Bubbly Queen
Prelude to Her Highness: You are in a wine shop looking for that “special” wine to serve at a dinner party. Before you walked in, you had at least an ideal of what you wanted, but now, as you scan the shelves, you’re overwhelmed. “There are so many wines,” you think to yourself, “….and so many price.” You take a deep breath, boldly pick up a bottle that looks impressive, and buy it, of course “Champagne”. Then you hope your guest will like your selection. Does this sound a little farfeched ? For some of you, yes. The truth is, this is very common occurrence for the win beginner, and even the intermediate, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Wine should be an enjoyable experience. By the time you finish this reading......., you will be able to buy with confidence from a retailer, or even look in the eye of a wine steward and ask with no hesitation for the selection of your choice. But first let’s start with the basics – the foundation of wine knowledge. Read carefully that follow. You may even want to refer back to this section occasionally to reinforce what you learn. In the Honor of Her Highness The Bubbly Queen , Champagne, Wine is a fermented juice of grapes. Fermentation : Fermentation is the process by which the grape juice turns into wine. The simple formula for fermentation is: Sugar + Yeast = Alcohol + Carbon Dioxide (CO2). The fermentation process begins when the crushed grape ends with all of the sugar has been converted to alcohol or when the alcohol level has around 15%, which kills off the yeast. Sugar is naturally present in the ripe grape. Yeast also occurs naturally, as the white bloom on the skin. However, this natural yeast is not always used in today’s winemaking. In many cases, laboratory strains of pure yeast have been isolated, each strain contributing something unique to the style of wine. The carbon dioxide dissipates into the air, except in the case of Champagne and other sparkling wine, where this gas is retained through a special process. Champagne Champagne is a sparkling wine produced by inducing the in-bottle secondary fermentation of wine to effect carbonation. It is named after the Champagne region of France. While the term "champagne" has often been used by makers of sparkling wine in other parts of the world, many claim it should properly be used to refer only to the wines made in the Champagne region. This principle is enshrined in the European Union by Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status. In Russia, Belarus and much of the former Soviet Union the name Sovetskoye Shampanskoye continues to be used, with the governments of those countries claiming that the rights to the use of the word “Champagne” were granted in perpetutity to the Russian Imperial Government by the French and that this cannot be rescinded. Champagne is a sparkling wine produced by inducing the in-bottle secondary fermentation of wine to effect carbonation. It is named after the Champagne region of France. While the term "champagne" has often been used by makers of sparkling wine in other parts of the world, many claim it should properly be used to refer only to the wines made in the Champagne region. This principle is enshrined in the European Union by Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status. In Russia, Belarus and much of the former Soviet Union the name Sovetskoye Shampanskoye continues to be used, with the governments of those countries claiming that the rights to the use of the word “Champagne” were granted in perpetuity to the Russian Imperial Government by the French and that this cannot be rescinded. Champagne is unquestionably the greatest and most famous sparkling wine in the world. It is produced 145 kilometers (90 miles) north-east of Paris in the following zones: the Mountains of Reims the Valley of the Marne around Epernay the Aube department; the Cotes des Blancs - so called because it is entirely planted with the white Chardonnay grape. The total area permissible for the cultivation of the vine is 34000 hectares (84000 acres) of which 28000 hectare (60000 acres) are in actual production. The soil is generally chalk of belemnite which offers good drainage and is ideal for producing light, white wines. The climate is chilly and cool with an average annual temperature of 10oC (50oF) - just one degree above the extremity for the ripening of grapes. The three grapes permitted are Pinot Noir (black), Pinot Meunier(black) and Chardonnay. The black grapes give richness, softness and predominance of flavor and the white Chardonnay adds elegance and balance to the bend. Most blends are two parts black to one past white, but sometimes champagne is made entirely from black gapes labeled Blance de Noirs. When made from Chardonnay grape only it is sold as Blance de Blancs. The vineyards are grade by champagne governing body, the Comite Interprofessional du Vin de Champagne (CIVC), from 100% (grand crus) to 80% (preiers crus). With relativ prices for the grapes per at harvest time. The CIVC are responsible for ensuring that the traditionally high production standards are maintained. They also deal with the general marketing are promotion of the wine – including the protection of the name Champagne.
