Effervescence Unleashed: What is Champagne?

Champagne is a sparkling wine that is exclusively produced in the Appellation d’Origine Controlee area of Champagne, France and made using the traditional method known as the Méthode Champenoise. This method involves a secondary fermentation in the bottle, which creates the bubbles that are characteristic of Champagne. While the term "Champagne" is often used generically to describe sparkling wines, legally and technically, only those produced in this specific region under strict guidelines can bear the name. In short, Champagne is more than just sparkling wine—it's a protected cultural and agricultural product that reflects the tradition and terroir of its region.

Origin and Terroir

The Champagne region, located about 100 miles northeast of Paris, has a cool climate and chalky soils that are ideal for growing grapes with high acidity—a key trait for sparkling wines.  In this kind of cool climate, the growing season is rarely warm enough to ripen grapes to the levels required for standard winemaking.  The landscape that earned Champagne its name (it roughly translates as "open countryside") suggests very gently over the white, calcareous soils of the Paris Basin. 

This famous chalk is distinct from the limestone soils of other French wine regions, being much finer-grained and more porous. This looser structure means that its mineral content is more readily absorbed by the vine roots, and it also provides excellent drainage – avoiding the risks of waterlogging. A further benefit is that this permeability allows access to the water resources far below, promoting strong root development and ensuring a continuous water supply.

The Champagne wine region is divided into five sub-regions: Montagne de Reims, Vallée de la Marne, Côte des Blancs, Côte de Sézanne, and Côte des Bar.

1. Montagne de Reims: Known for its chalky limestone soil and home to Reims and Epernay, it is the largest sub-region with the most Grand Cru villages.
2. Vallée de la Marne: Located between the Marne River and the Côte des Blancs, it is the second-largest sub-region.
3. Côte des Blancs: Specializes in white grapes and is known for its chalky-limestone soils.
4. Côte de Sézanne: A smaller sub-region known for its diversity of soil types.
5. Côte des Bar (Aube): The southernmost sub-region, it is known for its red and rosé Champagnes.

Grape Varieties

Champagne is typically made from three primary grape varieties:

• Chardonnay 
• Pinot Noir 
• Pinot Meunier 

These grapes may be used alone or blended in various proportions to create different styles and flavor profiles.

Production Method

Champagne is made using the Méthode Champenoise, or traditional method, which involves a second fermentation in the bottle. This process creates the fine bubbles that characterize Champagne. The steps include:

1. Primary Fermentation – Refers to the initial fermentation process where grape juice is transformed into a still wine. During this stage, yeast converts the natural sugars in the grape juice into alcohol and carbon dioxide, resulting in a dry wine with high acidity. This fermentation can take place in various containers, such as stainless steel tanks or oak barrels, though stainless steel is more commonly used.
   
   
2. Blending – The blending process aims for consistency for non-vintage Champagne by combining wines from different grape varieties and different vineyard plots, along with reserve wines from previous years. Non-vintage Champagne typically blends wines from three to five different vintages.
   
   
3. Second Fermentation – A liqueur de tirage (wine, sugar, and yeast) is added to the wine before bottling. The amount of sugar in the liqueur de tirage determines the pressure of carbonation in the bottle.
   
   
4. Aging on Lees – Once the yeast have finished converting the sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide, they die and become lees. The lees remain in contact with the wine, imbuing it with autolytic aromas (or aromas from lees-aging), which add layers of complexity.
   
   
5. Riddling and Disgorgement – In order to ensure the clarity and quality of the Champagne, the lees must be removed. The bottles are tilted at an angle downward so that the lees settle into bottle's neck. The bottles are occasionally turned or riddled so that the sediment does not remain on one side of the bottle. The sediment is then removed through disgorgement where the bottle's neck is frozen and when the temporary cap is removed, the pressure in the bottle forces the sediment out.
   
   
6. Dosage – Before final corking, a small amount of sugar wine(liqueur d’expedition) is added to balance the naturally high acidity of the wine and determine its sweetness level. 

Styles of Champagne

• Brut Nature – Also known as Zero Dosage, is a type of Champagne with a very low sugar content, typically between 0 and 3 grams per liter. This designation allows the true flavors of the grapes and the terroir to be fully expressed, as no additional sugar is added after the second fermentation. The term "Brut Nature" comes from the fact that the only sugar present is the natural sugar in the grapes.
  
  
• Brut – The most common style, Brut Champagne has a sugar content typically less than 12 grams per liter. The term "Brut" originated in the early 19th century when Champagne producers began experimenting with lower sugar levels in their wines. 
  
  
• Extra Dry – Refers to a champagne that is slightly sweet rather than dry. It has a sugar content ranging from 12 to 17 grams per liter.
  
