Okay there we go so yep so this webinar On champagne we’re gonna be looking at Lots of different areas to deal with Champagne and you know I think now is Quite an interesting time to talk about It what with the current situation but Also this isn’t the only situation that Has recently affected France and Champagne so we’ll have a look at that As well but let’s start with a little Bit about the history it’s a incredibly Historic region I’ve got lots of Information on this slide you don’t have To look at it but I just like to give a Little bit of a timeline so Brian Cultivation was happening in the third Fifth century you know the wine back Then whether it was even for wine and Going those lines we don’t know but That’s the earliest that we know about Actual cultivation of the vines in this A part of the world during the medieval Time there was wine made but it was Generally for religious practice and it Was the monks who only went over to did That then it’s really been a region That’s been blighted with all sorts of Things Wars famine disease and so there Was a period of time that was very very Dark maybe the odd patch them where it Was a little bit common things could Happen but generally from 1882 up until The 15th century there was all sorts of Problems however from the 15th century
It became a very very important place And it was where a lot of kings were Currently bears where they had their Coronations and that would happen in the I mean you can see on this slide we’ve Got the background there of the Cathedral in Ross and so it was an Important place it was a lot of Celebration and a lot of drinking and They would be drinking the local wine Now the wine of champagne has changed a Lot it was not always a sparkling wine So I’m going to talk about that now Because from the 17th to the 18th Century it became a more distinct wine It was actually kind of in competition With the wines of Burgundy and the wines Of Burgundy began to get a little bit More of a reputation for being sort of The best wines of France at this time And that wasn’t great because champagne Had also had a really high reputation Too so it began to distinguish itself From the wines of Burgundy and so it was More known as a white wine Back then it was seen more as a red wine Said more Pinot Noir and the same thing In Burgundy as well so become su Sophomore as a white wine and then it Acquired its bubbles its Sparkle now That appears to have been an accident What because it were in a cool climate It was pretty quite cool there and these Wines were made so the wines were made
But the fermentation would stop because It was so cold there’s a temperature Control then if you go to a winery now They can control the temperature in Fermentation back then they couldn’t do That so when it got cold and the Fermentation hadn’t finished then the Yeast wasn’t doing anything So then they’d bottle well they won’t Bottle the wines cuz actually then they Didn’t bottle them then but they would Then be released and then for the for Drinking and then in the when it came Into the warm weather the yeast would Start to produce it would’ve actually it Would have had to be in bottles later on In bottle and say then you’ve got the Bubbles so it was the of an accident is Basically the yeast started to do a Reefer mentation and so there we got Bubbles and that was a great thing People loved it well it was slightly Dangerous because at that time the Bottles weren’t made for sparkling wine So that’s why I think infuse it bottles Weren’t made for sparkling wine and with Sparkling wine we have pressure so that Could be very very dangerous so we’ve Got this incredible sparkling wine Little bit difficult to control but then We get falak surra so in 1890 is when it Actually hit champagne arrived in you Earlier than then and at this point Actually in Europe they had worked out
That they did need to draft the vines They needed to put different rootstocks Use different routes dots because four Locks are if you were familiar with what Philips are as a little louse and that Attacks the roots of the vine and it’s Fine in North America where they have Hardy root stocks so the vines they’re What were finding could take it but in Europe the bitters been different Species of vines that we have couldn’t So They’re big problems all over Europe and It just spread like wildfire it’s crazy So they knew that they would have to Eventually because of personal age Pulled their vines up they just pulled Them up and they waited and then they Were going to replant After a while when they thought the Flocks had gone away but that wasn’t Working so they realized they were gonna Have to redraft and they didn’t really Want to do that because they felt that It would compromise the quality of the Vines but actually it was fine so that Happens now that’s the thing so there Was that problem but then we got back to Good levels of champagne being produced And then there were the world wars So the Montana dorrance was an area Where the war was taking place so that Was just you know couldn’t do anything There that’s a world war one in world
War two they were forced to sell Millions immense of bottles to the German army said that stopped the Reserves because they had to create all This light for the German army so in Champagne had always had reserve lines Because if the climate being so called So then they didn’t have these reserve Lines anymore so there was a big problem And it meant that there was a real lack Of champagne over the next few years Eventually coming into the 50s there Were some glorious years for champagne And they started to sell the amounts That they were pre World War one so it Did sort of self out a little bit and It’s generally been on the increase Although at the moment there’s a little Bit of a decline but I’ll talk about That a little bit later so in 1927 They created the area of champagne Although at this point it wasn’t Actually a PDO it was just the boundary What champagne was going to be and in 1936 it became an appellation contoller But interestingly because they kind of Created that boundary before 1935 which When they introduced the actual PDO System in France they never really felt The need to write a policy on champagne Controllers if you’ve got a bottle of Champagne in front of you it will just Say champagne on it whereas if you look At another bottle of wine it will have
The appellation controller on there so Apple I sometimes folio Apple acid Origin controller in France is a Protected what they use the words they Use for their protected designation of Origin it means that that is protected From the wine comes from a particular Place and Grapes are grown in that particular Place and so you can’t do that anywhere Else in the world although I will talk a Little bit about copying champagne in Just a moment And now you know it’s a unesco world Heritage site which has been great or Better for tourism and so they Designated the hillside the cocoa and The houses so the maison and the sellers The calf and they big days these are now Very protected and are becoming more and More popular with tourists so there are Some key players in the world of Champagne so Dom Perignon so a lot People don’t think Dom Perignon invented The bubbles but actually there’s a not Sure that’s entirely true he was one of The people who met he was a very very Clever blender so he was the one who Kind of worked out that blending from Different areas was going to give you a Really good quality wine we can talk About the pros and cons of blending a Bit later and also he was one of the People who’s credited with making white
Wines from black grape varieties I’ll Talk about the grape varieties in Champagne in a moment Berkeley Co is Credited with starting the system which Enables you to move the bottles around To get the dead yeast cells in the neck Of the bottle so the riddling I’ll come To that bit later when I talked about The the process of making champagne Excuse me Christopher Merritt is an Englishman and he actually worked out How you how you do the new basically Invented the traditional method which I’ll talk about in a bit and then Jean-baptiste Francois is credited with Working out the right amounts of sugar To put in for a second fermentation to Create the right pressure in the wines Okay so a few key players there Particularly when it comes to creating a Sparkling wine using the traditional Method okay so next slide I’ve got some Facts and some figures for you so in This part of the world we have thirty Four thousand three hundred hectares of Vineyards that’s quite significant There are sixteen thousand growers so What we’ve got in Champagne is a Situation we have lots and lots of Growers Not so many producers so we’ll see those Statistics in a moment so the growers Own 90% of the vineyards so you might Have thought that a big company like
Murray Chandon Verve Depot own loads and Loads and loads of vineyards but they Don’t they actually mostly by in grapes From growers there are 320 champagne Houses so that is your Merton shines on Your Verve Clicquot your perrier-jouet Etc ok so these are some of these wheels Are called the grand mark so they’re the Big brands of champagne but they don’t Own that many vineyards so 10% so some Of them will use their own grapes and Sometimes they’ll use their own grapes From particularly prestigious vineyards To make their particularly prestigious Wines but they will mostly by n grapes From other growers there are a hundred And forty cooperatives there are a lot More options and they used to be so Cooperatives are usually quite Supportive of the local area and they’ll Be based in certain villages around Champagne and they can you can use the Cooperatives and produce it growers can Use a product cooperatives and label Their own wines or they can sell their Grapes to the co-operative we’ve got a Lot of growers who produce their own Lines so some of those are what we would Call records on manipul on and they were They are grower champagnes so is the Name of the producer and they’ve got Their own winery and they make their own Champagne and then we’ve got the record On corporate er who it’s someone who’s
