blog.Cellarer

Or isn’t it?

In biology autolysis refers to the destruction of a cell through the action of its own enzymes. The term “autolyse” was coined by French baking professor Raymond Calvel. The term derives from the Greek words αυτό (”self”) and λύσις (”splitting”).

For making sparkling wine, autolysis involves killing the yeast and encouraging the breakdown of the cells by enzymes. It is used to give different flavours.

Steve Goodwin is a sparkling winemaker at Seppelt, Australia. He was once interviewed on the cause of the bready, yeasty character found in champagne and other sparkling wine: “most of that is just bottle-developed pinot noir character (rather) than autolysis,” said Steve. His comment contradicts the traditionally accepted view that contact between the wines and autolyzed yeast lees - i.e. broken down yeast cells - is responsible. Curiously, a former Seppelt sparkling maker, Warren Randall, claimed that the bready character came mainly from pinot meunier.

I asked French champagne maker Benoît Gouez (of Dom Perignon) about this. He had no doubt that autolysis causes the yeastiness in champagne, adding that autolysis is expressed quite differently by different grape varieties. “However, the more fruit in a particular wine the less yeast will be evident,” he explained.

Well-known amateur sparkling winemaker, MF (those five years spent as sous-remueur - translation: riddler - at Bolli were not wasted) reckons that the bready character does in fact come from yeast autolysis — rather than aged pinot noir or pinot meunier. His reasoning? Rising bread dough and bread just out of the oven have this smell. Where does it come from? Er, the breakdown of yeast cells after the bread has risen.

Pertinent questions: Has MF ever encountered this yeasty smell in bottles of still pinot noir or pinot meunier of any age? No, never.

Has MF ever encountered this yeast lees character in bottles of bubbly that do not contain either of the pinots, i.e. blanc de blancs made solely from chardonnay? Yes, your Judgeship, often.

If so-called yeast autolysis character comes mainly from pinot noir why do sparkling wine makers waste their time and money leaving fizz in contact with yeast sediment for years, when they could just as easily add more pinot noir to the brew? Beats me, your be-wigged Excellency.

The court will rise…

To help you make up your judgment, here are related articles — at other sites:

• Bubbly tasting notes;
• Matching Champagne and Food;
• Champagne with food;
• Cabbage in Champagne;
• Fredric Koeppel about Champagne.

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.