Remember gentlemen, it's not just France we are fighting for, it's Champagne! ~ Winston Churchill, WWI
In the spirit of the season, I thought I’d do a post on Champagne. I have not as of yet delved into many champagnes, and I would most definitely classify myself as a novice. I would love to host or attend a champagne tasting at some point to better gauge my taste preferences. From Wikipedia, Champagne is a sparkling wine produced by inducing the in-bottle secondary fermentation of the wine to effect carbonation. It is produced exclusively within the Champagne region of France, from which it takes its name. Through international treaty, national law, most countries limit the use of the term to only those wines that come from the Champagne appellation. In Europe, this principle is enshrined in the European Union by Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status. Other countries, such as the United States, have recognized the exclusive nature of this name, yet maintain a legal structure that allows longtime domestic producers of sparkling wine to continue to use the term "Champagne" under specific circumstances.
A brief overview of important terms:
- Champagne: the most famous sparkling wine in the world. Grape juice ferments, carbon dioxide gas is formed and bubbles are captured. The smaller the bubble, the more intense the taste and the price.
- Brut: the most popular type of champagne, dry, or not sweet.
- Sec: sweet champagne.
- Demi-sec: even sweeter than sec.
- Non-vintage or NV: non-vintage champagne must be aged one year. The majority of champagne sold is non-vintage. Non-vintage allows for the blending of juices from different years and locations.
- Vintage: must be aged a minimum of three years and must contain 80% grapes of that year and a minimum of 11 % alcohol. Vintage champagnes are not produced every year. That is up to the discretion of the vintner.
- Blanc de Blancs: champagne made exclusively from Chardonnay grapes, the most delicate of champagnes. Only 25 % of Champagne region is planted with Chardonnay, so Blanc de Blancs can be hard to come by.
- Blanc de Noir: champagne made from black Pinot Noir or Pinot Meunier grapes.
- Methode Champenoise: Process can last from 18-40 months. It is a long, protracted, labor-intensive method, with the wine staying in bottles from second fermentation through aging, rather than being in vats. Méthode Champenoise is the traditional method by which Champagne is produced. After primary fermentation and bottling, a second alcoholic fermentation occurs in the bottle. This second fermentation is induced by adding several grams of yeast and several grams of rock sugar. According to the Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée a minimum of 1.5 years is required to completely develop all of the flavor. For years where the harvest is exceptional, a millesimé is declared. This means that the champagne will be very good and has to mature for at least 3 years. During this time the champagne bottle is sealed with a crown cap similar to that used on beer bottles. After ageing, the bottle is manipulated, either manually or mechanically, in a process called remuage (riddling, in English), so that the lees settle in the neck of the bottle. After chilling the bottles, the neck is frozen, and the cap removed. The pressure in the bottle forces out the ice containing the lees, and the bottle is quickly corked to maintain the carbon dioxide in solution.
The Different Methods
There are two different methods to make champagne. The most common method used for sparkling wine has been around for about a hundred years. It is known as the Charmat process, and costs a fraction of the méthode champenoise to use. True French Champagne involves the use of the traditional Méthode Champenoise, as described above. The Charmat process, on the other hand, involves putting still wine in cold, large pressure sealed tanks where it is "seeded", meaning that sugar and yeast are added, and allowed to ferment. The fermentation creates carbon dioxide...bubbles. The next process is filtering, to remove sediment. This is done under pressure so the wine remains "bubbly". The now "sparkling wine" is adjusted for sweetness, then bottled, and then shipped out. This entire process can take as little as three weeks. That is the inexpensive and most common way of doing it.
Types of Champagne
Most of the Champagne produced today is NV or "Non-vintage", meaning that is a blended product of grapes from multiple vintages. Most of the base will be from a single year vintage with producers blending anywhere from 10-15% (even as high as 40%) of wine from older vintages. If the conditions of a particular vintage are favorable, some producers will make a "Vintage" wine that must be composed of at least 85% of the grapes from vintage year. Under Champagne wine regulations, houses that make both vintage and non-vintage wines are allowed to use no more than 80% of the total vintage's harvest for the production of vintage Champagne. This allows at least 20% of the harvest from favorable vintages to be reserved for use in non-vintage Champagne. In less than ideal vintages, some producers will produce a wine from only that single vintage and still label it as non-vintage rather than as "vintage" since the wine will be of lesser quality and the producers have little desire to reserve the wine for future blending.
Prestige cuvee: A cuvée de prestige is a proprietary blended wine (usually a Champagne) that is considered to be the top of a producer's range. Famous examples include Louis Roederer's Cristal, Laurent-Perrier's Grand Siècle, Moët & Chandon's Dom Pérignon, and Pol Roger's Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill. The original prestige cuvée was Moët & Chandon's Dom Pérignon, launched in 1936 with the 1921 vintage. Until then, Champagne houses produced different cuvées of varying quality, but a top-of-the-range wine produced to the highest standards (and priced accordingly) was a new idea. In fact, Louis Roederer had been producing Cristal since 1876, but this was strictly for the private consumption of the Russian tsar. Cristal was made publicly available with the 1945 vintage. Then came Taittinger's Comtes de Champagne (first vintage 1952), and Laurent-Perrier's Grand Siècle 'La Cuvée' in 1960, a blend of three vintages (1952, 1953, and 1955). In the last three decades of the twentieth century, most Champagne houses followed these with their own prestige cuvées, often named after notable people with a link to that producer (Veuve Clicquot's La Grande Dame, the nickname of the widow of the house's founder's son; Pol Roger's Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill, named for the British prime minister; and Laurent-Perrier's Cuvée Alexandra rosé, to name just three examples), and presented in non-standard bottle shapes (following Dom Pérignon's lead with its eighteenth-century revival design).