Using the co-operative to make their own Label champagne okay and I’ll talk a Little bit about these little letters You can see on the backs of bottles in Just a moment now there’s a lot of wine Produced so there’s 300 million bottles Produced every year That’s absolutely loads but it has gone Down so it’s 302 million in 2018 which Was quite a lot less than it has been so It’s you they have the capability they Have the land the the land the vineyard Space and the yields to actually make 315 million but 2018 there was a bit Less there and that equated to a four Point nine billion turnover in that year It’s changed again a little bit because France used to be the main consumer of Champagne so just over half is consumed By the French and then it was mostly Europe and then other parts of the world And that is changing quite a bit so the UK actually used to buy outside of France the most in terms of volume and Value but now it’s most volume in terms Of value outside of the UK it’s the USA They are prepared to spend more on Champagne than we are in the UK so lots Of exports but there are some growing Markets and I’ll talk about that and we Look at the future of champagne but as You can see you know it is mostly when You’re going to the shops you see these Big houses you see the other filippo
Your your miranne tarnish and on your Lance song and these are the ones that Are making up most of the champagne Sales a 73% of the champagne sales there You know it is where the grapes are Getting more and more expensive so this Is also a little bit of a problem and it Can be a problem for the smaller houses Because they’re in competition buying The grapes from the big boys so the LVMH Own Verve Kiko American strand all right So I can see there’s a few questions Going on I hope you’re going all right There Lydia with days so where are we in The world’s are in the north of France We are 150 kilometres east of Paris and It isn’t the warmest part of the world If you’ve ever been there your nose and Get quite cold in the winter a Continental climate so pretty cold in The winter don’t suffer too much from Winter frost but you can suffer there From the spring Frost’s so it is quite Hard climatically the soil there though Is very well suited to the weather in Particular than rain because it has a Limestone subsoil which is very good for Absorbing the water and it also has a Lot of chalk on the top as well so it’s Part of what we call the Paris Basin Yeah it used to be the sea and the ocean So what we’ve got here and we’ve got Quite gentle slopes are not that high Above sea level the highest we’re
Getting to is around 300 metres but yes So it is gentle slopes there the Rainfall is dotted around the So it’s not too drastic you’re not Getting loads and loads of it during the Growing season but it is always a worry There are years where it can be Particularly rainy during the growing Season and if that happens too close to The harvest then you’re going to get Stuck with fungus and disease Potentially which can really minimize Your crop or could compromise it as well If this is not sorted properly it’s not A warm place the average annual Temperature is 11 degrees so you can Kind of get an idea that it’s not Particularly warm but we don’t need it To be particularly well because we’re Not looking for really really great ripe Grapes here It isn’t just champagne that comes from Champagne there is the AOC photoshopping Wow so these are still light wines and They are mostly a light red Pinot Noir Wine and but it can be white wines as Well there too and the Rose a did we say A very very small appellation in the Cote de bar as well where they make rose A wines from pinot noir but I mean to be Honest really we’re gonna be talking About the sparkling stuff for this so We’ve got the area and actually let me Go back because actually I could have
Pointed out slip better we’ve got these And particular sub regions so we’ve got The Montaigne dorrance for the Montana Durant’s you can see is a little kind of Amphitheater curving around there and We’ve got sort of a bit north facing Which is interesting is actually there’s Some gratin is quite a few Grand Cru Vineyards in the Montana Duras its east Facing as well and some south facing and It’s got mostly pinot noir being growing There but there’s actually some really Exceptional Chardonnay vineyards too And then if we go a little bit further South and along we’ve got the valle de Lamar now the valle de lamar is lower Down it’s a valley now because it’s Lower down in a valley it’s somewhere That’s a bit more susceptible to spring Frost’s so you need to grow a great Variety there that is going to it’s Going to start growing a little bit the Shoots are gonna start it’s gonna stop a Little bit later so Bernier is growing There and I’ll talk about these Different grape varieties in a minute if We go a little bit further down to the Scope there block actually this is one Of the more mountainous areas the coat They block even though the Montana Durant’s it’s called a mountain it’s Actually a plateau and so further down Looks like they block and the code they Block but if you know what blob means in
French and that means why We’ve got our Chardonnay being grown There and also in the cocoa Suzanne and Then further south and the cote de bois In fact we’re closer to Chablis here Than we are to in the north here is Mostly pinot noir but you know lots of Stuff going on anyway so that’s a little Bit of an overview of those regions now All of those regions are made up with Villages so there’s three hundred and Nineteen what we call crew villages if It’s a crew village that means it’s Allowed to grow grapes for the Production of champagne wines within Those crew villages we have a little bit Of a hierarchy so we’ve got 17 Grand Cru Villages and 42 Premier Cru villages so The Grand Cru villages are like your top Top top villages so for example we’ve Got in them in the Montaigne dorrance We’ve got a Monet I down in the in the Cote de blanc you’ve got oh sure for Example creme on and so these are Specific vineyards that villages rather That are very very highly regarded and It’s interesting because how they’ve Done this classification if we think About burgundy if you know much about Burgundy or other parts of France where They’ve got crews it’s often referring To a vineyard sites rather than a Village so it’s a little bit Controversial but it’s been a system
That’s happened for many many many many Years You know they when these wines will come First sort of recognized and lots of Writers and we’re talking hundreds of Years ago we’re talking about these fine Wines from I am etcetera so this they’ve They’ve been great great production and Continuously consistently and for many Many many years and if you are going to Get a bottle of wine from the Champagne Region and it’s got Grand Cru written on It then it has to come from though the Grapes have to come from those Grand Cru Villages similarly if it’s got Premier Cru at net they have to come from Premier Cru villages they can’t get some Branca villages in there as well but as Soon as there’s any Premier Cru then of Course it has to be called Premier Cru On the label the ashell day crew isn’t If something was abolished in 2010 but It was a way of classifying the villages And so the villages would either get a Percentage so what would happen is the Grapes were set at a certain price every Year so there’s a set price for the Grapes and if they came from a Grand Cru Village you’d pay a hundred percent of That set price if they came from a Premier cru village they cut they’d be Ninety to ninety fifty nine percent of That set price depending on the village And then below that each village would
Be given a percentage of that’s the Amount that they could ask for the Grapes that they were selling that’s Been abolished now and to be honest the Amount that grapes cost is generally set By you guessed it the big grand Maison And the verve Clicquot moet and Chandon And they what they are prepared to pay Most will follow on backwards right so There are a few requirements to be a Champagne wine I mean the first most Basic requirement would be that it has To come from champagne so the committee Shall rania they like to quote very very Often champagne only comes from Champagne France so we’re clear on that However you might go to California and You might get a Californian champagne And that’s because they they did use to They were able to get away with calling Their wines Californian champagne or Champagne years ago so a long long long Long time ago you’d get people from Europe migrating to the USA they would Be they would just call it champagne Because in their mind so sparkling wine That they were drinking was champagne That was watch what sparkling wine was What seemed to be so it became champagne At this time the people of champagne Weren’t that bothered they got a little Bit more bothered over time when this Labeling to them was still being used And so there was a lot of discussion