Origins - Jean François de Troy's 1735 painting Le Déjeuner d'Huîtres (Luncheon with Oysters) was the first time sparkling champagne was depicted in a painting. The Black Sea is the cradle of wine-making and drinking in a tradition which archaeologists suggest goes back well over 5000 years. The Cossacks on the River Dom in the Crimea where documented as developing a sparkling wine some 50 years before the monk Dom Perignon first produced sparkling wine in France. The first commercial sparkling wine was produced in the Limoux area of Languedoc about 1535. They did not invent it; nobody knows who first made it, although the English make a reasonably good claim in that they added sugar and molasses to imported wine and bottled it. The English claim is given some substance as they had developed sufficiently strong bottles to withstand the very high pressures created by fermentation. Contrary to legend and popular belief, the French monk Dom Perignon did not invent champagne, although it is almost certainly true that he developed many advances in the production of this beverage, including the method in which the cork is held in place with a wire collar due to pressure building up during the fermentation process. Some people believe that champagne was created quite by accident, but no one has been able to prove that this is the case. Some others believe that the first champagne was made with rhubarb but was changed due to the high cost. Somewhere in the end of the 17th century, the sparkling method was imported to the Champagne region, associated with specific procedures for production (including smooth pressing and dosage), and stronger bottles (invented in England) that could hold the added pressure. Around 1700, sparkling Champagne was born. "The leading manufacturers devoted considerable energy to creating a history and identity for their wine, associating it and themselves with
nobility and royalty. Through advertising and packaging they persuaded the world to turn to champagne for festivities and rites de passage and to enjoy it as a luxury and form of conspicuous consumption. Their efforts coincided with an emerging middle class that was looking for ways to spend its money on symbols of upward mobility." In 1866, the famous entertainer and star of his day, George Leybourne began a career of making celebrity endorsements for Champagne. The Champagne maker Moët commissioned him to write and perform songs extolling the virtues of Champagne, especially as a reflection of taste, affluence, and the good life. He also agreed to drink nothing but Champagne in public. Leybourne was seen as highly sophisticated and his image and efforts did much to establish Champagne as an important element in enhancing social status. It was a marketing triumph the results of which endure to this day. In the 1800s Champagne was noticeably sweeter than modern Champagne is today with the Russians preferring Champagne as sweet as 300 grams per litre. The trend towards drier Champagne began when Perrier-Jouët decided not to sweeten his 1846 vintage prior to exporting it to London. The designation Brut Champagne, the modern Champagne, was created for the British in 1876. Background: The wines of Champagne always had a tendency to sparkle. The cold weather of autumn would mute the fermentation process and the warmer weather of spring would rejuvenate the yeasts, causing a second fermentation to develop. At the age 30, Dom Perignon (1638- 1715), a blind Benedictine monk and head cellarer at the Abbey of Haut–Villers, recognized that this prickly wine had potential for improvement. He experimented with compensatory blending of grapes from different locations. He got bottle-makers to make stronger bottles so as to withstand the pressure better. He introduced the use of proper corks instead of the previously used oil-soaked hemp or rag stoppers. The combined initiatives were successful. Today Champagne can be a blend from the products of as many as 40 different vineyards. The bottles are strong enough to withstand as internal pressure of 6 kg per cm2, equivalent to the tyre pressure of London Transport Bus. Corks, of the finest quality, are assiduous in their confinement of sparkle to a life sentence in the bottle. History Statue of Pope Urban II in Champagne The Carolingian reign saw periods or prosperity for the Champagne region beginning with Charlemagne's encouragement for the area to start planting vines and continuing with the coronation of his son Louis the Pious at Reims. The tradition of crowning kings at Reims contributed to the reputation of the wines that came from this area. The Counts of Champagne ruled the area as an independent county from 950 to 1316. In 1314, the last Count of Champagne assumed the throne as King Louis X of France and the region became part of the Crown territories. Military Conflicts: The location of Champagne played a large role in its historical prominence as it served as a "crossroads" of sort for both military and trade routes. This also made the area open to devastation and destruction during military conflicts that were frequently waged in the area. In 451 A.D. near Châlons-en-Champagne Attila and the Huns were defeated by an alliance of Roman legions, Franks and Visigoths. This defeat was a turning point in the