Wine
Regiions
Old World
France
Champagne

ABOUT CHAMPAGNE

In other wine regions blending is frowned upon, and the best wines are made on one estate and from a single vintage. In Champagne the traditional view could not be more contrasting-classic non-vintage Champagnes are a blend of different grapes, from different areas and different harvests. Whether for cracking on the bow of a ship. toasting the bride and bridegroom or celebrating the winner of a Grand Prix. Champagne is the first choice.

Indispensable it might be yet many people feel curiously disappointed when they drink it. Perhaps they have drunk a cheap bubbly which may be all fizz and no flavor, or have been given a glass to wash down a slice of wedding cake? The intense sweetness of the cake abuses the dry flavor of the wine and makes even the best Champagne taste sharp and unpleasant. No one should feel they have to like Champagne, but it is, however. one of the most remarkable drinks man has managed to produce with the fruits of the vine-a pale colored, richly, flavored, yet delicate wine, made vivacious by a constant stream of ultra-fine bubbles. Champagne's limited production, relatively high price and superb promotion do help to create the image of an inimitable product, but good Champagnes have a quality and finesse that no other sparkling wine has yet been able to match.

What is Champagne?

Champagne is a specific appellation reserved for the product of three grape varieties, the Chardonnay, Pinot noir and Pinot meunier, grown in a legally delimited region of northern France. Within the EEC no other sparkling wine may be called Champagne; other countries, which have in the past sold wines labeled Champagne without a blush, are now beginning to take pride in the origin and individuality of their home products and are voluntarily phasing OUt the term.

HOW CHAMPAGNE IS MADE

The harvest in Champagne usually takes place in mid-October, although in exceptional years it has commenced as early as August and as late as November.

Although modem horizontal presses, both hydraulic and pneumatic, are used, the most popular press is a small, vertical one with a capacity of 4,000 kilograms (8,818 pounds) and a shallot base which allows the lid of the press to squeeze a thin mass of grapes. The grapes are not destalked and, when they are pressed, their fibrous material forms a network of cartels through which the grape juice drains. It is essential that the pressing is carried out quickly; particularly with the black Pinot varieties, where the coloring matter in the grape skins give the juice an undesirable taint. Each 4,000 kilograms (8,818 pounds) of grapes is called a marc and one marc must yield no more than 2,666 litres (704 gallons) of juice. The first pressing extracts 2,050 litres (541 gallons) called the cuvee, which is the highest quality juice, the next 410 litres (108 gallons) is called the premiere taille end the remaining 205 litres (54 gallons) the deuxieme taille.

Because the taille is of inferior quality to the cuvee, it is common practice for many houses to declare they never use vins de taille in their Champagnes, preferring to sell them on to houses that specialize in BOB (Buyer's Own Brand Champagnes.

The first alcoholic fermentation

There is nothing mysterious about the initial fermentation of Champagne, which results in a dry still wine, very acid to taste with a quite unremarkable character. Like Port, the base wine must be intrinsically out of balance if the final product is to achieve a correct balance. Historically, the first fermentation took place in oak casks, but now stainless-steel vats have largehy replaced them, although a few of the most traditional houses, and many thousands of grower producers,, still ferment some or all of their wines in cask

Malolactic fermentation

Champagne normally undergoes what is called malolactic "fermentation", this is not strictly speaking a fermentation, but another biochemical process which converts the hard malic acid to soft lactic acid. Those who cask-ferment their wines usually bottle without this conversion having taken place, because it is difficult to achieve in wood and is generally believed not to occur in bottle during or after the second fermentation. A Champagne which has not undergone malolactic conversion is quite often austere in character and hard to appreciate until properly matured, but once it has developed it will have the capacity to remain at its peak for far longer than other Champagnes.

Blending the wine

The critical operation of assemblage, or blending, is highly skilled and painstaking. To consistently blend together a non-vintage Champagne of a specific house style from as many as 70 different base wines each of which changes in character from year to year, is a remarkable feat. Even a vintage Champagne has to be blended, albeit from one year's wines, so as to convey both the quality and character of the year, and also the style of the house.

The second alcoholic fermentation

After the blended wine has undergone its final racking, what is known as the liqueur de tirage is added; this is a mixture of still Champagne, sugar and selected yeasts. The amount of sugar added depends on the degree of effervescence required and the amount of natural sugar in the wine. Dosed with a suitable amount of liqueur, the wines are bottled and capped with a temporary closure. This used to be a cork secured by a metal clip called an agrafe, but a crown-cap (which is the same as a beer-bottle cap) is now in common use and this holds in place a small plastic pot to catch the sediment produced by the second fermentation.