Blanc de noirs: A French term (literally "white of blacks") for a white wine produced entirely from black grapes. It is often encountered in Champagne, where a number of houses have followed the lead of Bollinger's prestige cuvée Vieilles Vignes Françaises in introducing a cuvée made from either Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier or a blend of the two (these being the only two black grapes permitted within the Champagne AOC appellation). Although Bollinger's wine is famed for its intense richness and full-bodied nature, this has more to do with the way the grapes are planted and when they are harvested than any intrinsic property of blanc de noirs Champagne.
Blanc de blancs: A French term that means "white of whites", and is used to designate champagnes made exclusively from Chardonnay grapes. The term is occasionally used in other sparkling wine-producing regions, usually to denote Chardonnay-only wines rather than any sparkling wine made from other white grape varieties.
Rosé Champagne: Champagne is typically light in color even if it is produced with red grapes, because the juice is extracted from the grapes using a gentle process that minimizes the amount of time the juice spends in contact with the skins, which is what gives red wine its color. The rosé wines of Champagne are produced either by leaving the clear juice of black grapes to macerate on its skins for a brief time or, more commonly, by adding a small amount of still Pinot noir red wine to the sparkling wine cuvee. Rosé Champagne is one of the few wines that allows the production of Rosé by the addition a small amount of red wine during blending. This ensures a predictable and reproducible color, allowing a constant Rosé color from year-to-year.
Sweetness
The amount of sugar (dosage) added after the second fermentation and aging varies and will dictate the sweetness level of the Champagne. Below is the order from driest to sweetest.
* Brut Natural or Brut Zéro (less than 3 grams of sugar per liter)
* Extra Brut (less than 6 grams of sugar per liter)
* Brut (less than 15 grams of sugar per liter)
* Extra Sec or Extra Dry (12 to 20 grams of sugar per liter)
* Sec (17 to 35 grams of sugar per liter)
* Demi-Sec (33 to 50 grams of sugar per liter)
* Doux (more than 50 grams of sugar per liter)
The most common is brut, although throughout the 19th century and into the early 20th century Champagne was generally much sweeter than it is today.
Champagne Etiquette
Glass: Champagne is usually served in a champagne flute, whose characteristics include a long stem with a tall, narrow bowl, thin sides and an etched bottom. Other types of wine glasses are not recommended as they disperse the nose and over-oxygenate the wine. The long-stemmed flutes hold approximately 5 oz. when filled to the rim. Therefore, the normal serving is approximately 3 oz. and a .750 ml bottle which holds 25 oz. will provide you approximately 8 servings per bottle. If you are planning a party, this may be a good guideline for your party requirements.
Temperature: Champagne is always served cold, its ideal drinking temperature at 7 to 9 °C (43 to 48 °F). Often the bottle is chilled in a bucket of ice and water before opening. Champagne buckets are made specifically for this purpose, and often have a larger volume than standard wine-cooling buckets (to accommodate the larger bottle, and more water and ice).
Opening Champagne bottles: At the 1967 24 Hours of Le Mans, winner Dan Gurney started the tradition of spraying the crowd and each other. However, this opening will waste much of the Champagne. To reduce the risk of spilling Champagne and/or turning the cork into a dangerous projectile, a Champagne bottle can be opened by holding the cork and rotating the bottle (rather than the cork). By using a 45 degree angle, the surface of the champagne has the maximum surface area, thus minimizing the excessive bubbling. The cork should not pop. The cork can ease out with a sigh or a whisper rather than a pop. When properly executed it should come off with a quiet sigh. The flavor will be largely the same, irrespective of the method used, but the volume left in the bottle will differ. The whispering noise made while opening the bottle is sometimes named "le soupir amoureux" (loving whisper).
It is a common perception that people become intoxicated more quickly on champagne. It has been shown that alcohol is more rapidly absorbed when mixed with carbonated water, and this may explain this anecdotal assertion.
Champagne has reached its maturity and is ready for immediate consumption as soon as it leaves the champagne house. However, champagne may be stored in cellar-like conditions for several years. The important conditions are a constant, cool temperature, no vibrations and no light. The bottles must be stored horizontally to keep the cork moist and thus retain its elasticity. This will keep the gas in and the air out.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Wine Terms Pronounced - the Grapes
Below are numerous grapes used in making wine with pronunciation and brief description included.