Huns invasion of Europe During The Hundred Years War, the land was repeatedly ravaged and devastated by battles. The Abbey of Hautvillers, including its vineyards, was destroyed in 1560 during the War of Religion between the Huguenots and Catholics. This was followed by conflicts during the Thirty Year War and the Fronde Civil War where soldiers and mercenaries held the area in occupation. It wasn't till the 1660's during the reign of Louis XIV that the region saw enough peace to allow advances in sparkling wine production to take place. History of wine production: The region's reputation for wine production dates back to the Middle Ages when Pope Urban II, a native Champenois, declared that the wine of Aÿ in the Marne département was the best wine produced in the world. For a time Aÿ was used as a shorthand designation for wines from the entire Champagne region, similar to the use of Beaune for the wines of Burgundy.[6] The poet Henry d'Andeli's work La Bataille des Vins rated wines from the towns of Épernay, Hautvillers and Reims as some of the best in Europe. As the region's reputation grew, Popes and Royalty sought to own pieces of the land with Pope Leo X, Francis I of France, Charles V of Spain, and Henry VIII of England all owning vineyard land in the region. A batch of wine from Aÿ received in 1518 by Henry VIII's chancellor, Thomas Cardinal Wolsey, is the first recorded export of wine from the Champagne region to England. The still wines of the area were highly prized in Paris under the designation of vins de la rivière and vins de la montagne- wines of the river and wines of the mountain in reference to the wooded terrain and the river Marne which carried the wines down to the Seine and into Paris. The region was in competition with Burgundy for the Flemish wine trade and tried to capitalize on Reims' location along the the trade route from Beaune. In the 15th century, Pinot Noir became heavily planted in the area. The resulting red wine had difficulty comparing well to the richness and coloring of Burgundy wines, despite the addition of elderberries to deepen the color. This lead to a greater focus on white wines. The Champagne house of Gosset was founded as a still wine producer in 1584 and is the oldest Champagne house still in operation today. Ruinart was founded in 1729 and was soon followed by Taittinger (1734), Moët et Chandon (1743) and Veuve Clicquot (1772). Moët & Chandon is a well known Champagne house in the region The nineteenth century saw an explosive growth in champagne production going from a regional production of 300,000 bottles a year in 1800 to 20 million bottles in 1850. Rivalry with Burgundy: A strong influence on Champagne wine production was the centuries old rivalry between the region and Burgundy. From the key market of Paris to the palace of Louis XIV of France at Versailles, proponents of Champagne and Burgundy would spar to get the upper hand. For most of his life, Louis XIV would drink only Champagne wine with the support of his doctor Antoine d'Aquin who advocated the King drink champagne with every meal for the benefit of his health. As the King aged and his ailments increased, competing doctors would proposed alternative treatments with alternative wines, to sooth the King's ills. One of these doctors, Guy-Crescent Fagon conspired with the King's mistress to oust d'Aquin and have himself appointed as Royal Doctor. Fagon quickly attributed the King's continuing ailments to champagne and ordered that only Burgundy wine must be served at the royal table. This development had a ripple effect throughout both regions and in the Paris markets. Both Champagne and Burgundy were deeply concerned with the "healthiness" reputation of their wines, even to the extent of paying medical students to write theses touting the health benefit of their wines. These theses were then used as advertising pamphlets that were sent to merchants and customers. The Faculty of Medicine in Reims published several papers to refute Fagon's claim that Burgundy wine was healthier then champagne. In response, Burgundian winemakers hired physician Jean-Baptiste de Salins, dean of the medical school in Beaune, to speak to a packed auditorium at the Paris Faculty of Medicine. Salins spoke favorably of Burgundy wine's deep color and robust nature and compared it to the pale red color of Champagne and the "instability" of the wine to travel long distances and the flaws of the bubbles from when secondary fermentation would take place. The text of his speech was published in newspapers and pamphlets throughout France and had a damaging affect on champagne sales. The war of words would continue for another 130 years with endless commentary from doctors, poets, playwrights and authors all arguing for their favorite region and their polemics being reproduce in advertisements for Burgundy and Champagne. On a few occasion, the two regions were on the brink of civil war. A turning point occurred when several Champagne wine makers abandoned efforts to produce red wine in favor of focusing on harnessing the effervescent nature of sparkling champagne. As the bubbles became more popular, doctors throughout France and Europe commented on the health benefits of the sparkling bubbles which were said to cure malaria...............