  
• Demi-Sec – A sweet style of Champagne that contains between 32 and 50 grams of sugar per liter, often paired with desserts.
  
  
• Rosé Champagne – The pink color of Champagne Rosé is achieved through specific winemaking techniques involving red grapes, such as the blending method (assemblage) and the saignée method.  The blending method involves adding a small amount of red wine to the base white wine before the second fermentation, while the saignée method involves a short maceration of red grapes to extract color and aromas.  Champagne Rosé has a history dating back to the 17th century.
  
  
• Blanc de Blancs – Blanc de Blancs is a term used for Champagne made exclusively from white grape varieties, typically Chardonnay. The name translates to "white from whites" in French, indicating that the wine is made solely from white grapes.  In the Champagne region, Blanc de Blancs are mainly produced in the Côte des Blancs area, known for its chalky terroir which is ideal for growing Chardonnay.
  
  
• Blanc de Noirs – Blanc de Noirs is a term used for white Champagne made from the juice of black-skinned grapes, such as Pinot Noir and/or Pinot Meunier. The name literally means "white from blacks" in French, indicating that the wine is produced from dark-skinned grapes. During the winemaking process, the contact between the juice and the skins is minimized to prevent the juice from taking on color from the skins, resulting in a white wine despite the use of red grapes.

Learn more about the BevFluence Effervescence Unleashed campaign here. 

Grape Spotlight: Coteaux Champenois Pinot Meunier with Champagne Demière

Still wines in the prestigious sparkling wine region of Champagne? That is what is covered by the Coteaux Champenois appellation that shares the same geographic region as Champagne. These two regions are located at the northern latitude of 49°N which is at the northern edge of France's vineyard-growing areas and thus experience the lowest average temperatures than any other French wine region. According to wine-searcher.com, "the majority of its vineyards are planted in a temperate maritime climate with slight continental influences, particularly in the southeast. These climatic conditions, combined with the region's latitude (48 to 49 degrees north), mean that the wines produced under the Coteaux Champenois appellation are, like their sparkling counterparts, dry and light-bodied with naturally high acidity". 

Production regulations for Coteaux Champenois allow for smaller geographical indicators on the label of Coteaux Champenois wines, all the way down to small, local (cadastral) titles. This is apparent in one of our wines today, from the "les Accaties" locality.

Pinot Meunier is one of the seven approved grape varieties in Coteaux Champenois and basically shares the same DNA fingerprint as Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, and other Pinot grapes. The word Meunier is French for "miller", and refers here to the "floury" appearance of the underside of the vines' leaves.  Generally in Coteaux Champenois, Pinot Meunier is planted in regions that are too cold for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir to grow fruitfully.  In this regard, Meunier adds even more acidity and tartness to both still and sparkling wines. 

Champagne Demière is a sparkling wine producer that also releases still wines using the Coteaux Champenois regulations. In the Hopwine program, they showcased their innovated winemaking and aging techniques utilizing traditional wooden presses, egg-shaped vats, and a "champagne-styled" solera. This third-generation family domain operates estates around the village of Fleury la Rivière at the edge of the Montagne de Reims Champagne subregion. The terroir is distinguished by clayey-sandy soils, and of course, its famed calcareous subsoils including maritime fossils dating back to the Lutecian era. 

Champagne Demière  France - Champagne Coteaux Champenois Solera Venerable 100% Meunier
This "Vénérable" Coteaux Champenois Blanc is the oldest wine from the estate with the solera system dating back to 1978. Each year, if the quality of the vintage allows, the solera is augmented with 20% of the wine for that vintage. The original solera was stored in a wooden vat but has hence been transferred to stainless steel.  This is a complex wine with, green apples, lemons, and peaches associating with dried nuts. There's also a distinct tartness that sizzles with the intense acidity. 

Champagne Demière  France - Champagne Coteaux Champenois Ataraxy 100% Meunier
This Ataraxy Rosé, Coteaux Champenois originates from old vine Meunier plots located in the Fleury-la-Rivière locality "les Accaties".  The wine is aged 10 months in oak and is bottled in its natural state (no filtering and no fining). This is a fantastic rosé, starting with a peach aroma that leads to creamy and textured raspberries with noticeable saline. It is that fresh saline that drives my desire for more of this one. 

A Tutorial on Left Coast Estate and Their Summer Wines

In the past when I received samples from Oregon's Left Coast Estate, I opened each bottle over the course of at least a week - sampling each wine multiple days.  Not so for this latest shipment of summer wines as I shared the four bottles with neighbors during an impromptu block party.  Actually, the evening turned into a mini-wine class as I discussed the Willamette Valley AVA, the Van Duzer Corridor AVA, 45 degrees latitude and Burgundy, white Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, Pinot Meunier, lees, sparkling wine, and the wonderful estate that is Left Coast Estate.