Alicante Bouschet – Ah Lee Cont Boo SHAY – French red grape used for jug wines
Amarone – Ah Ma ROW Nay – Italian red grape for full bodied wines
Cabernet Sauvignon – Cab Er NAY Sew Veen YON – King of the red grape producing rich full bodied wines
Carignan – Car Een YON – Fruity red grape frequently used to produce table wines
Carmenere – Car men YAIR – Red blending grape grown mostly in Chile
Chardonnay – Shar Doe Nay – King of the white grape producing excellent versatile wines
Chenin Blanc – SHAY Non Blon – White grape producing dry to slightly sweet fruity wine
Dolcetto – Dole CHET toe – Fruity red grape form the Piedmont region of NW Italy +3
Gamay – GAM May – Red grape from the Beaujolais region of Burgundy
Gewurztraminer – Gah VERTZ Tra Me Nur – Slightly sweet white grape from the Alsace region of Germany
Grenache – Grey NOSH – Widely planted versatile red grape for light to hearty wines - best known in Southern Rhone
Malbec – MALL Beck – Powerful red blending grape frequently used in Bordeaux (2 to 8%), increasing popularity as a varietal in Argentina
Malvasia – Mall Vah ZEE Ah – Sweet white grape used for blending into Chianti and as a stand alone desert wine
Marsanne – Mar SAHN – White grape of the Rhone region of France
Merlot – Mare LOW – Versatile red grape for blending or a soft mellow wine
Montepulciano – Mawn Teh Pull CHA No – Red grape producing full bodied table wines
Mourvedre – Moor VAY Druh – Strong red grape from the Rhone, Spain and California
Muscat – MUSS Cat – Sweet, fruity, aromatic white grape used for desert wines
Nebbiolo – Nay Be-OH Low – Powerful red grape of Italy's Piedmont region (Barolo, Barbaresco)
Petit Syrah – Puh TEE (TEET) See Rah – California grape producing deep-red, full-bodied, tannic, spicy wines
Petit Verdot – Puh TEE (TEET) Vare DOE – Bordeaux grape producing deep-red, full-bodied, tannic, spicy wines, popular for blending
Pinot Grigio – PEE no GREE Jo – French / Italian white grape for crisp, dry wine (also Pinot Gris)
Pinot Noir – PEE no No WAH – Red grape of Burgundy, also found in California and Oregon
Riesling – REES Ling – Grape of the German Rhine, aromatic, slightly sweet
Sangiovese – San Joe VAY Seh – Red grape of Tuscany for rich full bodied wine (Chianti, Brunello)
Sauvignon Blanc – Sew Veen YON Blon – Widely planted versatile white grape producing dry wines
Semillon – SAY me Yon – French white grape usually blended with Sauvignon Blanc, also varietal in California
Syrah – See RAH – Powerful red grape of northern Rhone, full-bodied, aromatic and tannic, increasing popularity in Australia
Tempranillo – Temp Ra NEEL yo – Powerful red grape of Spain (Rioja)
Trebbiano – Treb e AH no – Italian white blending grape used in Chianti and brandy (Cognac in France)
Ugni Blanc – OO Nee Blonk – French white blending grape (Trebbiano in Italy & Saint Emilion in Cal)
Zinfandel – Zin Fan DELL – Red grape producing big, powerful, full-bodied wines
Alicante Bouschet – Ah Lee Cont Boo SHAY – French red grape used for jug wines
Amarone – Ah Ma ROW Nay – Italian red grape for full bodied wines
Cabernet Sauvignon – Cab Er NAY Sew Veen YON – King of the red grape producing rich full bodied wines
Carignan – Car Een YON – Fruity red grape frequently used to produce table wines
Carmenere – Car men YAIR – Red blending grape grown mostly in Chile
Chardonnay – Shar Doe Nay – King of the white grape producing excellent versatile wines
Chenin Blanc – SHAY Non Blon – White grape producing dry to slightly sweet fruity wine
Dolcetto – Dole CHET toe – Fruity red grape form the Piedmont region of NW Italy +3
Gamay – GAM May – Red grape from the Beaujolais region of Burgundy
Gewurztraminer – Gah VERTZ Tra Me Nur – Slightly sweet white grape from the Alsace region of Germany
Grenache – Grey NOSH – Widely planted versatile red grape for light to hearty wines - best known in Southern Rhone
Malbec – MALL Beck – Powerful red blending grape frequently used in Bordeaux (2 to 8%), increasing popularity as a varietal in Argentina
Malvasia – Mall Vah ZEE Ah – Sweet white grape used for blending into Chianti and as a stand alone desert wine
Marsanne – Mar SAHN – White grape of the Rhone region of France
Merlot – Mare LOW – Versatile red grape for blending or a soft mellow wine
Montepulciano – Mawn Teh Pull CHA No – Red grape producing full bodied table wines
Mourvedre – Moor VAY Druh – Strong red grape from the Rhone, Spain and California
Muscat – MUSS Cat – Sweet, fruity, aromatic white grape used for desert wines
Nebbiolo – Nay Be-OH Low – Powerful red grape of Italy's Piedmont region (Barolo, Barbaresco)
Petit Syrah – Puh TEE (TEET) See Rah – California grape producing deep-red, full-bodied, tannic, spicy wines
Petit Verdot – Puh TEE (TEET) Vare DOE – Bordeaux grape producing deep-red, full-bodied, tannic, spicy wines, popular for blending
Pinot Grigio – PEE no GREE Jo – French / Italian white grape for crisp, dry wine (also Pinot Gris)
Pinot Noir – PEE no No WAH – Red grape of Burgundy, also found in California and Oregon
Riesling – REES Ling – Grape of the German Rhine, aromatic, slightly sweet
Sangiovese – San Joe VAY Seh – Red grape of Tuscany for rich full bodied wine (Chianti, Brunello)
Sauvignon Blanc – Sew Veen YON Blon – Widely planted versatile white grape producing dry wines
Semillon – SAY me Yon – French white grape usually blended with Sauvignon Blanc, also varietal in California
Syrah – See RAH – Powerful red grape of northern Rhone, full-bodied, aromatic and tannic, increasing popularity in Australia
Tempranillo – Temp Ra NEEL yo – Powerful red grape of Spain (Rioja)
Trebbiano – Treb e AH no – Italian white blending grape used in Chianti and brandy (Cognac in France)
Ugni Blanc – OO Nee Blonk – French white blending grape (Trebbiano in Italy & Saint Emilion in Cal)
Zinfandel – Zin Fan DELL – Red grape producing big, powerful, full-bodied wines
Italian Wine Terms Pronounced
Continuing the pronunciations of wine terms, I have included several of the more popular Italian wine terms along with a snippet of a information or definition of the term.
