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Surprising but true, the term ’brut’ which describes 90% of all Champagne wines does not really give much explanation as to its true personality. It is simply a description of a trait that it acquired at the end of the production process, when the winemaker adds the dosage which determines its sweetness. This final touch is necessary for the wine to express itself to the full, to show its full range of particularly delicate aromas.
Brut Champagnes
Demi-sec Champagnes
Alongside their classic blends, the Champenois adore creating original wines. These they call special or prestige cuvées. It is the feather in their cap, the essence of their style. Choosing one’s theme
These
particular or exceptional wines are created with one guiding principle in
mind.
Young , Mature or At its Peak? All Champagnes are aged in the producers’ cellars for at least 15 months for NV Champagne, for a minimum of three years for vintage wines and even longer for prestige cuvées, before being released.
Assemblage: magic of the champenois artestry. Delicate marriage of base wines, from different grape varieties and several vintages. Assemblage allows producers to maintain the consistency of their styles over time. It is called cuvˇe and it is composed anew every year. The style itself is defined by the proportions of base wines, as well as aging time in the producers' cellars. Aube: a grape growing district in the South of La Champagne. It is mostly planted with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Blanc de blancs: Champagne wine exclusively vinified from white Chardonnay grapes of Champagne. Young, it is pale gold with numerous green reflections. Mature, it is a deeper gold with subdued green reflections. Blanc de noirs: Champagne wine vinified from black Pinot Noir or Meunier grapes. Young, it is pale or light gold, with hardly visible pink reflections. Mature, it is deep gold with rose/orange nuances. Cork: the cork is cylindrical when in serted into the Champagne bottle. When pulled out of the bottle, it resembles a mushroom. By law, the Champagne appellation is stamped on it. A comet is sometimes branded on it. C™te des Blanks: a vineyard area south of Epernay. It owes its name to the predominant Chardonnay grapes. Cru: grape growing village in Champagne. There are 312 crus in Champagne. Cuvˇe: 1) first 2,050 liters of juice extracted from a marc of 4,000 kgs of grapes; 2) a blend of wines obtained by assemblage of vins clairs. Cuvˇe spˇciale: result of the best assemblegae of wines from the best crus in the best vintages. Dˇgorgement: operation that follows remuuage. Its purpose is to remove the lees or sediments.
Dosage:
addition of a liquer made of Champagne wine and cane sugar, after
dˇgorgement and prior to the final corking of the bottle. The amount of
dosage determines the degree of sweetness of the cuvˇe: Sec and demi-sec Champagne wines are best served with desserts or with rich foods like foie gras or Stilton cheese. Lies, "lees": sediments which accumilate in the Champagne bottle, especially during the prise de mousse. Keeping Champagne wines on their lees, give them a more complex taste. Marc: 1) traditional Champenois weighing unit used at pressing time amounting to 4,000 kgs of grapes; 2) spirit distilled from the grapes, after all the juice has been pressed out. Mature Bruts: aged 3-5 years, have a slower effervescence and a slightly deeper golden hue. Their aromas display spices, ripe applies, dried fruit, black cherries or black currant. They are more vinous and round-bodied, with hints of wax and brioche. Montagne de Reims: a Champagne sub-region. Mostly planted with Pinot Noir and Meunier. It comprises the Grande Montagne, Pinot Noir, Petit Montagne, and Meunier. Elevation: 900 feet. Mousse: effervescence, froth, foam, sparkle of the Champagne wines. Muselet: wire cage holding the cork. Mo˛t, "must": unfermented grape juice. Non vintage: Champagne made from an assemblage of wines from several different complementary harvests. Called "sans annˇe" or "non millˇsimˇ" in French, it is best described as pluri-vintage. Aged for a minimum of 12 months, it often spends two or three years on its lees in the producer's cellars. Oeil de perdrix, "partridge eye": light rosˇ copper colour of certain Champagne wines. Opulent Champagnes: older wines with subdued effervescence and a deep yellow color. They display aromas of dried fruit and roasted nuts, hints of coffee, cocoa or mocha. Their complex wine quality is balanced by a refreshing and lingering mouth impression. Piˇce: traditional measuring unit designating a Champagne cask of 205 liters. Prise de mousse: period of second fermentation in the Champagne bottles when the wines take their effervescence (mousse). Remuage, "riddling": process used to gather all the lees near the cork prior to dˇgorgement. Rosˇ (Champagne): colour of certain Champagne wines. It comes from the colour of the cuvˇe which