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FrontRangeLiving.com -> Cooking -> Champagne
 Champagne:
A Toast to the Future from an Illustrious Past
By Sally Mohr, Master Sommelier
"I drink Champagne when I'm happy and when I'm sad," said Madame
Bollinger, one of the grandes dames of Champagne. "Sometimes I drink it when I'm alone. When I have company, I consider it
obligatory. I trifle with it if I'm not hungry and drink it when I am.
Otherwise, I never touch it - unless I'm thirsty."
Champagne is a toast to optimism, an attempt to bolster defiance, or a
companion for consolation. According to Napoleon, "In victory you deserve it, in defeat you need it."
Whether you are
celebrating victory or defeat or just the passing of another day, for a wine to be called Champagne, it must come from that particular
region of France that is located 90 miles east of Paris in the rolling hills
near the towns of Epernay, Reims, and Sézanne. Anyone in the world can make a
sparkling wine in the méthode champenoise, but only the Champenoise can
make Champagne.
That essential méthode results in 49 million bubbles in every bottle,
scientists suggest. Next time you open a bottle, try to keep all 49 million
bubbles in the bottle. Releasing them needlessly into the air is wasteful,
for there is enjoyment in every single gaseous orb.
When opening a bottle of Champagne, the sheer pressure inside the bottle can
cause the cork to become a projectile. Don’t take the wire cage off of the
cork. Hold the cage and cork tightly as you slowly turn the bottle with your
other hand. Hold the bottle at a 45-degree angle while you slowly let the cork
out of the bottle and release the pressure with a small hiss. The 45-degree
angle allows the gas to escape without any liquid cascading out. Sometimes the
pressure is great enough that you will get it bubbling out of the top of the
bottle; have a glass handy just in case.
 Judging
Sweetness and Color
Besides the range of sweetness levels, there are different colors, and each
producer creates a unique flavor profile. Most all Champagnes are made to be
"Brut" level of sweetness. The names you would see on a label (in
ascending order from driest to sweetest) are: Extra Brut, Brut, Extra Dry, Sec,
Demi-Sec. Normally "sec" equates to "dry", but not in the
case of Champagne, it really means slightly-sweet. Extra Brut is actually
the driest of them all. Demi-Sec is sweet enough to serve with dessert.
Those pink colored Champagnes are not the French version of "Cold
Duck". The grape varieties used in Champagne are Chardonnay, Pinot Noir,
and Pinot Meunier. Blanc de Noirs Champagnes are made from the black
grapes (Noir and/or Meunier). Rosé Champagnes can be made either by
adding red wine to the white to make it pink, or by macerating the juice just
long enough to get the pink color from the skins of the grapes. Blanc de
Blancs Champagnes use only Chardonnay grapes and are always white in color.
Choose Light and Crisp or Rich and Creamy
Blanc de Blancs are lighter, crisper, and more delicate. Think of citrus and
green apples. Blanc de Noirs and Rosé Champagnes tend to be softer, richer, and
creamier. Think of peaches and strawberries.
Each producer has a house style--a signature with a basic non-vintage brut.
They can be categorized along the same lines, either crisp and delicate or rich
and creamy, with some falling in between. The producers within the delicate
group are Moët & Chandon, Nicolas Feuillatte, Piper-Heidsieck, Taittinger,
Roederer, Salon, and Charles Heidsieck.
The richer group would be Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin, Perrier-Jouët, Krug,
Bollinger, and Ruinart. The middle group is Mumm, Lanson, Pommery,
Laurent-Perrier, Jacquesson, Phillipponnat, Pol Roger, and Jacquart.
Blending
Wines is the Real Art
Another difference you will find on a label is whether it is a vintage or
non-vintage Champagne. Blending different vineyard sites with different vintages
is the real art in making Champagne. Each "house" (producer) wants
consistency of style from year to year. Since the region is far north, with a
short growing season, each vintage is a gamble whether it will reach full
maturity. Vintage wines are not declared unless that ripeness can be attained.
The art of blending wines is what Dom Perignon really perfected in the 17th
century at the Abbey of Hautvillers. The Dom is credited with discovering how to
keep the bubbles in wine, but documentation exists from 1531 that the Abbey at
Saint Hilaire near Carcasonne figured out how to capture the carbon dioxide
in the bottle and stopper it with a cork. The Madame Veuve Clicquot
discovered the process to get the sediment out of the bottle while retaining the
clear wine and bubbles in the bottle.