Abruzzo – Ah BROOD zoe – Wine growing region in East Central Italy famous for white Trebbiano and red Montepulciano
Amarone – Ah Ma ROW Nay – Italian red grape for full bodied wines
Anise – ANN iss – Licorice - added to some wines to increase acids
Apulia – Ah POOL Yuh – Appellation in Italy's heel producing huge amounts of generally table wines
Asti Spumonte – AH Stee Spoo MON teh – Asti is a town in Italy's Piedmont region famous for its semi-sweet sparkling wine
Barbaresco – Bar Bah RES Coe – Red Nebbiolo wine from the Piedmont region of NW Italy
Barbera – Bar BARE ah – Red wine from the Piedmont region of NW Italy
Bardolino – Bar doe LEE No – Italian light red blended wine from the Veneto
Barolo – Bar ROW Lo – Red Nebbiolo wine from the Piedmont region of NW Italy
Brunello di Montalcino – Brew NELL Oh Dee Mawn Tall CHEE No – Red Sangiovese Brunello based wine from the Tuscany region of Italy
Chianti – Key AWN Tee – Red Sangiovese blend from the Tuscany region of Italy
Denominazione di Origine Controlata – Day Nom E Nah Zee ON Nay - Dee - Oh Ree GEE Nay Con Troll OTT ta – DOCG =Gah Ron Tee Tah - "DOC" Italian equivalent of French Appellation Controlee
Dolce – Dole CHAY – Italian word for "sweet"
Dolcetto – Dole CHET toe – Fruity red grape form the Piedmont region of NW Italy
Fiasco – Fee YASS Co – Flask - Straw covered bottle popular with Chianti
Gattinara – Gaw tee NAH rah – Red Nebbiolo based wine from the Piedmont
Malvasia – Mall Vah ZEE Ah – Sweet white grape used for blending into Chianti and as a stand alone desert wine
Montepulciano – Mawn Teh Pull CHA No – Red grape producing full bodied table wines - Abruzzo DOCG appellation (d'Abruzzo - duh BREW zoe)
Morellino di Scansano – Maw ree LEE no dee Scan SAW no – DOC Sangiovese zone located in the southern portion of Tuscany
Nebbiolo – Nay Be-OH Low – Powerful red grape of Italy's Piedmont region
Piedmont - Piemonte – PEED Mont - Pee Eh MON Tay – N/W Italian wine region dominated by the Nebbiolo grape producing Barberesco, Barolo and other outstanding wines
Pinot Grigio – PEE no GREE Jo – French / Italian white grape for crisp, dry wine (also Pinot Gris)
Sangiovese – San Joe VAY Seh – Red grape of Tuscany for rich, full bodied wine (Chianti and Brunello)
Soave – Swah Veh – Italian dry or semi sweet sparkling white wine from Veneto made with Garganega and Trebbiano grapes - Italy's #3 Sales
Spumante – Spu MON Tay – Italian semi sweet sparkling wine (Asti Spumante) from the Piedmonte made with Muscat grape - Italy's #2 Seller
Trebbiano – Treb e AH no – Italian white blending grape used in Chianti and brandy (Cognac in France)
Tuscany – TUSS Can Ee – Great region of central Italy, Sangiovese, Chianti, Brunello, Super Tuscans
Ugni Blanc – OO Nee Blonk – French white blending grape (Trebbiano in Italy & Saint Emilion in Cal)
Valpolicella – Vahl Pole Ee CHEL Lah – Italian red medium to light bodied dry wine from the Veneto region
Vino da Tavola – VEE no duh Ta VOL ah – Lowest Italian wine rating - Wine of the Table, but can also apply to Super Tuscans
Vino Nobile di Montepulciano – VEE no NAW be lay dee mawn teh pool CHAH no – Red-blended, medium-bodied wine from the commune of Montepulciano in Southern Tuscany made from the Sangiovese Prugnolo grape (maximum 80%) and Canaiolo or other approved local and international varietals
Abruzzo – Ah BROOD zoe – Wine growing region in East Central Italy famous for white Trebbiano and red Montepulciano
Amarone – Ah Ma ROW Nay – Italian red grape for full bodied wines
Anise – ANN iss – Licorice - added to some wines to increase acids
Apulia – Ah POOL Yuh – Appellation in Italy's heel producing huge amounts of generally table wines
Asti Spumonte – AH Stee Spoo MON teh – Asti is a town in Italy's Piedmont region famous for its semi-sweet sparkling wine
Barbaresco – Bar Bah RES Coe – Red Nebbiolo wine from the Piedmont region of NW Italy
Barbera – Bar BARE ah – Red wine from the Piedmont region of NW Italy
Bardolino – Bar doe LEE No – Italian light red blended wine from the Veneto
Barolo – Bar ROW Lo – Red Nebbiolo wine from the Piedmont region of NW Italy
Brunello di Montalcino – Brew NELL Oh Dee Mawn Tall CHEE No – Red Sangiovese Brunello based wine from the Tuscany region of Italy
Chianti – Key AWN Tee – Red Sangiovese blend from the Tuscany region of Italy