nobility and royalty. Through advertising and packaging they persuaded the world to turn to champagne for festivities and rites de passage and to enjoy it as a luxury and form of conspicuous consumption. Their efforts coincided with an emerging middle class that was looking for ways to spend its money on symbols of upward mobility." In 1866, the famous entertainer and star of his day, George Leybourne began a career of making celebrity endorsements for Champagne. The Champagne maker Moët commissioned him to write and perform songs extolling the virtues of Champagne, especially as a reflection of taste, affluence, and the good life. He also agreed to drink nothing but Champagne in public. Leybourne was seen as highly sophisticated and his image and efforts did much to establish Champagne as an important element in enhancing social status. It was a marketing triumph the results of which endure to this day. In the 1800s Champagne was noticeably sweeter than modern Champagne is today with the Russians preferring Champagne as sweet as 300 grams per litre. The trend towards drier Champagne began when Perrier-Jouët decided not to sweeten his 1846 vintage prior to exporting it to London. The designation Brut Champagne, the modern Champagne, was created for the British in 1876. Background: The wines of Champagne always had a tendency to sparkle. The cold weather of autumn would mute the fermentation process and the warmer weather of spring would rejuvenate the yeasts, causing a second fermentation to develop. At the age 30, Dom Perignon (1638- 1715), a blind Benedictine monk and head cellarer at the Abbey of Haut–Villers, recognized that this prickly wine had potential for improvement. He experimented with compensatory blending of grapes from different locations. He got bottle-makers to make stronger bottles so as to withstand the pressure better. He introduced the use of proper corks instead of the previously used oil-soaked hemp or rag stoppers. The combined initiatives were successful. Today Champagne can be a blend from the products of as many as 40 different vineyards. The bottles are strong enough to withstand as internal pressure of 6 kg per cm2, equivalent to the tyre pressure of London Transport Bus. Corks, of the finest quality, are assiduous in their confinement of sparkle to a life sentence in the bottle. History Statue of Pope Urban II in Champagne The Carolingian reign saw periods or prosperity for the Champagne region beginning with Charlemagne's encouragement for the area to start planting vines and continuing with the coronation of his son Louis the Pious at Reims. The tradition of crowning kings at Reims contributed to the reputation of the wines that came from this area. The Counts of Champagne ruled the area as an independent county from 950 to 1316. In 1314, the last Count of Champagne assumed the throne as King Louis X of France and the region became part of the Crown territories. Military Conflicts: The location of Champagne played a large role in its historical prominence as it served as a "crossroads" of sort for both military and trade routes. This also made the area open to devastation and destruction during military conflicts that were frequently waged in the area. In 451 A.D. near Châlons-en-Champagne Attila and the Huns were defeated by an alliance of Roman legions, Franks and Visigoths. This defeat was a turning point in the Huns invasion of Europe During The Hundred Years War, the land was repeatedly ravaged and devastated by battles. The Abbey of Hautvillers, including its vineyards, was destroyed in 1560 during the War of Religion between the Huguenots and Catholics. This was followed by conflicts during the Thirty Year War and the Fronde Civil War where soldiers and mercenaries held the area in occupation. It wasn't till the 1660's during the reign of Louis XIV that the region saw enough peace to allow advances in sparkling wine production to take place. History of wine production: The region's reputation for wine production dates back to the Middle Ages when Pope Urban II, a native Champenois, declared that the wine of Aÿ in the Marne département was the best wine produced in the world. For a time Aÿ was used as a shorthand designation for wines from the entire Champagne region, similar to the use of Beaune for the wines of Burgundy.