Things that the EU agreed together the USA didn’t always agree with and then Eventually there came an agreement in 2006 well around 20 years to come to an Agreement that from 2006 a producer who Was making a sparkling wine in California if they had been making it Prior to that day they couldn’t It’s champagne but it has recalled Californian champagne so you will still See this dotted around and I think There’s probably other parts of the World they were clandestinely doing it As well but it’s because they started to Do you think this Chablis burgundy Sherry they were calling these wines and That was kind of happens in the 70s but Not so much anymore Thank goodness so that’s that’s one of The requirements you’d hope that they Actually does come from champagne Lawyers working around the clock to make Sure that nothing is called champagne You can’t even get perfumes called Champagne it’s that protected and named And the harvest so the harvest has to be Done by hand that’s another requirement And the date of the harvest is set by The authorities there as well you can’t As a producer or grower decide that You’re going to harvest your grapes you Have to they abide by the rules that are Set there or have to have a good Discussion around it the potential
Alcohol level so there will be a minimum Requirement of what the what their Alcohol level is going to get to let’s Say nine point five percent for example So anything below that you couldn’t use Those grapes and this is done on a Year-by-year basis you won’t be able to Use those grapes for making champagne The yields are set every year so they Were a set so in 2018 the yield was set At ten thousand eight hundred kilos per Hectare and then it was less than two Thousand nineteen ten thousand two Hundred so every year depending on the Quality and how good the year was it Wasn’t very good then they’re going to And less than the yields the traditional Method is something that has to happen And I’m going to talk through that Method of production it’s a major Production that’s not just used in Champagne it’s used for criminals so the Other sparkling wines that they make in France it’s used for Carver and then There are a lot of producers around the World using the traditional method as Well and then the amount of reserve Wines is guided as well by the Authorities so that’s wines that they Keep back that they don’t use for that Year from the grapes that they’ve grown In that year and reserve wines are a Very important part of champagne Production they’ve also got training
Methods that they have to use so there’s Four training methods and I’ve got the Cord on the roya just down here but There’s the tie Chablis And the ghio also other methods that They use okay another rule are the great Varieties so there were seven permitted Great varieties for champagne so three Of them you’ve probably heard of and for Them you may have heard some of of them In different contexts of champagne so Fifty mili a album Pinot Blanc Pinot Gris they’re not the hardiest at all There was some producers who championed Them but it’s not very many especially There’s only makes up no point three Percent of production and the three main Grape varieties as you can see our Chardonnay Pinot Noir and many a I’ll Talk about a little bit what each one Can bring to the blend because champagne Is a region where they blend across a Lot so starting with Chardonnay so shall Make 30% only white grape variety of Those three main grape varieties and Chardonnay when grown in a very cool Climate will give you very high levels Of acidity so real crispness it will Give a real finesse and elegance and a Bit of a lightness if you ever get a Hundred percent Chardonnay champagnes They’re a real delicate mess around them So they so Chardonnay as you can see was Grown mainly in the cote de blanc and
The cote assessor And yeah bring sort of apple Characteristics to the wives of green Fruit and citrus fruit so that’s kind of Its blending and components there but it Does it can start to bud a little bit Earlier so you need to make sure it’s Planted in places where it’s not going To be affected by the spring Frost’s the Like with Pinot Noir so Pinot Noir a Black grape variety so this black grape Variety it has very thin skins so we’re Not looking to make wines and with any Real tannins so we make a lot of Champagne is White’s eighty-five percent Of it is Bruton or vintage white Champagne so that’s so pinot noir Ammonia both use mainly to make white Wines although if you’re making a rose a There will be some red wine made with Pinot noir often pinot noir gives a lot Of structure to the wine a lot of Backbone and it also adds sort of red Fruit and potentially a little bit of Stone fruit to the blend as well and Then many a merlot called so because Menu is the word for Miller in French And underneath the Of many a is a sort of white downy Powdery substance so it makes people Think of flour so that’s why it’s named Many a and many is very fruity So I’ve pointed out that many as many Grown in the valley Diliman it’s a very
Fruity fruit variety and it’s better in Its youth so it adds a nice vibrancy and Fruit to the blends but it’s mostly used In non vintage champagnes it’s very rare Using many a in vintage champagnes so That’s a little bit about each of those Grape varieties so pressing pressing is Very very important and they’re very Strict rules around the pressing so what We call a press load is a mark so 4,000 Kilograms of grapes and the presses are Designed to take amounts of grapes in Quantities of of that so you’ll have Presses that will take four thousand Eight thousand twelve thousand etc so Each of these presses are designed to Take however many marks of champagne and You may have heard of the word mark the Champagne and mark the champagne yeah is What they do with the grapes afterwards They make like a grabber and so they are Used for distillation and they make this Spirit with it so that’s what marked a Champagne use if you’ve ever been Disappointed when you’ve had a truffle And it’s called mark de Champagne um you Think always gonna taste a champagne and You just get a load of spirit bursting In your mouth that’s why so when you Press these grapes you’re doing so very Very gently and very carefully it’s Because these weights the bunches are Hand harvested and one of the reasons That they’re hand harvested was to
Protect the grapes themselves but also The stems for these you’re pressing with The stem so you’re not taking the grapes Off the stems you’re pressing and you You’re putting whole bunches into the Press and those stems allow for a real Passage for the wine to go down really Gently and not have too much skin Contact we don’t want skin contact when Making traditional method sparkling Wines we don’t want stuff from the skin The phenolic to get into the grape juice Because there actually doesn’t work very Well when we do a second fermentation Which I’m going to talk about in a bit So the most delicate juice you’ll get is The first lot of juice so the juice that What the first lot of juice actually the Right First like juice generally gets thrown Away because that can have little bits Of stuff in it that you don’t want but Then just after that is where you’ll get The cuvette and the cuvette is the first 2050 litres so that is your best juice And it’s rich with acid and it’s rich With sugar and that will go on to make The best wines then the Thai which Basically means the tail So that will be the the next part which Is the next 500 liters so that is up to The producer how much of that they’re Going to use it often goes into the more Non-vintage and that it can’t be blended
Because it has got a little bit more Weight to it it’s got more um the grape Juice here what might pull the musters a Bit thicker it’s a little bit heavier And so in richer in in these phenolic Which a little bit can help and add add A little bit of complexity but you know Different producers different houses do Different things and have different Styles so QA first press juice and the Thai the tail is that is the is the next Bit and then anything after that will Get discarded it wouldn’t be allowed so I’ve got two presses here when the Stainless steel press is a pneumatic Press very gentle and can be controlled Automatically and then we’ve got the Cooker or the basket press which is a Very traditional champagne press there And as I said before they’re designed to Take a certain amount of grapes so you Choking If you fill it up you’re pretty much at 4,000 kilograms of thirst for it’s Designed for may be designed for AIDS For 12 etc okay so I’m going to quickly Talk about the fermentation process so We’re gonna make all wine now we’ve got Our juice so whether it’s our cuvee or Our Thai and we’re going to have our First fermentation so first fermentation Will happen like most best most Fermentations for making a light white Wine so we’ve got our sugars in the