Denominazione di Origine Controlata – Day Nom E Nah Zee ON Nay - Dee - Oh Ree GEE Nay Con Troll OTT ta – DOCG =Gah Ron Tee Tah - "DOC" Italian equivalent of French Appellation Controlee
Dolce – Dole CHAY – Italian word for "sweet"
Dolcetto – Dole CHET toe – Fruity red grape form the Piedmont region of NW Italy
Fiasco – Fee YASS Co – Flask - Straw covered bottle popular with Chianti
Gattinara – Gaw tee NAH rah – Red Nebbiolo based wine from the Piedmont
Malvasia – Mall Vah ZEE Ah – Sweet white grape used for blending into Chianti and as a stand alone desert wine
Montepulciano – Mawn Teh Pull CHA No – Red grape producing full bodied table wines - Abruzzo DOCG appellation (d'Abruzzo - duh BREW zoe)
Morellino di Scansano – Maw ree LEE no dee Scan SAW no – DOC Sangiovese zone located in the southern portion of Tuscany
Nebbiolo – Nay Be-OH Low – Powerful red grape of Italy's Piedmont region
Piedmont - Piemonte – PEED Mont - Pee Eh MON Tay – N/W Italian wine region dominated by the Nebbiolo grape producing Barberesco, Barolo and other outstanding wines
Pinot Grigio – PEE no GREE Jo – French / Italian white grape for crisp, dry wine (also Pinot Gris)
Sangiovese – San Joe VAY Seh – Red grape of Tuscany for rich, full bodied wine (Chianti and Brunello)
Soave – Swah Veh – Italian dry or semi sweet sparkling white wine from Veneto made with Garganega and Trebbiano grapes - Italy's #3 Sales
Spumante – Spu MON Tay – Italian semi sweet sparkling wine (Asti Spumante) from the Piedmonte made with Muscat grape - Italy's #2 Seller
Trebbiano – Treb e AH no – Italian white blending grape used in Chianti and brandy (Cognac in France)
Tuscany – TUSS Can Ee – Great region of central Italy, Sangiovese, Chianti, Brunello, Super Tuscans
Ugni Blanc – OO Nee Blonk – French white blending grape (Trebbiano in Italy & Saint Emilion in Cal)
Valpolicella – Vahl Pole Ee CHEL Lah – Italian red medium to light bodied dry wine from the Veneto region
Vino da Tavola – VEE no duh Ta VOL ah – Lowest Italian wine rating - Wine of the Table, but can also apply to Super Tuscans
Vino Nobile di Montepulciano – VEE no NAW be lay dee mawn teh pool CHAH no – Red-blended, medium-bodied wine from the commune of Montepulciano in Southern Tuscany made from the Sangiovese Prugnolo grape (maximum 80%) and Canaiolo or other approved local and international varietals
Wine Terms Pronounced
So, following my last entry on Pouilly-Fuissé, which up until a year ago I did not know how to pronounce (you can hear it pronounced here), I thought I’d post some pronunciations on wine. This post will stick with a couple basic French wine pronunciations. I don’t speak French (though I wouldn’t mind learning) so these pronunciations may not be 100% accurate but should serve as a quick guide.
When putting together a list, I came across a fellow blogger's wine pronunciation post that included some quick rules on French pronounciation as well as being quite catchy.
Bordeaux = bor-DOH
Chateau, chateaux = sha-TOH
Chardonnay = shar-doh-NAY
Chenin Blanc - SHEN-an BLAN
Pomerol = paw-mer-AWL
Pinot Noir = PEE-no NWAHR
Petit Verdot = Peh-TEE Ver-DOE
Pinot Gris = PEE-noh GREE
Graves = grahv
Côtes-du-Rhône = Coat doo RONE
Pauillac = pow-YAK
Sémillon = say-mee-YAWN
Grenache = gruh-NAHSH
Sancerre = sahn-SEHR
Pouilly-Fuissé = poo-yay fwee-SAY
Pouilly-Fumé = poo-yay foo-MAY
Viognier = vee-own-YAY
Sommelier = so-mell-YAY
See, that wasn't too painful now, was it?
When putting together a list, I came across a fellow blogger's wine pronunciation post that included some quick rules on French pronounciation as well as being quite catchy.
Bordeaux = bor-DOH
Chateau, chateaux = sha-TOH
Chardonnay = shar-doh-NAY
Chenin Blanc - SHEN-an BLAN
Pomerol = paw-mer-AWL
Pinot Noir = PEE-no NWAHR
Petit Verdot = Peh-TEE Ver-DOE
Pinot Gris = PEE-noh GREE
Graves = grahv
Côtes-du-Rhône = Coat doo RONE
Pauillac = pow-YAK
Sémillon = say-mee-YAWN
Grenache = gruh-NAHSH
Sancerre = sahn-SEHR
Pouilly-Fuissé = poo-yay fwee-SAY
Pouilly-Fumé = poo-yay foo-MAY
Viognier = vee-own-YAY
Sommelier = so-mell-YAY
See, that wasn't too painful now, was it?
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Pouilly-Fuisse
Continuing my journey into wine, I came across an old (2004) article by Eric Asimov over at the New York Times on the development of Maconnais wines.