We started with the 2017 The Orchard Pinot Gris ($18), a blend of 91% Pinot Gris and 9% Pinot Blanc.  While sipping I explained first how Pinot Blanc provides a bit of roundness to the wine and second, the Left Coast estate itself. Particularly, that The Orchard is a distinct vineyard and the overall estate is 350 acres - all contiguous and within the newly designated Van Duzer Corridor AVA. This new AVA benefits from the cooling breezes of the Van Duzer Corridor that allows the grapes to retain acidity and includes the Willamette Valley's three major soil types (marine sediment, volcanic sediment at higher altitudes, and loess from the Missoula Floods).

We then turned to the neighborhood favorite, the 2018 White Pinot Noir ($24) which consists of 93% Pinot Noir and 7% Pinot Blanc. The grapes are crushed at cold temperatures to ensure minimal coloration from the skins and then fermented and aged on lees in stainless steel. The group was not familiar with aging in lees so I explained how this process adds texture which everyone recognized in this wine. The online order should be coming through soon.

It was a pleasant evening for rosé and fortunately, the samples included the 2018 Left Coast Rosé ($24), a blend of 76% Pinot Noir and 24% Pinot Meunier. The later was another unrecognized grape and I discussed its Champagne origins. This lead to a discussion of French wine regions, Burgundy specifically. Because Left Coast Estate shares the same 45-degree latitude it receives the same amount of sunshine as the famed region.

As the evening was concluding, I had to retrieve the last wine. This was the 100% Pinot Noir 2018 Queen Bee Bubbly ($36). For this sparkling wine, estate honey is used in the secondary fermentation which led to a discussion of methods of producing sparkling wine and how normally the spent yeast cells are disgorged. But not in the Queen Bee, the lees rise and settle with each pour. A very interesting sparkler to conclude an enjoyable neighborly evening.



Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this wine free from Left Coast Estate I was not required to write a positive review and the opinions I have expressed are entirely my own.

Left Coast Estate Cools the Pinot

June 5th was the last day for comments regarding the proposed Van Duzer Corridor AVA, a viticultural area that would be carved out of the existing Willamette Valley AVA from portions of Polk and Yamhill Counties, Oregon. About the same time I opened a trio of wines from Left Coast Estate whose 350 acre contiguous estate lies entirely within this pending AVA. The grapes for these wines benefit from the Willamette Valley's three major soil types (marine sediment, volcanic sediment at higher altitudes, and loess from the Missoula Floods) as well as from the cooling breezes from the Van Duzer Corridor. This cooling allows the grapes to retain acidity which is reflected in these samples.


2017 The Orchard Pinot Gris ($18) is a blend of 91% Pinot Gris and 9% Pinot Blanc. The Orchards is the winery's prime estate for Pinot Gris and once hosted apple, pear, and cherry orchards. This is a fresh wine, great acids with plenty of citrus and green apples. Besides the refreshing acids the wine finishes with a steely minerality and tea.

2017 Rosé ($25) consists of 54% Pinot Noir, 40% Pinot Meunier, and 6% Pinot Blanc sharing more traits with Burgundy other than residing along the 45th parallel. The wine was fermented in oak which provides a fair amount of texture to augment the light cherry - strawberry flavors. Finishes dry and savory.

2017 White Pinot Noir ($24) contains 91% Pinot Noir and 9% Pinot Blanc. The grapes are crushed at cold temperatures to ensure minimal coloration from the skins and then fermented and aged on lees in stainless steel. This process provides plenty of body - a creamy texture - that envelopes the citrus and stone fruit flavors.

#WineStudio Rosé with the POE 2014 Sonoma County Old Vine Pinot Noir - Pinot Meunier

The Protocol #WineStudio Rosé series continued this week by featuring the POE 2014 Sonoma County Old Vine Pinot Noir / Pinot Meunier Rosé ($22, 12%). This unique winery was founded in 2009 by Samantha Sheehan, who wanted to create a wine brand that would showcase the distinct terrior of single vineyards in California. And the name comes from her affection for the famous writer and poet - as portrayed by the wine's label. The rosé is a curious blend of 66% Pinot Noir from Olcese Vineyard and 34% Pinot Meunier from Sonoma Mountain's Van der Kamp Vineyard. The two pinots were specifically selected to mimic Burgundy and Champagne with the Pinot Noir providing "nuance+depth" and the Pinot Meunier providing "fruit+form". Old Vine is appropriate since the Pinot Noir was planted in 1974 and the Pinot Meunier in 1953. She also specifically targeted the Van der Kamp vines and fortunately a few rows became available after her inquiries.