Grape plus yeast now the yeast is Usually a cultured yeast so you may have Heard of wild yeasts he’s floating Around the winery or maybe there are on The grape skins themselves but we want To make sure that our fermentations Because they’re very important as two of Them are going to work like clockwork So generally cultured yeasts are used And so those sugars plus the yeast thing Is consuming the sugars will produce Alcohol Carbon dioxide now for the first Fermentation we’re not interested in Carbon dioxide okay we’re not making a Sparkling wine at this point we’re Making our base wine so the base wine Will be fermented possibly in stainless Steel mostly in stainless steel and but There are more more producers doing a Bit of fermentation in Oaks and I’ve got Some examples of both here okay but Mostly we can we do this in stainless Steel it’s not going to take very long Around six to ten days at your and Average white wine temperature for so Probably around 16 17 or so degrees Something like that not-not-not aloe Fermentation temperature for white wine Which would bring our aromatics cuz We’re not interested in that okay so After that has happened so we’ve we’ve Made these wines these baselines then This really important stuff needs to
Happen okay and this is the blending so The blending is gonna happen and the Blending is a very very important job And it’s really a science because what You’re doing at this point is you’re Producing something that’s going to go Through this amazing process and at the At the end of it you’re going to have This product and there’s so many things That happen in between that to have the Foresight and understanding of what the Final product is going to be like is Really an incredible skill now blending Happens for many reasons it’s a is a Thing in Champagne I know there are Regions where they don’t um sort of Prize blending as much everything of Burgundy And they put their vineyards and their Grand Cru and their Premier Cru Vineyards and it’s very site-specific And you pay for it to be very Site-specific it’s different in a Champagne you know it was Dom Perignon Who saw what you could do by blending From all different parts you know you’re Putting together a recipe in a way so You’re making something really really Fantastic so we’re blending our grape Varieties so you’re blending those three Main grape varieties for to start with And to make most non vintage champagnes You’re blending pretty much equal your Third mini a pinot noir chardonnay
You’re blending from different villages So you might be learning from lots of Different premier cru villages and Making a Premier Cru champagne you’re Blending together a base red wine and a Basse white wine to make a rose a wine And I’m going to talk about the Different styles of Rose a in a bit That’s one thing that they don’t do very Much around the world quickly in Europe It’s not allowed in many places to blend Red and white wines to make Rose a so It’s a bit of an exception in Champagne And you know the main reasons why you Blend Apart from these that the fact that we Have to blend using different villages And grape varieties if we want that if That’s the star that we’re going for but It’s balanced okay we want to make sure That the acidity is right for example Consistency if you are buying a bottle Of a grand mark so one of these big Houses of all of their wine and then you Want another one a few months later or Maybe a couple of years later you want It to taste the same so the more Opportunities you have for blending then The more likely you are to come up with A consistent blend in maybe they want to Create a certain style of wine as well So you can do that through blending and It can add complexity as well so if You’ve got let’s say your base wine some
Of them were in Hope some of those base Wines were kept or fermented in oak Somewhere and some have gone through Malolactic conversion or fermentation I’ll talk about that in a moment then This can add lots of different aspects To the wine so lots of reasons therefore For blending or what they call it Assemblage in France so now this is Where we’re getting really into the Traditional method because all of those Things can happen for most sparkling Wines okay but now we are about to put The blended base wine into a bottle and It’s going to go into a bottle and it’s Gonna remain in that bottle until you Get that bottle open it and start Drinking So this is where ditional method is very Very important and this is what it’s all About really it’s about this journey in The bottle and the fact that now we’re Gonna put this wine in we’re gonna add Some other stuff but no point are we now Going to take the wine out of the bottle It’s going to carry on its journey in The bottle so we’re gonna look at now Doing a second fermentation and to do a Second fermentation you need to add some Stuff to the base wine that we’ve Created so this base wine Blendin is now gone into a bottle so a Thick glass bottle this is where the Second fermentation is going to take
Place and we’re going to add to it some Sugar because we need another Fermentation to take place and if you Remember back to that fermentation slide We need sugar and we need yeast for Fermentation to happen so even though Some sugar in goes some yeast we also Need to have some riddling agents Because we’re gonna try and get the dead Yeast cells out later and in order to do That we need to get the deadly cells Kind of slip from the sides of the Bottle down into the neck of the bottle And for it to do that successfully it’s Very helpful if you can put some stuff In to stop them from sticking to the Sides of the bottle too much and we need Some use nutrients because nutrients From the wine were consumed during the First fermentation so we added these Things and this is what makes up our Liquor to tirage now I’ve put here a Number four grams of sugar equals one Bar of pressure so you need to add 24 Grams of sugar to get six bars of Pressure at the end of this so this is a Specific amount of sugar that you need To add to create the right amount of Pressure if we start putting loads of Sugar in then we could end up with Explosions which is not what we want the Sugar can come from anywhere so the Sugar can be local beet sugar beets or It can be cane sugar and from the
Caribbean absolutely anywhere okay so Now we’re going to have our second Fermentation so liquidity rosh entered The the bottle is now sealed it’s sealed With a crown cap and if you can see that And it usually with in with that crown Cap as well is something called a vigil It’s a little plastic insert and that’s Gonna help collect the dead yeast cells So this is a bit of a longer Fermentation this is gonna take three to Six weeks they tend to use the same Yeast for this fermentation as they use For the first fermentation so again a Cultured yeast and we need to have quite A cool temperature so cool temperature Long time so this is where you know in Champagne they’ve got loads of cellars Loads of what they call curve or creer And so that’s where these bottles are Kept and they kept on their sides like That for that fermentation they’ve also Got a quite high humidity down in these Cellars or two two now what you can see From this Picture I hope is that you can see these Dead yeast cells now in the bottom of The bottle so they will have been so the Yeast alpha C is there and the sugar to Do the fermentation when that finishes The East is dead it’s got nothing left To consume so it dies and we call dead Yeast cells the leaves and these leaves Will break down and they will take some
Time before they start to break down and They can break down and that can take Quite a long time for that whole process To happen and that process is called Autologous so we’ve got yeast or Tortoise happening and we want yeast or Thomas’s to be happening for quite some Time usually you want autolysis to to Get you want you use autologous in Champagne in particular to get certain Profile from the wine these are yeast Cells these dead yeast cells during Mitosis will give off brioche biscuit Dough yeasty notes so if you’ve got your Champagne with you now i’m gonna give my Little nose i’ve missed it talking quite A lot and i’ve got this really lovely Kind of bready quoi some brioche Characteristics biscuity stuff coming Through and that’s because there’s been Considerable time on the leaves Aging on the leaves with or Thomases and I would say you need a minimum of around 18 months to get those gritty biscuity Characteristics so generally in Champagne I’ll talk about the Requirements for ageing on the leaves They do quite a long time so that’s why You should be getting those pretty Autolytic notes so that’s all second Fermentation and straightway following Our second fermentation the autolysis Now we get to a point now where the wine Is ready the autolysis has happened
Picked up those lovely notes and now we Need to aim to get that yeast that were Settling there in the bottle out of the Bottle so here we’ve got the rim wash or The riddling so what we’re doing here is We’ve got these Petrus on the on the Left-hand side – I’d say these a frames And you’ve got the bottles in there and You can get Riddler’s rivers going Around the sellers of champagne twisting Tens of thousands of these bottles every Day quite a laborious task but it’s not Something that they do as much as they Used to Before what we’ve got here’s the gyro Palette with those two cages before that Was invented they would have to do it This way I mean they did actually have a Machine that predates the gyro palette Called the poop emetic but that didn’t Last very long and but anyway these a Frames or these pre petrus and so twist Them and eventually you’ll get them from Being horizontal to come upside down and Then generally pushing all of those dead Yeast cells into just the neck of the Bottle now you cannot just pick up a Bottle after the or top after the Autolysis and go right there we go Upside down it’s gonna be fine now that Wouldn’t happen All those yeast cells would would they Would hang around they would suspend the Particles would suspend and you’d never