In it, Asimov highlights the price difference between the Macon and Burgundies, noting that "there are no Montrachets or Meursaults in the Mâconnais — not yet, anyway, and that is a blessing, financially speaking" while noting at the same time that you have "a growing selection of distinctive wines that taste specifically and recognizably of their vineyards — vins des terroirs."
Some more excerpts from the June 9, 2004 article "The Rewards of the Pampered Grape" by Asimov on what he refers to as the "bowl-shaped valley" of the Mâconnais region in southern Burgundy:
Lacking the drama of the impossibly steep vineyards of the Côte Rôtie to the south or the allure of the exalted grand cru vineyards in the Côte d'Or to the north.
For years, the Mâconnais has been known as the land of cheap white wine — innocuous stuff to be chilled for a picnic or dragged behind a boat while fishing. The Mâconnais is in Burgundy and uses the same white grape, chardonnay. But it is apart, joined awkwardly to the southern tip along with Beaujolais, its red wine counterpart.
Some are recent arrivals, like Jean Rijckaert in Leynes, who came here from Belgium in 1994 and whose wines are beautifully precise and well shaped.
Others, like Daniel Barraud, carry on the winemaking work that has been in their families for generations but combine the wisdom of their ancestors with the latest understanding of winemaking and viticultural techniques. Mr. Barraud produces razor-sharp wines of elegance and grace.
The young Bret brothers, Jean-Guillaume and Jean-Philippe, have brought energy and idealism to their new venture, Domaine de la Soufrandière, which since its first vintage in 1999 has turned out wines of great purity. Olivier Merlin, who acquired a vineyard in 1987, makes wines of concentration and depth. Jean Thévenet, a longtime producer, makes wines of rare richness and body.
Looming above the other Mâconnais winemakers, though, is an idiosyncratic Belgian named Jean-Marie Guffens, who with record-industry chutzpah and an infectious, Keith Richards wheeze of a laugh, has barged into the top ranks of Burgundy winemakers. For 20 years he has been producing tiny quantities of exquisite wine from his own vineyards under the label Guffens-Heynen. In 1990, he founded Maison Verget, a small négociant house that offers a collection of stunning wines from the Mâconnais, as well as from Chablis and the Côte d'Or.
Over dinner one night in the town of Chaintré, Mr. Guffens poured a 1994 Guffens-Heynen Mâcon-Pierreclos En Chavigne that was still fresh and lively, coiled with acidity yet offering plenty of depth. He followed that with a '91 Guffens-Heynen Pouilly-Fuissé Clos des Petits-Croux that was both rich and youthful, with many years ahead of it, ample evidence demonstrating that when made with attention to detail, Mâcon wines can indeed age.
"Mâcon has to be good, because it's not expensive enough to be bad," Mr. Guffens said, repeating a well-practiced line that is nonetheless full of perception. The wine-buying public is all too willing to suspend its judgment with expensive wines like Meursaults or Montrachets. The pressure of the investment practically requires people to like them or feel as if they have wasted money. Spend less, and the critical faculties improve remarkably.
Buoyed by the evidence of how successful Mâcon wines could be, the region has drawn some unlikely investors. In 1999 Dominique Lafon, who heads Comtes Lafon, the renowned Meursault estate, bought around 20 acres of vineyard in Milly-Lamartine near La Roche-Vineuse. Last year he bought another 18, in the northern Mâcon near the towns of Uchizy and Chardonnay (where legend has it the grape received its name). Last year, too, Anne-Claude Leflaive of Domaine Leflaive, another celebrated white Burgundy producer, purchased around 20 acres in the Mâconnais.
For Mr. Lafon, the move to the Mâconnais was a natural. "There are no vineyards to buy in Meursault, not that anybody can afford," he said. "The clay and limestone soil in the Mâcon is the same class as in Meursault, and I already knew and understood the grapes."
Mr. Lafon's Mâconnais wines, sold as Les Héretiers du Comtes Lafon, include a simple, inexpensive Mâcon that is fermented in steel tanks and tastes fresh and pure, as well as more complex wines that he ferments in puncheons and foudres, oak barrels that are bigger than those typically used in Burgundy and California. Like many in the Mâconnais, he avoids new barrels, which impart the oaky flavor that dominates so many American chardonnays.
In his fifth year of making wine in the Mâconnais, Mr. Lafon said, he is finally figuring it out.
In the past, the grapes from Mr. Lafon's vineyards, as with 80 to 90 percent or so of the grapes throughout the Mâconnais, were sold to cooperatives, which turned the grapes into indifferent wine. Farmers sold their grapes by weight, a powerful incentive for quantity over quality. They used fertilizers and herbicides to encourage grape production, and they picked the grapes, with mechanical harvesters, before optimum ripeness, because to wait would be too risky.
Grapes from all over the region were pressed together, the standard formula for cheap assembly-line wine all over the world.
"Co-ops led to tractors and machines, and for a long time the word terroir was forgotten," Jean-Philippe Bret said.
The new wave in Mâcon takes an artisanal approach. They plow the vineyards and abhor chemical herbicides, which along with the weeds can kill a multitude of organisms that are beneficial to the soil. Yields are kept low, which concentrates the juice in each grape. Grapes are picked by hand at ideal ripeness and gently pressed in the winery to preserve delicacy and purity. Grapes from different regions, and even from different parts of the same vineyard, are processed separately to preserve their specific character.