The wines are then stacked in the deepest cellars, often in the famous crayeres, or chalk pits, dug by the Romans to provide
building materials. In the cool depths of these cellars the l fermentation is very slow and this creates \Nines with great aromatic properties. complex flavors and minuscule bubbles. The carbon dioxide remains imprisoned in the wine and only when the bottle is opened will it be able to escape, rushing to the surface in the to mm of a stream of bubbles. The French use the term prise de mousse. or capturing the sparkle . for this second fermentation.

Remnage

When the second fermentation is over, which can take between ten days and three months. the bottles are transferred to pupitres. two-hinged, heavy, rectangular boards containing 60 holes, each l allowing a bottle to be held by the neck in any position from horizontal. through 90°; to vertical. Remuage, a method of shaking and twisting the bottles to loosen the sediment and l encourage it to move to the neck of the bottle. then rakes place. BN hand this takes about eight weeks. but a number of companies have installed computerized equipment which operates 500 bottle pallets. and performs the task in eight days.

Remnage versus yeast capsules

Experiments have been taking place with a new technique which obviates the need for remuage Yeast capsules are inserted into the bottles to induce a secondary fermentation and the sediment produced is imprisoned inside the porous capsules. If these pills gain official approval, they may supersede the very expensive computerized gyropalettes in the 1990s. A rival to the yeast capsule, an agglomerating yeast which requires no special dispensing system, is also under development.

Aging the wine

After remuage many bottles will undergo a period of aging before the sediment is removed. The minimum period for non vintage Champagnes is one year (from the January following the harvest) and this is extended to three years for vintage Champagnes. The longer the Champagne is aged the better, because the sediment contains dead yeast cells and the gradual breakdown of these cells gives Champagne its special flavor and bouquet. This process, | known as autolysis, is largely responsible for the superior quality | of prestige cuvees.

Degorgement

This is the removal of the sediment which has collected in the plastic pot held in place by the crown-cap The method used today is known as degorgement a la glace. It involves the immersion of the bottle neck in a shallow bath of freezing brine. This causes the sediment to adhere to the base of the plastic pot attached to the crown-cap enabling the bottle to be turned upright without disturbing the sediment. Then, the crown-cap is removed and the l sediment is ejected by the internal pressure of the bottle. Only a little wine is lost, as the pressure is reduced by the freezing brine.

Adding the liqueur d'expedition

Before corking, the bottles are topped up with the liqueur d'expedition which may include a small amount of sugar-the addition of branch: is now virtually non existent. The younger the wine, the greater the dosage of sugar required to balance the youthful acidity. High acidity is crucial to a fine Champagne; it carries l the flavor to the palate through the tactile effect caused by | thousands of bursting bubbles. But this acidity rounds out with l age; the older the Champagne the less sugar needed.

Corking

The next stage is the insertion of a cork by machine. A protective | metal cap is placed on the cork with a pulverizing blow, giving the I cork its special mushroom-like appearance. A wire muzzle secures the cork to the bottle, which is then automatically shaken to homogenize- l the wine and liqueur The best cuvees are often kept for a while to help marry the liqueur It is always worth giving any good Champagne a year or two of extra aging before drinking it.

THE CLASSIFICATION OF CHAMPAGNE VINEYARDS

All the vineyards of' Champagne are quality rated on a percentage system ranging from 100 down to X0 per cent. This is known as the echelle des crus. Before each harvest. the price a grower gets for his grapes is fixed by a committee made up of officials. growers and producers. Villages with 1()0 per cent rating have grand cru status and must receive the full price for their grapes while the premiere crus. rate-d between 99 and 90 per cent. and other lesser villages. receive a pro-rata price for their grapes.

The map below. shows the positions of all the grand cru and premier i cru villages in the Champagne region. It includes the three all important districts of the Montagne de Reims. the Vallee de Marne and the- Cote- des Blancs. There are 17 villages possessing official grand cru satus. Until 1985 there were only 12; the five villages elevated to grand cru in 1985 were Chouilly, le Mesnil sur-Oger, Oger,. Oiry and Verzy. This upgrading has meant changes in the proportions of grape varieties grown . In particula, the cultivation of the- Chardonnay has risen from nearly one-third to over ode-half of the vines cultivated in grand cru villages. while it has dropped around ten per cent in the permier cru sector.