Get it clear and the whole point of Champagne isn’t it it’s me a star bright Clear beautiful wine so no debris thank You very much floating around in my Champagne so that’s one way of doing it Then we’ve got the gyro pallets and These gyro pallets can fit 500 bottles Around 500 bottles in them each and this Is a lot quicker because to manually Riddle okay to turn the bottles that can Take weeks but to use a gyro pallet that Will take days so every few hours it Will turn a little bit and it will make Sure that eventually again you’ve got Those bottles upside down with all of The yeast cells in the neck of the Bottle and a nice clear liquid now these Are not there’s not quality difference Okay doesn’t matter how you get there Whether you you do manual riddling or Whether you do use the Jarrah pallets And that’s you know the reason for doing Using the a frames or the pictures for a Producer would be because maybe they’re Experimenting because it is more Labor-intensive so therefore a bit more Prestigious so they do it for their very Very very top wines or potentially their Very very small producer so they have no Need to try and do a thousand bottles at A time and so there’s no need to invest In Jarrah pallets so you know those Those your reasons but no quality Difference there but you can see that
Jarrah pallets are going to be more Popular because they’re quicker cheaper Fast you know it’s it just it’s a bit of A no-brainer as there’s no quality Difference okay so once that has Happened we’ve got our Yi so you can see Here we’ve got our yeast in the neck of The bottle at this what you’re seeing Here is actually slightly semi-frozen Yeast and cells the dictum of the yeast Is the leaves at the dead yeast cells so What’s happened here is they’ve man They’ve put these bottles into a very Very cold brine so below zero degrees And what that brine is done is it’s Semi-frozen the the e cells it’s also Cold so it’s meant that the rest of the Liquid in the bottle is really quite Cold and we want the liquid in the Bottle to be cold because that will Reduce the pressure some of this carbon Dioxide in here and gas will expand as It gets warmer so we don’t want that to Happen so but cold liquid but the Semi-frozen sludge of dead yeast cells In the neck of the bottle so the next Process is getting rid of that dead e Cell and that’s called the disgorgement So Gorge is French for next so it’s Basically removal from the neck so they Will turn these bottles up that can be Done on a bottling line it can done Manually and then the ground cap will be Removed you can do you can do all of
This under cork by the way but it’s just So much easier to do with the crown cap So the crown cap will be removed and Then that will shoot out that dead yeast Cell bit like a cork so you’ve done it You’ve got this clear liquid now in your Bottle brilliant so this is what Champagne is all about is this lovely Traditional method clear the journey Clear Wireless journey and throw the Same bottle no filtering is happening Here okay and so now is the point where We have the opportunity to add stuff so You can do that because we’ve got an Open bottle we lose a little bit of Pressure not very much we lose a bit of Liquid because of the because of the Pressure pushing the wine out so at this Point we definitely need to top up So the minimum requirement here is to Put in some wine so what we have here is What we call the liquid expedition so It’s the mixture of stuff that you put Into the bottle before it goes on its Merry way out into the universe so it’s Little mini expedition if you like so This comprises of the dosage so the Dosage is the amount of sugar that can Be added because It’s very very commonly added to Champagne and there’s a reason for that You might be thinking well my champagne Isn’t isn’t sweet it might be sweet There are some sweet champagnes out
There but no it’s not there to sweeten The wine so your ad your top up with why So the very very least what will do is You’ll top up with maybe the same wine Done okay so that’s not doing much else To it but it is an opportunity to add Sugar to balance remember we are in the North of France cool-climate high levels Of acidity when these grapes are picked They are picked when they’ve got lowest Levels of sugar okay because we go Through a second fermentation which Increases the amount of alcohol and They’ve got very high levels of acidity So we add sugar to balance and you’ll Find that most Brut so group is a Maximum of 12 grams a litre of sugar and Most brutish and pains we’ll have around 8 to 9 grams of sugar so that’s added it Stirred around first of all it’s made Into a liquid before you pour it in if Conveyed is part of the liquid Expedition and then so2 well that’s a Better choice but it does help to stop Oxidation okay so that can be added as Well to the liquid expedition it’s not Doesn’t have to be but it can be so There are other things that have been Used traditionally for for the in the Liquid expedition and brandy so cognac Has been used and that can really round The flavors and aromas it’s quite Interesting thing to do I don’t know how Permitted that is at the moment and also
It doesn’t have to be sugar that’s added To make the balance out the acidity or To make it won’t the one sweet you can Use rectified concentrated grape must So there are some schools of thought Around people producers that prefer Sugar and producers that prefer Rectified concentrated weight must it is Also possible at this point to add some Reserve wines to add complexity a little Bit just a little bit and because that You could have done that in your blend And when making a non vintage style and Also you could add a bit of rosy it was Always it a bit of red wine to make a Rose a so you put a very very vibrant Colored rose a champagne sometimes that Can be from adding a bit of Red wine and for the liquor expedition So I can see lots of questions have come Up there so I’ll see if there’s anything I need to answer a bit later now Stealing of the bottle so we don’t want There to be air in the bottle and we Don’t want oxygen at all okay so what Will happen here so if so2 hasn’t been Added it might be that you do a bit of Jetting suggesting is a really Interesting thing we basically shoot Very fast some wine into the bottle very Very fast and what that does is that Will make the fizz up so that they wine Hitting the wine in the bottle will make It fizz and that fist will push out air
From the top of the bottle and then it Will be sealed with a very thick pork so Here we go I mean you’ve seen these Before like a mushroom and that court is Gonna stop it’s gonna really prevent the Co2 from escaping from the bottle there Your cage as well to help it not pop out Because of the pressure the bottles of Champagne are now around eight hundred Thirty five grams in weight they’ve Reduced them considerably from 900 grams Because there’s a and I’ll talk about This as well there’s a lot of work Towards sustainability and carbon Footprint with regards to climate change As well and in fact I was going to talk About I’m going to talk about climate Changes there’s a mobility a bit later But yeah it’s very poor but also very Heavy and it’s not good for the Environment so there is work to make Them lighter okay so that is the Traditional method so or just a little Recap with the traditional method okay We have a second fermentation that Happens in the bottle and that Fermentation is started off by adding The liquor to tirage so that second Fermentation that will take place it Will take quite a few weeks to happen And it will happen in those cooler Cellars and then what we want after the Second fermentation when the yeast has Died is for tolerances to happen to give
Us those characteristics that we Associate with champagne the brady Biscuity notes etc so that will happen For quite a while then after that we Need to then riddle so get those bottles So that they are upside down and Get all the yeast in the neck of the Bottle there and once the riddling has Been done or the remark wash has been Done then you do the disgorgement which Is getting that basic opening the bottle And releasing that plug of yeast after This gorgeou Is where you add the liquid expedition Which could include the dosage so adding Of sugar so you can also add sugar to Make sweet wine so I’m going to talk About those labeling terms in a moment Then a bottle is sealed and we’re done So I hope that’s quite clear for those Of you who work that familiar with the Traditional methods I know there’s a lot Of students who are familiar in the Traditional method but I appreciate that It’s quite a complex process so now We’re going to think about the styles of Champagne out there so starting with a Non-vintage So this makes up a huge amount of the Wines out there okay most most most on Non-vintage And the wine will be made up with a Blend of the base wine so wines made up From other years so we can go back three