These expensive, labor-intensive practices are rare in the region, and the wines are still only a trickle in the vast flow from the Mâconnais. "I am alone in the town of La Roche-Vineuse to pick by hand," said Mr. Merlin, who supplements his own vineyards by buying grapes from like-minded growers. "When I started, we were maybe three or four winemakers. Now we are 20. It's not a lot, but it's a start."
One possibly daunting obstacle to improvement in the Mâcon is a lack of a vineyard hierarchy. In the Côte d'Or, vineyards are ranked in a pyramid. At the bottom are regional wines, simply labeled Bourgogne rouge or Bourgogne blanc (in fact, a lot of this mediocre white wine comes from the Mâconnais).
Wines from better vineyards might have a village name on the label, like Meursault or St.-Aubin. Even better vineyards might be designated premier cru, while the best are the grands crus.
Mâcon's system has no such precision. Plain Mâcon and Mâcon-Supérieur form the generally insipid base. A step up are the Mâcon-Villages, wines made in any of 40 or so villages in the region. If all the grapes come from one of these villages, the name can be used on the label, as in Mâcon-La Roche-Vineuse or Mâcon-Vergisson.
Three appellations around the town of Pouilly — Pouilly-Fuissé, Pouilly-Loché and Pouilly-Vinzelles — are often considered superior, but a river of bad, overpriced Pouilly-Fuissé that washed into the United States in the 1970's caused an image problem that persists. Finally, there is Saint-Véran, a collection of villages that border the Pouilly area. And that's it.
In the hands of good winemakers, though, it's astounding how specific the aromas and flavors of the Mâconnais can be. Regardless of stylistic differences from one winemaker to the next, and across vintages, the characters of various terroirs emerge. Wines from Vergisson or Milly-Lamartine tend to be minerally, while wines from Bussières or Davayé have a more pronounced fruitiness.
In a tasting of four vintages of Maison Verget's Saint-Véran Terre Noires, the characters of each were consistent, full of depth and complexity with persistent mineral and fruit flavors. Yet each was distinctly different from Verget's other bottlings.
To Mr. Guffens, the problem is one of attitude. He senses a modesty in the region that keeps winemakers from reaching their potential. Fifteen years ago, Mr. Guffens said, he took issue against the local trade organization, which used the motto, "Le Mâcon, C'est Bon."
"I didn't want people saying I made good wine," Mr. Guffens said. "My Mâcon, c'est grand!"
In it, Asimov highlights the price difference between the Macon and Burgundies, noting that "there are no Montrachets or Meursaults in the Mâconnais — not yet, anyway, and that is a blessing, financially speaking" while noting at the same time that you have "a growing selection of distinctive wines that taste specifically and recognizably of their vineyards — vins des terroirs."
Some more excerpts from the June 9, 2004 article "The Rewards of the Pampered Grape" by Asimov on what he refers to as the "bowl-shaped valley" of the Mâconnais region in southern Burgundy:
Lacking the drama of the impossibly steep vineyards of the Côte Rôtie to the south or the allure of the exalted grand cru vineyards in the Côte d'Or to the north.
For years, the Mâconnais has been known as the land of cheap white wine — innocuous stuff to be chilled for a picnic or dragged behind a boat while fishing. The Mâconnais is in Burgundy and uses the same white grape, chardonnay. But it is apart, joined awkwardly to the southern tip along with Beaujolais, its red wine counterpart.
Some are recent arrivals, like Jean Rijckaert in Leynes, who came here from Belgium in 1994 and whose wines are beautifully precise and well shaped.
Others, like Daniel Barraud, carry on the winemaking work that has been in their families for generations but combine the wisdom of their ancestors with the latest understanding of winemaking and viticultural techniques. Mr. Barraud produces razor-sharp wines of elegance and grace.
The young Bret brothers, Jean-Guillaume and Jean-Philippe, have brought energy and idealism to their new venture, Domaine de la Soufrandière, which since its first vintage in 1999 has turned out wines of great purity. Olivier Merlin, who acquired a vineyard in 1987, makes wines of concentration and depth. Jean Thévenet, a longtime producer, makes wines of rare richness and body.
Looming above the other Mâconnais winemakers, though, is an idiosyncratic Belgian named Jean-Marie Guffens, who with record-industry chutzpah and an infectious, Keith Richards wheeze of a laugh, has barged into the top ranks of Burgundy winemakers. For 20 years he has been producing tiny quantities of exquisite wine from his own vineyards under the label Guffens-Heynen. In 1990, he founded Maison Verget, a small négociant house that offers a collection of stunning wines from the Mâconnais, as well as from Chablis and the Côte d'Or.
Over dinner one night in the town of Chaintré, Mr. Guffens poured a 1994 Guffens-Heynen Mâcon-Pierreclos En Chavigne that was still fresh and lively, coiled with acidity yet offering plenty of depth. He followed that with a '91 Guffens-Heynen Pouilly-Fuissé Clos des Petits-Croux that was both rich and youthful, with many years ahead of it, ample evidence demonstrating that when made with attention to detail, Mâcon wines can indeed age.
"Mâcon has to be good, because it's not expensive enough to be bad," Mr. Guffens said, repeating a well-practiced line that is nonetheless full of perception. The wine-buying public is all too willing to suspend its judgment with expensive wines like Meursaults or Montrachets. The pressure of the investment practically requires people to like them or feel as if they have wasted money. Spend less, and the critical faculties improve remarkably.
