with 60 holes, used for aging bottles.

Question 71

Which large format bottle was discontinued in Champagne, and when?

Answer 71

Rehoboam - 4.5L - 1989

Question 72

300 years ago, what was Champagne largely planted with?

Answer 72

Pinot Gris

Question 73

What are generally considered the best vintages from Champagne in the last 20 years?

Answer 73

1996, 2002, 1995, 1998.

Question 74

What does "Grand Marques" mean?

Answer 74

Famous brand

Question 75

How many Grand Marques are there?

Answer 75

24

Question 76

What is the name of the co-op that produces Nicolas Feuillate?

Answer 76

Centre Vinicole de la Champagne (CVC)

Question 77

What co-op group produces Jacquart and Pannier?

Answer 77

Alliance Champagne

Question 78

What are the steps to Methode Champenoise production?

Answer 78

1. Pressing 2. First fermentation 3. Blending 4. Second fermentation (prise de mousse - liqueur di tirage is added) 5. lees aging 6. remuage/riddling 7. disgorgement 8. dosage 9. recorking