Years you know that’s sort of quite Standard or it can be in more and more There are some producers who go back a Lot longer and really focus on these Reserve wines reserve wines as well to Make something very very complex so Charles Heidsieck for example that’s 10 11 years and with those wines and you Can have these wines have been kept in Oak or stainless steel and if it’s kept In oak you’re looking more oxidative Style of wine and but there are Producers as well who are more reductive In their stars’ and more about Fruit-forward wines less rather than the Kind of slightly up slip honey slightly Nutty notes you can get so for example Up stuff styles we typically produces Like Bollinger who use quite a bit of Oak and most of Shangaan men or Reductive they don’t use oak Andrew Enough as well so if you’re familiar With those houses now the minimum Requirement for leaves aging is 12 Months but the minimum requirement of Aging overall is 15 months most Producers will do longer than that okay So and you know I’ve had non vintage Champagnes which have spent 10 years on The lease okay so it’s really from Producer to producer but your Non-vintage star will generally it will Be in if you go out if you want to cheap Champagne I don’t suggest
You go out and buy cheap cheap champagne To be honest but if you do want to ship Something it will be a non vintage you What you don’t get particularly cheap Vintage champagnes and this someone’s Trying to get rid of them for some Reason Okay so that’s your non vintage vintage So vintage will have the year on the Bottle so non-vintage won’t say Non-vintage on the bottle it will just Have no year written on there and but You can see from this picture here 2008 A wonderful vintage year and their Grapes have to be harvested in that year And the wines have to be made 100% some Grapes from that year so there’s a 36 Months minimum aging from the point of Adding the liquidity Wragge Okay to the point of of the dosage so This it’s doesn’t doesn’t say on the Lease but that’s that’s the minimum Requirement and again most producers are Going to do far longer than that so Vintages that you can make a producer Can make a vintage champagne in any year There isn’t rules it’s not like a Declared years they say right 2008 is a Vintage year but that means 2007 isn’t Etc you can make a vintage in any year And if you saw you know they’re very It’s a large area champagne you know It’s 150 points from top to bottom it’s Really large so you’re gonna get varied
Pockets and you’ve got different grape Varieties growing in different places so What might be a particularly bad year in One pot of champagne might actually be Really quite a good year in another part So do bear that in mind but there are Years that are stand out years where Everyone’s like yeah this is a really Good year and a good year in champagne Is means you’ve got healthy grapes and You get healthy grapes from nice weather In the growing season if you’ve got Loads of Rangers people growing season You can forget about it because you’re Gonna get fungus and disease botrytis But not nice noble rot which I just Horrible gray Roquefort writers you have To get rid of those grapes so it’s nice Weather so we’ve got 2008 was a Particularly good vintage 2012 was a Really good vintage as well We offered for that 2006 in 2002 before That so they’re notable recent vintages And you should accept some really top Quality now vintage champagne the way it Differs in another way to non vintage is That it’s a table okay it’s it’s got Longevity you can Keep vintage champagnes for a long time You don’t have to they can drink very Nicely on release but you can generally Keep them and I’ll talk a little about a Bit about styles that you can keep and Not so much in a moment so you can keep
These styles and they will age and they Will get those tertiary notes so that’s Bit of bottle aging there with honey Mushroom nuttiness dried fruit so that’s Why sometimes you see really old vintage Champagnes but just bear in mind the Older they are the more they do lose Their effervescence the co2 will escape A little bit so you leave them too old Too long and they can be a little bit Flat so non-vintage a lot of those are Designed to be drunk on release so just To make you clear about that Right so Rose a style so there’s many Ways of making rose a so a rose a to Some blush so rosy just on blush is what They do act motor shuns on they blend Their red and their white wines together And you don’t need to add much red wine It’s difficult to make red wine in Champagne and one because of that that’s Why rosacea and pains tend to be a Little bit more expensive we’ve got the Non-vintage standard white champagne the Non-vintage rose a the rose is always More expensive but that’s because it’s More difficult to make a red wine in Champagne because we need to have Tannins that are a little bit riper a Bit more ripeness from there those black Grapes so it is more difficult so hence Has bit more expensive and because it’s More difficult the tender only used to Be now they’re not but roses tend to
Used to only be made in vintage years When they had better weather rose a the Category of rose a has completely grown Merchants Chandon it’s grown from 1 to 2 Percent 20 years ago up to 20 percent Now it’s really big market and I think We like this across the board with wine Isn’t it and Boresha were very didn’t Want to make a rose egg and then it make A Rosa until 2008 so that’s quite a Recent raise a where’s in 1998 was it Was winning and we’re doing it with Mojitos and on so you know it’s a it’s a More recent increase quite quite a wrap For some for the big brands in Particular so Roseate assemblage is when You blend together the red and white and Rosita Sam yay is when you actually You press the black grapes and you get You get a red wine that way Okay and then you get the red wine from Pressing the black grapes and then that Wine will just go through the that will Go through the fermentation and the Autolysis and those tend to be a bit Lighter in color because actually over Time with autolysis and time that will Take out the color a little bit as I Mentioned before adding some red wine at Dosage so that will give you a more Vibrant color at the end so it’s not Happen very much it’s mostly ready to Sunblock followed by rosacea Sun yay so That’s a little bit about Rosie and the
Fact that it’s getting particularly Popular at the moment okay so prestige Cuvee so we’ve got Dom Perignon is the Prestige cuvee from Monash and also These are the top wise is it Aspirational wines we talk about ladder Branding at WCT and we talk about when You’ve got a house and they’ve got a Portfolio of wines it doesn’t have to be Sparkling wine it could be all over the Place but they tend to be quite firm in Sparkling wine you’ve got your entry Level so most the time that would be a Non vintage say entry level and vintage Followed by your vintage them a bit more Expensive then a prestige cuvee now Prestige cuvee is usually a vintage Though it doesn’t have to be and so you Probably have heard some of these names Before Dom Perignon LeGrande are for Both Kiko comped a champagne for Taittinger Christopher wrote a row and It was crystals were created for the Tsar of Russia be a lean football and Share the cuvette Winston Churchill for Pol Roger say if you’ve got deep pockets Wonderful wonderful wines but very very Much special occasion wines but these Can really go the distance and last a Long long long time but that’s what Prestige cuvee and pretty much your most Houses and growers will have their top Top champagne their prestige cuvee so Let’s talk about sweetness because I
Talked about sugar being added for the At the dosage but there are lots of Different labeling terms on champagnes And we need to kind of understand what They are so we know what to expect on The palate sometimes so It’s what most champagnes are but I’m Seeing a move towards less those are not Huge it’s not actually a significant Move I think there’s more exposure and In the UK we’re quite experimental with Our wines we like to try new things all The time so in the UK we see a lot more Of these labeling terms and these these Different styles than you might do and Other in other parts around the world But Brut nature or zero dosage refers to No addition of sugar you can have up to 3 grams a liter of residual sugar so It’s already there in the wine but no Added sugar these can be quite tart so Often they spend a long time on the Leaves and that amount of time on the Leaves can soften the acidity okay so it Tends to go hand in hand These bruton at shows you at a tart or Extra Brut they go hand in hand with Morley’s aging extra Brut is just a Small addition of sugar and then Brut as I said it’s up to 12 grams a liter Demi-sec is anywhere between 32 and 50 Grams a liter So that’s in it really in effect quite a Sweet champagne considering we’re mostly
Used to the dry Styles so there’s not a Huge amount of domestic is produced but It’s a very big growing market for it Interestingly enough in Africa so they Do like they do you like the demi sex There but I find a dice demi-sec is Something that to drink with with a Desert if the desert isn’t too sweet and It’s also becoming more fashionable with Millennials or I don’t know if people in The younger generations who are more Accustomed to sweet styles of alcohol so There’s been some really interesting Advertising campaigns and promotional Marketing stuff around these what styles Of wines so other labeling terms brach De Blanc So Blanc de Blanc means white from white So that’s a white wine from white grapes So here we go this is the the photo from Lemon eel a wonderful cooperative and in The In the Kota Blanc so they just deal with Chardonnay here so their wines are Blocked oblong because it’s white so White wine made from Chardonnay So why made from white grape varieties Blanc de noir is a white wine made from Black grape varieties so your pinot noir On your many a and then you’ve got these Other terms so i’m if you’ve got a Bottle of champagne now i’d like you to Actually take it and have a look and see If you can detect these little letters