[6] The poet Henry d'Andeli's work La Bataille des Vins rated wines from the towns of Épernay, Hautvillers and Reims as some of the best in Europe. As the region's reputation grew, Popes and Royalty sought to own pieces of the land with Pope Leo X, Francis I of France, Charles V of Spain, and Henry VIII of England all owning vineyard land in the region. A batch of wine from Aÿ received in 1518 by Henry VIII's chancellor, Thomas Cardinal Wolsey, is the first recorded export of wine from the Champagne region to England. The still wines of the area were highly prized in Paris under the designation of vins de la rivière and vins de la montagne- wines of the river and wines of the mountain in reference to the wooded terrain and the river Marne which carried the wines down to the Seine and into Paris. The region was in competition with Burgundy for the Flemish wine trade and tried to capitalize on Reims' location along the the trade route from Beaune. In the 15th century, Pinot Noir became heavily planted in the area. The resulting red wine had difficulty comparing well to the richness and coloring of Burgundy wines, despite the addition of elderberries to deepen the color. This lead to a greater focus on white wines. The Champagne house of Gosset was founded as a still wine producer in 1584 and is the oldest Champagne house still in operation today. Ruinart was founded in 1729 and was soon followed by Taittinger (1734), Moët et Chandon (1743) and Veuve Clicquot (1772). Moët & Chandon is a well known Champagne house in the region The nineteenth century saw an explosive growth in champagne production going from a regional production of 300,000 bottles a year in 1800 to 20 million bottles in 1850. Rivalry with Burgundy: A strong influence on Champagne wine production was the centuries old rivalry between the region and Burgundy. From the key market of Paris to the palace of Louis XIV of France at Versailles, proponents of Champagne and Burgundy would spar to get the upper hand. For most of his life, Louis XIV would drink only Champagne wine with the support of his doctor Antoine d'Aquin who advocated the King drink champagne with every meal for the benefit of his health. As the King aged and his ailments increased, competing doctors would proposed alternative treatments with alternative wines, to sooth the King's ills. One of these doctors, Guy-Crescent Fagon conspired with the King's mistress to oust d'Aquin and have himself appointed as Royal Doctor. Fagon quickly attributed the King's continuing ailments to champagne and ordered that only Burgundy wine must be served at the royal table. This development had a ripple effect throughout both regions and in the Paris markets. Both Champagne and Burgundy were deeply concerned with the "healthiness" reputation of their wines, even to the extent of paying medical students to write theses touting the health benefit of their wines. These theses were then used as advertising pamphlets that were sent to merchants and customers. The Faculty of Medicine in Reims published several papers to refute Fagon's claim that Burgundy wine was healthier then champagne. In response, Burgundian winemakers hired physician Jean-Baptiste de Salins, dean of the medical school in Beaune, to speak to a packed auditorium at the Paris Faculty of Medicine. Salins spoke favorably of Burgundy wine's deep color and robust nature and compared it to the pale red color of Champagne and the "instability" of the wine to travel long distances and the flaws of the bubbles from when secondary fermentation would take place. The text of his speech was published in newspapers and pamphlets throughout France and had a damaging affect on champagne sales. The war of words would continue for another 130 years with endless commentary from doctors, poets, playwrights and authors all arguing for their favorite region and their polemics being reproduce in advertisements for Burgundy and Champagne. On a few occasion, the two regions were on the brink of civil war. A turning point occurred when several Champagne wine makers abandoned efforts to produce red wine in favor of focusing on harnessing the effervescent nature of sparkling champagne. As the bubbles became more popular, doctors throughout France and Europe commented on the health benefits of the sparkling bubbles which were said to cure malaria...............
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