is obtained either by blending white wines from Chardonnay grapes and red wines from Pinot Noir and/or Meunier grapes, or by blending wines made from juice left in contact with the grape skins for a brief period of time to absorb colour. Taille: 500 liters of must extracted from the marc following the cuvˇe. Traditional or Classic Bruts: also known as non-vintage or multi-vintage, traditional/classic Bruts are the most available Champagnes. They are based on a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Meunier, from several villages and several vintages. Vallˇe de la Marne: grape growing area devoted mostly to Meunier. It comprises vineyards on both sides of teh river Marne. Vins clairs: still wines, obtained after the fermentation of the must. They are the components of the assemblage. Vins de rˇserve: still wines from one or several vintages put aside for future assemblage of Champagne "non millˇsimˇ." Vintage: 1) "vendange", harvest. It usually starts in late September or early October in Champagne and lasts for two to three weeks; 2) Champagne wine made by assemblage of wines from one harvest only. It is aged for a minimum of three years (often four and a half or five years) by the producers. It is called brut "millˇsimˇ" in France. Young Bruts: aged 2-3 years, have a vigorous effervescence and pale yellow color. Their aromas evoke sensations of white or red fruit -- apples, fresh almonds, grapes and raspberries -- while their taste is redolent of white bread dough.
Why do Champagne's large-format bottles have biblical names? No one is exactly sure of the reasons why larger format bottles were given biblical names. But, according to the Champagne expert Franēois Bonal, winemakers in Bordeaux had been using the name Jeroboam for the four-bottle size since 1725. (It's presumed they selected Jeroboam, the biblical founder of Israel, who ruled from 931-910 BC because he is referred to as "a man of great worth," as were the larger size bottles).Bonal also explains that a Champenois poet of the middle ages, Eugene Destuche, mentioned several of these names in his poetry. The Champenois adopted the Jeroboam and followed suit with larger format bottles developed in the 1940s, continuing the practice of selecting biblical kings and patriarchs. Following is a list of Champagne bottle sizes:
Nebuchadnezzar (20
bottles)
The colour range of white Champagnes A Champagne’s colour can vary from pale gold to green gold, from amber to yellow gold, from old gold to grey gold. But all these differences are not simply pleasures for the eye, they reveal much about the wine’s character, the length of time it has been aged for and the grapes that have been used. A light wine will have a clear colour, whilst a powerful wine will be darker. Wines become darker the longer they age.
The Traditional Blend, Blanc de Blancs or Blanc de Noirs The traditional blend Traditionally, the Champenois blend wines from different growing areas, or crus. The cru corresponds to a viticultural area, and is the combination of grape variety, soil and microclimate. The three permitted grape varieties - Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay - each with its own character: power for Pinot Noir, fruitiness for Pinot Meunier and finesse for Chardonnay. Traditional brut or demi-sec Champagnes are made using the three varieties and strive for a balance of power, fruit and finesse. Equally, they can be dominated by one of the 3 varieties. This type of information is not visible on the label, however, it can be provided by the producer or by looking in a wine guide. Blanc de Blancs or Blanc de Noirs A blanc de blancs Champagne is made by using only the Chardonnay grape and is characterised by its finesse. A blanc de noirs Champagne uses Pinot Noir and/or Pinot Meunier grapes, and is characterised by either power or fruitiness, sometimes both together.
Non-vintage Champagne In Champagne, tradition means that still wines of different years are blended together. Every year a proportion of the harvest is kept in reserve to be used in future years’ blends. It is with this reserve that the winemaker is able to create the same style every year. This is why a non-vintage wine best shows the house style. Vintage Champagne When a harvest has exceptional character and deserves to be appreciated to the full, the winemaker will produce a vintage wine. These wines will always be the unique expression of a single year.
Undo the wire cage, hold the cork in the palm of your hand and twist the bottle holding it at the bottom, the cork will come out of is own accord.
The Cork
The bubbles also show the age of the wine. Over the years the bubbles will gradually become smaller and smaller, before finally dying out. A connoisseur will not be worried by the absence of bubbles in a very mature wine, something that might shock the uninitiated into believing that their wine is flat.
The silver spoon
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