STYLES OF CHAMPAGNE

Non-vintage

Non-vintage Champagne accounts for three-quarters of the regions production. The hulk of a blend will he from the current harvest but between 10 and 20 per cent reserve wine from as few as two, or JS many JS seven, older vintages may he added. By IJ\\: a non-vintage Champagne must be aged for a minimum of one year (from Januaury 1 the harvest), but the best houses will give their wines at least three years in bottle. Non-vintage Champagnes arc not usually the finest Champagnes, yet they are capable of being so, and in years when either the character of the wine is not to an individual's taste ( for instance, the 19-6 could be too heavy for lovers of elegant Champagne), or in poor harvests, the non-vintage is a better buy than the more expensive vintage.

Vintage

The only reason vintage Champagne is superior to non-vintage is that its relatively small production allows a tar stricter control over the quality of base wines selected,, and because it is sold when it is approximately twice .IS mature. No more than x0 per cent of the harvest may he sold as vintage Champagne; this conserves at least 20 per cent of the best years for future blending of non-vintage wines. Some houses stick rigidly to declaring a vintage only in years of exceptional quality; others sadly do not.

Blanc de blancs (non-vintage and vintage)

Literally "white of whites", these wines, which are water white in color, are produced entirely from white Chardonnay grapes and have the greatest aging potential of all Champagnes. Blanc de blancs may be made in any distinct of Champagne, but the best come from a small part of the Cote des Blancs between Cramant and le Mesnil-sur-Oger. If consumed too early, a blanc de blancs can appear austere and lacking in fruit, vet with proper maturity this style of Champagne develops a toasty, lemony bouquet and trills the mouth with an intensity of ripe-fruit flavors.

Blanc de noirs (non-vintage and vintage)

Literally "white of blacks", these are Champagnes made entirely of black grapes: either Pinot noir or Pinot meunier, or a blend of the two. A pure Pinot noir blanc de noirs is golden-yellow in color and has a rich and fruity taste. Only a few producers make these Champagnes: Bollinger produce tiny amounts of the expensive Vieilles Vignes Francaises made entirety from ungrafted Pinot noir grapes; while the small house of Collery in Ay-Champagne produce two fine examples of blanc de noirs

Rose (non-vintage and vintage)

The first record of a commercially produced pink sparkling Champagne is that of Clicquot's in 1777' and this Champagne has enjoyed ephemeral bursts of popularity ever since. It is the only European rose which may be made by blending white wine with a little red; all other roses, whether still or sparkling, must be produced by macerating the skins and juice to extract pigments. More pink Champagne is produced by blending than through skin contact and in blind tasting it has been impossible to tell the difference. Most pink Champagnes have a higher proportion of black grapes than white, and some are pure Pinot noir, but many houses simply add a little red wine to their basic non-vintage or vintage cuvees. A good pink Champagne will have an attractive color, perfect limpidity and a snow-white mousse.. Many taste no different from white Champagne: their particular appeal is visual.

Cremant (non-vintage and vintage)

Most Champagnes are fully sparkling or mousseux; that is they have an internal pressure of 5 to 6 atmospheres. A cremant or "creaming" Champagne has a noticeably softer sparkle, taditionally 3.6 atmospheres and the mousse should possess minuscule bubbles which unfold very slowly These qualities are difficult to achieve and true cremant Champagnes are hard to find, but Besserat de Bellefon. Alfred Gratien. Abel Lepitre and Mumm all make fine examples of this style. As the Chardonnay grape is thought to give tinier hubbies than the Pinot. the best cremant Champagnes often contain a high proportion of this grape variety.

Non-dosage (non-vintage and vintage )

Non-dosage or unsweetened Champagne is not new Laurent Perrier sold a Grand Vin Sans Sucre"' .IS long ago as 1889, hut under various names-from Brut Zero to Brut Sauvage, Ultra Brut and Sans Sucre a wave of these Champagnes emerged in unison with the fashion for lighter, drier wines in the early 1980s. - Too tart '. ungenerous ' .and even unpleasant to drink are | criticisms which have been leveled at this style, but a good Champagne needs either a little sugar or eight to ten years aging, thus these Champagnes only attain depth alla complexity with age. They are now officially designated JS Extra Brut.

Cuvees de prestige (non-vintage and vintage)

These Champagnes arc- the flagships of the Champagne houses I offering what should he and sometimes is-the ultimate in Champagne. A typical prestige cuvee may be made entirely of wines from grands crus vineyards and. if not .a vintage Champagne made only in the greatest years,, it \\ill claim not to he non-vintage but a "blend of only the finest vintage years" - fine distinction indeed. Many of these wines are produced by the- most traditional methods, aged for longer than normal and sold in special bottles at very high prices. Some are over refined and have too much | mellowness for a wine which should have dash and flair Others, such as Bollinger's Grande Annee Rare .and Philipponat's ''Clos des Goisses", are truly exciting Champagnes of the highest quality.