The Making of Champagne
What makes Champagne so unique and how is it made? The first difference is
that the grapes are picked with a higher amount of natural acidity. These grapes
are pressed and made into still wine, which is then assembled into the house
style from all the available lots. If it is non-vintage then this assemblage may
include up to 10 different vintages. If it is destined to be a vintage
Champagne, then only the lots from that vintage are blended.
Liqueur de tirage is added to the bottled wine to perform the secondary
fermentation. This is a mixture of still wine (Champagne), sugar and yeast. It
is capped with a temporary bottle cap. This second fermentation can take up to 3
months to complete in the bottle.
Remuage is the process of getting the sediment into the neck of the
bottle. This process can be done by hand in 8 weeks by placing the bottles in Pupitres
(A-frame stands with holes for the bottles to cradle in). Or gyro-pallets can
get the job done quickly in 8 days using machine power. Champagne law requires
that the bottles be cellared for a minimum of 15 months for non-vintage or 3
years for vintage. Most houses double that time resulting in a richer, yeastier
complexity.
Dégorgement is the process to expel the spent yeast cells from the
bottle. The bottle neck is frozen in a brine solution, the crown cap is removed
and the plug of sediment is expelled due to the pressure in the bottle. At this
point the addition of the liqueur d’expédition goes into the bottle
which creates the finished wine’s level of sweetness (Brut, Extra Dry, etc).
The cork is inserted in the bottle and a wire muzzle is used to hold the cork in
place. It is now ready for drinking, but the best producers let them set for a
few months to allow the wine and liqueur to marry.
Champagne does age well. Just be careful about storage, definitely not in the
refrigerator. As long as the cork holds its seal and the bubbles stay inside,
the complexity of age is a wonderful and desired characteristic. To be on the
safe side, drink within 10 years of dégorgement. With non-vintage bottles it
can be hard to determine their age, so keep it to 5 years after purchase if you’re
not sure. Some foresighted producers are stamping a coded date of dégorgement
on the bottles. If only all houses would be that helpful.
 It
Takes a Village
The French are famous for categorizing their vineyards. The Champenoise are
slightly different in that they don’t grade a vineyard, but give a quality
level to an entire village. There are 17 villages that have been awarded the
title of Grand Cru, while 40 villages share the title of Premier Cru.
You can find both of these designations on a label and it really is a good
barometer of the quality inside the bottle.
You will notice an increase in price with a bottle from a Premier Cru or
Grand Cru village since there is a direct correlation to the cost of the grapes.
The governing body sets the price growers will receive for their grapes. A Grand
Cru village will receive 100% of the set price, while a Premier Cru village will
receive 90-99% depending upon their rating. The remaining villages are ranked
down to 80%.
The Best
Following is a list of the Prestige Cuvées that are worth looking for as an
extra special treat. These represent the best of each producer’s portfolio.
Many are Grand Cru or Premier Cru bottlings. There are several different
vintages currently available on the market. Each house releases their vintage
bottles at different times, so you will not see the same vintage for sale at the
same time. Great vintages to look for are 1988, 1989, 1990, 1985, 1992, 1993,
1994, 1995, and 1996.
Non-Vintage
- Laurent Perrier Grand Siècle
- Mumm Cramant Blanc de Blancs Brut
- Perrier-Jouët Blason de France Brut
- Perrier-Jouët Blason de France Rosé Brut
- Ruinart R de Ruinart Rosé Brut
Vintage
- Bollinger Vieilles Vignes Françaises Blanc de Noirs
- Bollinger RD
- Bollinger Année Rare
- Charles Heidsieck Cuvée Champagne Charlie
- Heidsieck & Co Monopole Cuvée Diamant Bleu Brut
- Jacquesson Signature Brut
- Krug Clos du Mesnil Blanc de Blancs
- Laurent Perrier Millésimé Rare Brut
- Moët & Chandon Dom Pérignon
- Moët & Chandon Dom Pérignon Rosé
- Mumm de Mumm
- Perrier-Jouët Belle-Epoque Brut
- Perrier-Jouët Belle-Epoque Rosé Brut
- Phillipponnat Clos des Goisses
- Pol Roger Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill
- Pommery Cuvée Louise
- Louis Roederer Cristal Brut
- Louis Roederer Cristal Rosé Brut
- Ruinart R de Ruinart Brut
- Ruinart Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blancs Brut
- Ruinart Dom Ruinart Rosé Brut
- Salon
- Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut
- Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Rosé Brut
- Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin Grande Dame Brut
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