Champagne Notes
Location:
Champagne is located 90 miles northeast of Paris
Grape Varieties:
3 Main Grapes in the creation of Champagne.
Pinot Noir
Pinot Meunier (muh nyay)
Chardonnay
Soil:
Chalky soil and the climate is very cold and iffy. The soil is from prehistoric times and contains fossils and quartz.
Acres:
80,000 acres
Types of Champagne:
Vintage (A year will be on the bottle)- Vintage Champagne is made with the best grapes only and not every year is good enough to be classified as a Vintage year.
Non Vintage (NV)- 75 to 80% of all Champagne is classified as NV. The quality is good overall but these wines are not the Premier Cru Champagnes.
Styles:
Rose- Adding a small amount of still red wine which adds a pinkish color.
Blanc de Noirs- 100% Pinot Noir
Blanc de Blanc- 100% Chardonnay
*Most Champagnes will have a blend of 2 or 3 of the grapes listed above.
Sweetness Levels:
Extra Brut- Bone dry
Brut- Dry
Extra Dry- Medium dry
Sec- Slightly Sweet
Demi-sec- Fairly Sweet
Doux- Very Sweet
5 Main Vineyard Sites
1. Montagne de Reims [mohn-tahn-yuh duh rem]
Mostly Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier
Important vineyard
2. Côte des Blancs [coat deh blahn]
A hilly area with almost all Chardonnay
Important vineyard
3. Cotes de Sezanne
Chardonnay
4. Vallée de la Marne [val-ay duh lah marn]
Mostly Pinot Meunier
5. Aube [oh'b]
Pinot Noir
What the World Calls it:
Champagne in France (Only legal area that can call it Champagne)
Sparkling Wine- US
Cava- Spain
Sekt- Germany
Spumante- Italy
Prosecco- Italy
Quick Facts:
-Dom Perignon was not the inventor of Champagne but was created with the art of blending different still wines.
-There are 49 million bubbles in a bottle of Champagne
-Methode Champensoise is the technique of making quality sparkling wine
-Looking to expand the area
-Most of the vineyard land is owned by growers who sell to the Houses
-Around 110 Champagne Houses and 19,000 growers
General Information:
-75,000 acres of grapes
-A cooler climate that does not always allow for the grapes to ripen. The grapes usually have a higher acidity due to the lack of ripeness.
-Soil is chalky which was created millions of years ago. This soil has proven to be the best in the world for sparkling wines.
-Champagne has a classification system for rating the quality of the grapes. There are 270 villages that grow grapes and only 17 with a Premier Cru label. 90% to 99% quality represents the premier cru rating and these are the most expensive grapes. A rating of 80% to 89% is considered good quality.
How is Champagne Made?
30 to 40 different still blends to make Champagne
Methode Champenoise technique
Champagne is made from only 3 types of grapes (Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, and Chardonnay. Most of the time it is a blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
The grapes are picked like table wine at harvest but the skins are removed to keep the appearance lighter in color. The grapes go through a fermentation in Stainless Steel Tanks (oak is rare). Once the grapes are turned into wine, it is then put into a bottle. A second fermentation takes place in the bottle which is what gives the wine its bubbles. The bubbles are formed from the carbon dioxide being trapped in the bottle after the yeast eats the sugar. The last phase is to freeze the neck and remove any sediment. Finally a small dosage of sugar and reserve wine is added. This gives the wine a little sweetness.
Best Producers:
The Top:
Bollinger & Krug
The Rest:
Ayala, Billecart-Salmon, Nicolas Feuillate- Perrier-Jouet, Pommery, Tattinger, Mumm, Pol Roger, Salon, Veuve Clicquot, Piper-Heidsieck, Henriot, Deutz, Moet Chandon, Roederer & Henriot
Important Terms:
Brut- Very dry style of Champagne
Cuvee- Blending batches of wine
Cuvée de prestige- Top end cuvee from a producer. Roeder is Cristal
Moët & Chandon's Dom Pérignon was the first one produced in 1936 (1921 Vintage)
Disgorgement- The freezing of the neck of a bottle and the sediment is quickly removed. A dosage is then added and a final cork is put in the bottle.
Dosage- A syrupy mix of wine and sugar. This is used during the second fermentation and is what causes the bubbles.
Riddling- Turning the bottles to cause the sediment to gather near the neck of the bottle.
Méthod Champenoise- [meh-toh'd shahm-PEH-n'wahz- The method of making Champagne
Non-Vintage or “NV”- Champagne makes up 85 to 90 percent of all Champagne produced. Each is composed of several different years and different blends as well as different vintages, rather than from a single harvest.
Punt- Bottle of the bottle indentation that allows for a distribution of pressure in the bottle.
