blog.Cellarer

How should I store Champagne?

Champagne wines should be kept in a cool, dark place away from heat, light, vibrations and severe temperature variations. Unlike the best wines from Bordeaux or California, Champagne wines are ready for consumption when they are shipped to the market. However, some wine lovers also enjoy cellaring their Champagnes for a few extra years.

What is the best way to chill Champagne?

Before opening, chill the wine well, but do not freeze it. Champagne is best chilled by placing the bottle in a bucket filled with ice and water for 30-40 minutes or in the vegetable bin of the refrigerator for several hours.
Lovers of (French) Champagne always keep a bottle there for inspiration, unexpected guests and homey dinners.

How do I open a bottle of Champagne?

The pressure in a bottle of Champagne is equivalent to that of a tire of a double-decker bus, about ninety pounds per square inch. Slant the bottle at a 45 degree angle away from guests. Put a thumb on the cork, untwist and loosen the wire muzzle. Grasp the cork firmly, twist the bottle slowly and let the pressure help push out the cork. Allow a light and merry pop.

How should I serve Champagne?

Champagne is best served in tall flute or tulip glasses, at a temperature of 42-47 degrees Fahrenheit. Tiny bubbles will rise in a continuous stream. When serving, pour a small quantity of wine into each glass and allow it to settle. Then fill each glass two-thirds full. Victorian saucer-shaped glasses are best kept for the service of sherbet or ice cream.

How much Champagne will I need?

For a Champagne apéritif at cocktail hour, allow one bottle for every three or four guests. When served at a meal, count on one bottle for every two or three people. And for the traditional Champagne toast to the bride, one bottle can serve six to ten people.

Related articles: the regions that produce Champagne and the red grapes that go into Champagne.

Articles on other quality websites: Champagne tasting.

In a nutshell: buy 2007 wines only from reliable producers.

Obviously a vintage is a concept: it cannot taste bad. The point here is to indicate that vine growers have had more problems this year than previous years. The quality of the wines very much depends on the vine growing — every year but this year even more so. This is the year when the serious, talented winemaker makes a big difference.

The Austrian wine marketing board have published their official summary of the vintage so far, calling it ‘the winemaker’s year’. In the words of Jancis Robinson this means that ‘there have been quite a few hurdles for them to overcome - in the vineyard perhaps even more than in the winery’.

In France, the cool summer of 2007 affected everyone and the September weather saved some grapes. Micro-climates came into play and the savvy vigneron had to carefully determine the date of harvest. Rot and mildew was widespread. Keeping the grapes on the vines was a gamble many winemakers did not make.

Côte d’Or, Burgundy

Reports Bill Nanson: ‘The vintage will be as heterogeneous as the approaches and the quality of grapes and sorting’. ‘Grapes from Latricières-Chambertin needed quite some work (just like in 2004)’.
Said Louis-Michel Liger-Belair: ‘we made a hard triage’.
Reports Martine Saunier, California importer of some growers in Burgundy and the Rhône Valley: ‘beginning 25 August, the weather warmed up and the sun finally came out. Temperatures rose to 25°-30° C. The grapes started turning red immediately’.

More reports

I have made complementary overviews:

• Oregon, Burgundy and Bordeaux vignerons explain harvesting and winemaking;
• Reports of bad grape growing conditions in the USA, Germany, France and Italy.

The Climate

The Champagne region enjoys very favorable conditions for vine cultivation, even with it’s contradicting northerly location. The rivers and forests help to regulate the humidity. The winters are relatively mild, the summer and fall rich in sunshine and the sun’s rays reflect back on the vines from the chalky soil, permitting maximum heat and light.

The Soil

Champagne is planted on chalk. The Grand Crus generally are on the mid-slopes. The soil is a unique chalk a bit below the constantly fertilized topsoil. Thanks to this cradle, Champagne offers such lightness and refinement. The slopes facing South and Southeast attribute to the vines prosperity, protecting them from the Northerly winds and generously exposing them to the sun. The exceptionally intense light is reflected back by the soil expending the sun’s warmth.

The Areas

As the map indicates, the vine growing region in Champagne primary consists in 4 zones. The Reims Mountain, the valley of the Marne river, the Côte des Blancs, the Aube. The vineyards strive on hills stretching 120 kilometres in length and from 300 metres to two kilometres in width.

La Montagne de Reims

The Reims Mountain zone is part of the Ile-de-France region. It consists of the versant meridian of the Vesle River Valley and expands to the Valley of the Marne River at the highs of Epernay. This is a vast plateau 20-25 kilometers in length and varies from 6 to 10 kilometers in width.

La Vallée de la Marne

The Marne Valley zones incorporates the vineyards situated between the towns of Tours-sur-Marne amd Dormans, extending to the city of Chateau-Thierry — in other words into the Aisne and Seine-et-Marne regions.

La Côte des blancs

The zone of Côte des Blancs is named after the white Chardonnay grapes grown there almost exclusively. The hills face east. The cliffs are perpendicular with the Reims Mountain. It is lower in elevation and stretches about 20 kilometers from the North to the South, between Epernay and the Marne River. It extends to Cote des Vertus in the Congy region and the Cote deSezanne hills. South of this zone, in the Aube region is the Cote des Bars zone, close to the villages of Bar-sur-Seine and Bar-sur-Aube.

L’Aube

This part is rather not known. Alice Feiring just scouted the Montgueux part of it.

Here is about the expansion of the appellation area.

In the Northern Hemisphere most of the last wine grapes were picked by the 20th of October. I already reported on how the harvest started early. So the harvest period is about two months long.

Inside reports on the 2007 harvest season come from:

• Thomas Houseman at Anne Amie Vineyards, Oregon (harvest skewed),
• Vincent Fritzsche, in Oregon too (winemaking skewed),
• Château Palmer, a bordeaux estate.

Go have a look at pictures of the impressive harvesting machine at Château Lacayot (with French captions).

Jeremy Seysses of Domaine Dujac excellently explained how grapes are turned into wine a year ago.

It is a little early to assess the quality of the vintage. Bear in mind that vintage quality is a complex concept. Nevertheless it is possible that the quality will go down for many French wines made in 2007. (I feel this while reading a few French ‘vignerons’ report on their ‘vendanges’.)

We already know that the volumes produced will be low in many places. This is a problem for the revenues of the producers. This is not a question on the quality of the wines. The reports of low volume come from Oregon, California, France (the article is in French), Italy.

Regions which produce as much wine this year as the previous year include Bordeaux.

It is urgent that you consider making your own wine from bought grapes. Or wait for next year!