So on mine because it is a because it is Amazing it’s a house okay it isn’t in M So I’ve got negocio on my nipple on its Tiny tiny tiny just mine is just If you can see it just there and a ghost Yacht manipular so most of your Champagnes gonna have nm no go Sol Manipular and them if you could find That writing and that means that it’s Been made by a house big house Okay so you’ll expect that on your third Peak Oh – oops again ruin our course a Charles Heidsieck etc because they buy In their grapes now if they grow their Own grapes and it has to be least 95 Percent then they are called a recall Time and if you’re not so they’re a Grower producer So you’ll see RM on the bottle there so There’s less of that around and if They’re a cooperative see em so these Aluminum bottles they would have cm Written on them and then there are some Others there’s McCourt on corporate sir Who is a producer who’s making their Wines using their label using the Co-operative to do so there’s s R which Is just consult my notes Hicks I can’t Remember everything Societele wrinkled-ass that’s a group of Growers we’ve got nd which is negocio Distributor so a merchant who buys in Unfinished champagne and then ma which Is an own label thing so a supermarket
Buys in some unlabeled champagnes they Can put their own label on it and call That ma so but most of the time we’re Going to see nm on your bottles there as You can see it corresponds to the map That’s produced by hope so Serving champagne how do we do it well Really important in the first instance That it’s chilled so your your champagne It should be 8 to 10 degrees if it’s an Older champagne quite a complex Champagne it could be a little bit Higher temperature up to 12 degrees but Really we want it pretty chilled as well For health and safety reasons because This is a wine that’s got lots of carbon Dioxide and so it can have a lot of Pressure and we don’t want to take Anyone’s eye out when we’re opening it So that’s the temperature of our serving Temperature and one way to achieve that Serving temperature quite easily is to Use an ice bucket so half ice half water Put your bottle in there leave it for 20 To 30 minutes done okay and that will Keep it nice and cool as well while You’re drinking it don’t whatever it’s Not too cold because that will take The flavors and the aromas so what do we Use for stemware or glassware Well flutes are traditional I love this Shape I think this is beautiful Not just aesthetically but it really Helps with tasting the wine so I like
That I’ve got this narrower Rimmer at The top here and I can treat it like a White wine and if you go to champagne The chuffing waa are often using white Wine glasses actually to drink their Champagne from this is like a compromise Between a white wine glass and a flute The flutes are good and taller glass is Argued because you get the bubbles Moving and that can add complexity to Your wine a little bit it also stops it Going flats too quickly I think mine is Still got some bubbles it even I’m left It on the table for quite some time so That’s what we’re looking at the coupes I know they’re pretty you know the Mary Ann’s phone it’s part of her body and Are very pretty those sources but the You’re gonna lose the bubbles quite Quickly unless you’re drinking it really Quickly and also I mean I always spill My wine when I try and drink out of Those might be me and that they don’t Fill them very well and so opening your Bottle of wine is very very important so Even though I’ve got another bottling I’m not drinking this one and but what You need to do is you need to twist the Bottle there’s a twist the bottle angle Around 40 degrees not the ceiling not The glass you know no one you Particularly like and make sure that You’ve got your hand always when you’re Opening a bottle as soon as you start
I’m doing the cage placing that wire Cage as soon as you’re taking off your Fall and you start on doing the wire Cage then you really really mustn’t take Your hand off the cage or off the cork Because you’re the cage has been keeping The cork in there and if you do that and Then you have the potential if you take Your cage off of the pork just popping Out so make sure you put your hand or Your thumb or whatever over the cage Over the cork and you twist the bottle All right very very important so be Careful because I keep I do hear horror Stories about it going wrong now do we Do can’t champagne I don’t know really And I have heard that if you’ve got a Very old champagne that maybe you do but To be honest let’s bear in mind that it Is a sparkling wine so you don’t want to Be leaving it in the dick and I want to Open it in advance and leave it out for Hours do you especially older it is the Faster it is so it might be alright but Usually I think you’re all right just Just serving it from the bottle and Don’t use a corkscrew my last tip there For you okay So just last couple of slides and then I’ll answer any questions that Lydia Hasn’t I’m sure she’s doing a fantastic job There so we’ve got some trends in Champagne
So less dosage is becoming a thing not Much of a thing to be honest but it’s It’s a little bit a little bit on the up There so nought point three percent of Champagnes now produced with less than Brute in terms of dosage so our extra Brut or Brut nature zero dosage etc so That’s on the increase a little bit Particularly in places like London and Other cities in the UK and probably Cities like San Francisco in New York Etc rose a rose a as I’ve already Mentioned it is going really up on up in Terms of the amount that’s being Produced there and as I said most and on Have seen a real increase up to 20% from What they’ve been producing late release Recently discouraged so this is again Something for the connoisseur there are Some wines out there so polish air21 and This was actually invented in the 60s by Lily bond share but it’s been leading The way and these are wines that spend a Long long long long time on the leaves And because of that they actually they Don’t develop so well and with that Length they’re they’re better off being Drunk very youthful so what you want to Do is you want to drink them very soon After they’ve been discouraged because The longer you leave them they kind of Lose some of that character that they’ve Kind of built up over that time on the Lee’s and so you’ve got the Bollinger Rd
Recently to scourged and you’ve got Dom Perignon g1 called P 2 so they are very Specific wines and you’ve got to be Careful as well this brings me to the Point of disgorgement and just forge Mint dates because producers are more And more now printing disgorgement dates For allowing you to see what the Disgorgement date is one way or another Whether it’s through looking on their Website or taking home a photo the QR Code or whatever Krueger very they Started That’s quite a while ago and the reason For that is if you’ve got an on Ventura Champagne and you go by it and I said Earlier on that non vintage champagnes Are generally better drunk when they’re Young you don’t want to pick up Something that’s been on a shop shelf For months and months and months Potentially years or you might have a Stash and you want to know when it was When it was actually just scored so you Know when the best time is to drink it So it’s important to know that date and There isn’t enough transparency around That but I think it’s getting better Over time So recently to score wines our specific Kind of wine that are meant to be Dropped quite young done after soon After disgorgement whereas champagnes so Grammer champagnes again is the
Difficult thing for growers because they Don’t have the marketing capability if The big house is say on the global scale There’s more exposure to them and more Understanding around what they do but in Terms of increase of growers there Aren’t so many but it’s a really Interesting category and what a lot of Growers are doing breeze mums the next Trend is actually using just single Parcels of wine to make champagne so They’ll be using a single village Potentially or a single vineyard within A village and so that’s introducing the Concept of terroir to champagne which is Something that hasn’t really been at the Forefront it’s been more about blending As I’ve explained before sweet champagne So I talked about the the demi-sec so The demi-sec having 30 to 250 grams a Litre of sugar and that has been Something there’s been very very much Marketed you can see look at these Beautiful bottles here these white Bottles so the ice Imperial and for Example and this has been marked in a Very interesting way and having it over Ice or adding cucumber or all sorts of Things Maybe it’s probably strawberry stuff Like that the kind of thing you drink Maybe in a nightclub or around the pool In Miami and say and that’s been a Little bit of an increase in in buying
That but it still makes up a very very Small part of the market share there And champagne wants to be trendy okay it Is a very lovely wine its prestigious But it really wants to appeal to Everybody and say champagne cocktails Are something that are being given a Little I know that the committee Champagne yeah they are are pushing and Asking bartenders from really great Places around the world to come up with New and exciting ways to use champagne Them in a cocktail so there’s some Lovely ones out there but personally I Prefer mine eat I don’t know about you So there’s some of the trends and then What does the future hold and all the Challenges so this is a little bit sad This page because market sales are in Decline however the profit isn’t then They’re selling more of the higher level Stuff in champagne in France is where There’s less being bought and that’s I’m Talking really about 2019 in the vintage Of 2018 because this was what way to 2000 well mostly 2018 actually I’m Talking about and I’ll talk about why This is and it’s a lot to do with Politics and we think we’re going to Find politics and current situations are Going to have a huge impact in some Areas so markets and market and sales Have been a little bit on the decline But in terms of value that’s actually