Rosé Champagne- is made through one of two methods. The first method involves adding a small amount of red still wine from Champagne to the original blend. The second method involves exposing the must to the skins of the red grapes when pressing
Tirage- Also known as a Dosage which is added to the second fermentation
Champagne Notes
Location:
Champagne is located 90 miles northeast of Paris
Grape Varieties:
3 Main Grapes in the creation of Champagne.
Pinot Noir
Pinot Meunier (muh nyay)
Chardonnay
Soil:
Chalky soil and the climate is very cold and iffy. The soil is from prehistoric times and contains fossils and quartz.
Acres:
80,000 acres
Types of Champagne:
Vintage (A year will be on the bottle)- Vintage Champagne is made with the best grapes only and not every year is good enough to be classified as a Vintage year.
Non Vintage (NV)- 75 to 80% of all Champagne is classified as NV. The quality is good overall but these wines are not the Premier Cru Champagnes.
Styles:
Rose- Adding a small amount of still red wine which adds a pinkish color.
Blanc de Noirs- 100% Pinot Noir
Blanc de Blanc- 100% Chardonnay
*Most Champagnes will have a blend of 2 or 3 of the grapes listed above.
Sweetness Levels:
Extra Brut- Bone dry
Brut- Dry
Extra Dry- Medium dry
Sec- Slightly Sweet
Demi-sec- Fairly Sweet
Doux- Very Sweet
5 Main Vineyard Sites
1. Montagne de Reims [mohn-tahn-yuh duh rem]
Mostly Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier
Important vineyard
2. Côte des Blancs [coat deh blahn]
A hilly area with almost all Chardonnay
Important vineyard
3. Cotes de Sezanne
Chardonnay
4. Vallée de la Marne [val-ay duh lah marn]
Mostly Pinot Meunier
5. Aube [oh'b]
Pinot Noir
What the World Calls it:
Champagne in France (Only legal area that can call it Champagne)
Sparkling Wine- US
Cava- Spain
Sekt- Germany
Spumante- Italy
Prosecco- Italy
Quick Facts:
-Dom Perignon was not the inventor of Champagne but was created with the art of blending different still wines.
-There are 49 million bubbles in a bottle of Champagne
-Methode Champensoise is the technique of making quality sparkling wine
-Looking to expand the area
-Most of the vineyard land is owned by growers who sell to the Houses
-Around 110 Champagne Houses and 19,000 growers
General Information:
-75,000 acres of grapes
-A cooler climate that does not always allow for the grapes to ripen. The grapes usually have a higher acidity due to the lack of ripeness.
-Soil is chalky which was created millions of years ago. This soil has proven to be the best in the world for sparkling wines.
-Champagne has a classification system for rating the quality of the grapes. There are 270 villages that grow grapes and only 17 with a Premier Cru label. 90% to 99% quality represents the premier cru rating and these are the most expensive grapes. A rating of 80% to 89% is considered good quality.
How is Champagne Made?
30 to 40 different still blends to make Champagne
Methode Champenoise technique
Champagne is made from only 3 types of grapes (Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, and Chardonnay. Most of the time it is a blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
The grapes are picked like table wine at harvest but the skins are removed to keep the appearance lighter in color. The grapes go through a fermentation in Stainless Steel Tanks (oak is rare). Once the grapes are turned into wine, it is then put into a bottle. A second fermentation takes place in the bottle which is what gives the wine its bubbles. The bubbles are formed from the carbon dioxide being trapped in the bottle after the yeast eats the sugar. The last phase is to freeze the neck and remove any sediment. Finally a small dosage of sugar and reserve wine is added. This gives the wine a little sweetness.
Best Producers:
The Top:
Bollinger & Krug
The Rest:
Ayala, Billecart-Salmon, Nicolas Feuillate- Perrier-Jouet, Pommery, Tattinger, Mumm, Pol Roger, Salon, Veuve Clicquot, Piper-Heidsieck, Henriot, Deutz, Moet Chandon, Roederer & Henriot
Important Terms:
Brut- Very dry style of Champagne
Cuvee- Blending batches of wine
Cuvée de prestige- Top end cuvee from a producer. Roeder is Cristal
Moët & Chandon's Dom Pérignon was the first one produced in 1936 (1921 Vintage)
Disgorgement- The freezing of the neck of a bottle and the sediment is quickly removed. A dosage is then added and a final cork is put in the bottle.
Dosage- A syrupy mix of wine and sugar. This is used during the second fermentation and is what causes the bubbles.
Riddling- Turning the bottles to cause the sediment to gather near the neck of the bottle.
Méthod Champenoise- [meh-toh'd shahm-PEH-n'wahz- The method of making Champagne
Non-Vintage or “NV”- Champagne makes up 85 to 90 percent of all Champagne produced. Each is composed of several different years and different blends as well as different vintages, rather than from a single harvest.
Punt- Bottle of the bottle indentation that allows for a distribution of pressure in the bottle.
Rosé Champagne- is made through one of two methods. The first method involves adding a small amount of red still wine from Champagne to the original blend. The second method involves exposing the must to the skins of the red grapes when pressing
Tirage- Also known as a Dosage which is added to the second fermentation