Sheehan told the #winestudio participants that the grapes were harvested early, as in Champagne, to provide bright acids and low alcohols. The grapes were slightly pressed (no saignée) and treated the fermenting juice as a white wine - with cold fermentation and no malolacatic fermentation. For me, the wine opens with raspberry that transitions to a juicy and chewy citrus flavor. Sheehan also hinted at the orange peel and orange blossom characters. The wine finishes long and acidic. Another fabulous dry rosé; give the wine a try and decipher the label. Cheers.

Blind Tasting Grower Champagne at MacArthur Beverages

Last week I was fortunate to be invited to a blogger's tasting at arguably the best wine shop in the District of Columbia, MacArthur Beverages. Not only does the store have a tremendous wine and spirits inventory, its also a nice commute - traversing Key Bridge, Georgetown University, the Reservoir, and returning on Chain Bridge. The topic for this evening's tasting was Brut Grower Champagne - aka - estate driven champagne focusing on a particular estate or vineyard.  And we tasted blind so that we weren't influenced by a particular Champagne house's reputation. This mode made that tasting quite interesting. The first list are my tasting notes; followed by the revealing.

1. Yeasty aroma citrus and grassy
2. Funky aroma - celery
3. Easy drinking - reminds of Furmint - balanced
4. Oaky green apple, longer finish even some citrus
5. Fruity aroma - acidic sweeter aroma & finish
6. Punch in the face - intense. But, finish falls off.
7. Easy drinking; doesn't jump out
8. Jammy cherry plum dried fruit toasty 

1. nv Dosnon & Lepage Brut ($40)

2. nv Louis Roederer Brut Premiere ($40)

3. nv L. Aubry Fils Brut Premier Cru ($40)

4. nv Pierre Peters Brut Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Cuvee de Reserve ($50)

5. 2007 Vilmart & Cie Brut Grand Cellier D'Or ($70)

6. 2010 Cedric Bouchard (Inflorescence) Brut Blanc de Noirs Val Vilaine ($60)

7. nv Dosnon & Lepage Brut Rose ($45)

8. nv Pascal Doquet Brut Rose ($50)

My favorite was #4 the Pierre Peters Brut Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Cuvee de Reserve and I found #3 the  L. Aubry Fils Brut Premier Cru very interesting - perhaps because of the 50% Pinot Meunier. Many of my associates preferred #5 the 2007 Vilmart & Cie Brut Grand Cellier D'Or but there was enough funkiness that threw me off.  The rest were generally tasty and easy to drink, except for the  Louis Roederer Brut Premier which had a strong vegetable - celery profile that forced an early dump.

Thanks to Phil and the MacArthur staff for the hospitality and also for a nice tasting of Highland Park Scotch - the 15 year was smooth, lightly peaty, sherry-ish finish -> basically pretty awesome. 

The United Grapes of America - New Mexico - Gruet Winery Blanc de Noirs

It was unanimous. Every chef and sommelier interviewed by StarChefs.com selected Gruet Winery as their preferred winery from New Mexico. There are about 40 wineries in the "Land of Enchantment" producing wines from Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Johannisburg Riesling, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, and Zinfandel grapes. This Labor Day Weekend, wines from New Mexico will be showcased at the New Mexico Wine Growers Association Harvest Wine Festival at the Southern NM State Fairgrounds in Las Cruces and in Bernalillo at the 25th Annual New Mexico Wine Festival.

Gruet Winery is probably the most popular winery - assisted by its wide distribution network - selling over 100,000 cases to 48 states. The winery was founded by French champagne producer Gilbert Gruet after he and his family visited the American southwest in 1983. As a result of meeting a group of New Mexican winemakers, they (Gruet; his children, winemaker Laurent and daughter Nathalie; and family friend Farid Himeur) planted an experimental vineyard with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes near the town of Engle.  The vineyards are situated at 4,300 feet, allowing for large diurnal temperature change between the extremely hot days and cool nights. Plus, there's little humidity to contribute to grape rot. An excellent location. And using the traditional grapes from Champagne, New Mexican sparkling wine was born.

StarChefs.com: The United Grapes of America

For our tasting ,we selected the Gruet Blanc de Noirs available from Whole Foods for $15. Composed of Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, the wine follows traditional Champagne Methodoise practices, maybe too much - since the secondary fermentation gave this sparkler an explosive amount of bubbles. But after the initial fireworks settled, the wine was very tasty, 100% dry with creamy apple flavors and a tart almost citrusy finish. This is a solid sparkling wine, and at that price, why not drink a sparkler a day.