Gone up so champagne is not in a bad Situation if we look at it like that Because what they’re producing is a Better quality product and that’s a good Place to be to be seen to be producing a Top top quality product may be a problem If there was more champagne being bought And a lower level because that would Flood the market and it wouldn’t be Brilliant but if it’s if it’s the vote If it’s the value that’s that’s going up Then that’s a good thing now Sustainability is a big thing in Champagne so you’ve got producers some Some organic some biodynamic but they’ve Also got a body and this body is called Hang on a moment I wrote it down and I Can’t But it’s the VDC okay say they are Basically about sustainability and is The committee – Antonia and what they’ve Done is they have given the growers the Tools to be sustainable in the vineyard So in fact it really is following mostly Organic production and but with allowing The use of some things some of the Chemical pesticides and herbicides so at The moment there’s 15% have been Certified 50% of them and the vineyards Have been certified by the VDC as Ticking all of those boxes there’s 5% Are in the process and they aim to have A hundred percent by 2030 it’s a big big Push on sustainability removing the use
Of herbicides that’s going to be a thing As well so following sweet from a few Other areas other regions of the world And so climate change so I’ve put in That figure of 900 – 835 so a carbon Footprint say that refers back to the Bottle weight if you remember said it Was reduced from 935 grams so there’s a Few things that are happening and in Order to do that but Sir you know There’s a lot of producers of Roederer Are really leading the way with making Sure that they’re doing a lot of organic And biodynamic and they see with climate Change that maybe they need to think More about the soils as a philosophy Around actually the treating the soil Well and making sure the roots have a Really good have a good route through The soil and that is a philosophy that’s Being tried and tested by input Charles Heidsieck and by Rhoda ruff – name – but Yeah isn’t it because climate change is Going to be a problem one of the things That they are looking at is creating Different grape varieties so they’re Looking at crossing of currant grape Varieties or hybrids of currant grape Varieties to produce different grape Varieties that are very unique pretty Similar wines I don’t want to change the Profile of the wine of course they don’t Really want to use different grape Varieties but
This year they think they’re going to Have to harvest in mid-august now that’s Way way way earlier than they ever have Done before that’s a big problem and That’s gonna mean this earlier harvest Means that the accumulation of sugar is Going to be a problem the acidity levels Are gonna be is going to be problematic So problematic and this can’t really Continue that’s not great so political Issues and other the chelation so that’s Why France didn’t buy as much wine in 2018 and champagne rather than they Usually do they remember those those Protests those demonstrations and it’s Reflected if there’s sad situations Difficult situations in France then they Don’t go around buying champagne and Celebrating say that had a direct impact On the on the sales in France and as France is trip basically buys half of The production of champagne just a 2% Decrease is the equivalent of a small Country not buying champagne so it’s a Really really big impact there and Bricks it well we’ll see Now some producers think it’s not going To be a problem because they’ve got a Good route to market to the UK and but It could be problematic for smaller Growers so it remains to be seen what Will happen with brexit but it’s often It’s something that people are thinking About and then of course the situation
We might crave in 19 well if people Don’t like growing and drinking Champagne in difficult situations then I Could think that the report from 2020 is Going to show a decrease as well we will See although the amount of wine that People buying has been on the up and I Like to think that presuming this Webinar We’ve helped may be naught point naught Naught naught naught naught naught Something percent so then but the Problem with champagne is they’ve always Marketed themselves as a wine for a Special occasion and so that can work Really really well they’ve got that Premium they’re like yes I’m moving a Birthday I’m gonna buy a bottle of Champagne however if it’s not a special Occasion do then buy something different So you can see this is strapline that The vineyard the champagne so they’re Growers to try and promote themselves And get more people drinking their wines And produce this trapline called reserve It at kitten ears are pressing on which Means suitable for Any occasion so some people love that I Think that’s great yep let’s promote Drinking champagne as a more of an Everyday thing whereas other people are Like no I don’t like that that that Makes champagne seem too normal We want it still to be this really
Premium prestigious product so you know Lots of interesting things going on in Champagne we’ll see what happens I am Concerned about the effects of Verve Kovach 19 but the fact that people are Spending more on champagne for better Champagnes is a good sign so I’m going To stop there thank you for your Patience I know that there’s been lots Lots of questions so I’ll have a quick Look at the chat and if Lydia has Anything she wants to say or ask me I Don’t know everything so I hope I can Answer any remaining questions and that You have I think I think I have answered Most of them but just just a couple I Said I would pitch it and a couple about The dosage so one person asked are there Any requirements for the liquid Expedition to be you know the same Grapes or villages etc and also does it Have to do sighs have to be the same Exact base wine and grapes villages but With added sugar I’m not a hundred Percent sure but I think they’re fairly Loose with it yeah I mean that was my Understanding because people and and boy It’s only a tiny bit being added yeah in Starling was it really the base wine but It can be a mix of things you can kind Of look at it as being a kind of a Seasoning yeah yeah sense that seems to Be the consensus I definitely need one Person it’s an Africa where they’re
Adding a bit of brandy and cognac being A thing and I know in busy producing Carver they make their own fortified Like on a row so his style wine and they Add that so you know I think when it Gets to Dec comes to dosage the rules oh And then there there any other one was About the sort of labeling of RN which Was grower producer If and a ghost’s your house is also able To use our M for bottling if they do use 100% grapes from their own land Interesting that I don’t know because I’m thinking with crook they’re declared Ammonia is there that was the example There let me just check unfortunately no But yeah I did I did okay no good Question make such I don’t know the Answer to that I suppose if you’re a big Producer maybe just an M but yeah I mean Within being so good questions some Really good questions I always get most Questions when I’m teaching this because It’s just there’s so much that goes on In the production it is one of these Very kind of production heavy wines but So I think I find it so fascinating and Of course I might say like drinking in Everything from hearings so don’t Consider that champagne is just for an Aperitif it is a food wine it’s got Lovely lovely acidity high levels Acidity so it cuts through many many and Fatty foods very good pairing with
Cheese you may have been familiar with These champagne of fromage and chain in London there’s a few of those so you go Very well and you can get sort of quite We can get heavier rows which could go Well with dark I had about once that was Beautiful and then you can get these Demi sex to go with dessert so in a big Sort of complex vintage you could Probably get away with maybe something a Bit more bigger with with a meal as well So moist is of course fish and chips Brilliant love it with fish and chips Yeah fried chicken you know anything Anything a bit fatty so okay someone Said that crook dim it and clergymen it Says in but you actually fake ballroom I Guess I don’t know so someone’s asked if WCT SAT are uber it’s considered too Right well a brute can actually have you Can label a whiner through and it has 0 Grams ELISA of sugar you don’t normally Do that but you could In that case yes it would be dry but you Could also have actually even though They don’t state it could have up to 15 Grams a litre of sugar in which case you Probably taste it so it’s with the SAT It’s all about assessing what’s what’s On the palate so you wouldn’t know in a Blind tasting if it what the grams of Sugar would be so if you detect a little Bit of sugar then yeah it would be off Dry but if you don’t then then it would
Be dry okay so I will stop recording now I think we’ve had most questions haven’t We