Buoyed by the evidence of how successful Mâcon wines could be, the region has drawn some unlikely investors. In 1999 Dominique Lafon, who heads Comtes Lafon, the renowned Meursault estate, bought around 20 acres of vineyard in Milly-Lamartine near La Roche-Vineuse. Last year he bought another 18, in the northern Mâcon near the towns of Uchizy and Chardonnay (where legend has it the grape received its name). Last year, too, Anne-Claude Leflaive of Domaine Leflaive, another celebrated white Burgundy producer, purchased around 20 acres in the Mâconnais.
For Mr. Lafon, the move to the Mâconnais was a natural. "There are no vineyards to buy in Meursault, not that anybody can afford," he said. "The clay and limestone soil in the Mâcon is the same class as in Meursault, and I already knew and understood the grapes."
Mr. Lafon's Mâconnais wines, sold as Les Héretiers du Comtes Lafon, include a simple, inexpensive Mâcon that is fermented in steel tanks and tastes fresh and pure, as well as more complex wines that he ferments in puncheons and foudres, oak barrels that are bigger than those typically used in Burgundy and California. Like many in the Mâconnais, he avoids new barrels, which impart the oaky flavor that dominates so many American chardonnays.
In his fifth year of making wine in the Mâconnais, Mr. Lafon said, he is finally figuring it out.
In the past, the grapes from Mr. Lafon's vineyards, as with 80 to 90 percent or so of the grapes throughout the Mâconnais, were sold to cooperatives, which turned the grapes into indifferent wine. Farmers sold their grapes by weight, a powerful incentive for quantity over quality. They used fertilizers and herbicides to encourage grape production, and they picked the grapes, with mechanical harvesters, before optimum ripeness, because to wait would be too risky.
Grapes from all over the region were pressed together, the standard formula for cheap assembly-line wine all over the world.
"Co-ops led to tractors and machines, and for a long time the word terroir was forgotten," Jean-Philippe Bret said.
The new wave in Mâcon takes an artisanal approach. They plow the vineyards and abhor chemical herbicides, which along with the weeds can kill a multitude of organisms that are beneficial to the soil. Yields are kept low, which concentrates the juice in each grape. Grapes are picked by hand at ideal ripeness and gently pressed in the winery to preserve delicacy and purity. Grapes from different regions, and even from different parts of the same vineyard, are processed separately to preserve their specific character.
These expensive, labor-intensive practices are rare in the region, and the wines are still only a trickle in the vast flow from the Mâconnais. "I am alone in the town of La Roche-Vineuse to pick by hand," said Mr. Merlin, who supplements his own vineyards by buying grapes from like-minded growers. "When I started, we were maybe three or four winemakers. Now we are 20. It's not a lot, but it's a start."
One possibly daunting obstacle to improvement in the Mâcon is a lack of a vineyard hierarchy. In the Côte d'Or, vineyards are ranked in a pyramid. At the bottom are regional wines, simply labeled Bourgogne rouge or Bourgogne blanc (in fact, a lot of this mediocre white wine comes from the Mâconnais).
Wines from better vineyards might have a village name on the label, like Meursault or St.-Aubin. Even better vineyards might be designated premier cru, while the best are the grands crus.
Mâcon's system has no such precision. Plain Mâcon and Mâcon-Supérieur form the generally insipid base. A step up are the Mâcon-Villages, wines made in any of 40 or so villages in the region. If all the grapes come from one of these villages, the name can be used on the label, as in Mâcon-La Roche-Vineuse or Mâcon-Vergisson.
Three appellations around the town of Pouilly — Pouilly-Fuissé, Pouilly-Loché and Pouilly-Vinzelles — are often considered superior, but a river of bad, overpriced Pouilly-Fuissé that washed into the United States in the 1970's caused an image problem that persists. Finally, there is Saint-Véran, a collection of villages that border the Pouilly area. And that's it.
In the hands of good winemakers, though, it's astounding how specific the aromas and flavors of the Mâconnais can be. Regardless of stylistic differences from one winemaker to the next, and across vintages, the characters of various terroirs emerge. Wines from Vergisson or Milly-Lamartine tend to be minerally, while wines from Bussières or Davayé have a more pronounced fruitiness.
In a tasting of four vintages of Maison Verget's Saint-Véran Terre Noires, the characters of each were consistent, full of depth and complexity with persistent mineral and fruit flavors. Yet each was distinctly different from Verget's other bottlings.
To Mr. Guffens, the problem is one of attitude. He senses a modesty in the region that keeps winemakers from reaching their potential. Fifteen years ago, Mr. Guffens said, he took issue against the local trade organization, which used the motto, "Le Mâcon, C'est Bon."
"I didn't want people saying I made good wine," Mr. Guffens said. "My Mâcon, c'est grand!"
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
St. Francis Cabernet Sauvignon 2003
Winery: St. Francis
Location: Sonoma County, California
Had this last night with chicken florentine, asparagus, and a couple cherry tomatoes. I immediately noticed a butteriness to the wine, apparently the result of large amounts of diacetyl. I would recommend letting the bottle breathe some before drinking.
Location: Sonoma County, California
Had this last night with chicken florentine, asparagus, and a couple cherry tomatoes. I immediately noticed a butteriness to the wine, apparently the result of large amounts of diacetyl. I would recommend letting the bottle breathe some before drinking.
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