Champagne
Directions
#ChampagneDay
Beloved WineDown Readers, There’s good news and there’s bad news. The good news is very good indeed: There IS such a thing as Global Champagne Day. (WineDown reckons this outguns the existence of Santa Clause by quite some way.)
The bad news is that nobody is entirely certain when it falls. Our (usually excellent) sources provide conflicting info, with Octobers 16, 19 and 23 all variously promoted as THE DAY. Motivated by equal parts prudence and FOMO, WineDown intends to mark the occasion on each of these days, and invites readers to do the same. Moderately of course - but with fervour!
Northern Exposure
Long before it was our favourite celebratory libation, Champagne was a place.
Located in the northeast of France - a lazy 150 clicks east of Paris - the region encompasses more than 300 villages (crus) across five departments. This is about as far north as the French care to grow wine grapes. And no wonder. With its northerly aspect and high altitude, the Champagne region ‘enjoys’ a mean annual temperature of 10ºC (that’s bloody mean!). Not surprisingly, it can be exceptionally difficult to coax grapes to full ripeness.
The Big Three
The varieties of the region are Pinot Noir, Chardonnay & Pinot Meunier. Under the appellation Coteaux Champenois, these are made into light-bodied, acid driven STILL wines, such as Bouzy Rouge (the only French wine to be named after a Marrickville drag queen.)*
But under the Champagne appellation, these same three varieties – fermented; skilfully blended into a well-balanced cuvée; then re-fermented in sealed bottles - are transformed into rich and complex sparkling wines that signal luxury, celebration, and style.
Wine Gone Whacky
Ever since ever, some wines have gone fizzy. But it was generally regarded as a fault – a sign of instability… wine gone whacky. Wines from Champagne were embarrassingly prone to this fizzy condition. Cold weather would lead to incomplete fermentation during winemaking, leaving dormant yeast cells in the bottles. When the weather warmed up again, the wines would begin to bubble and fizz. It wasn’t just the embarrassment of premature emancipation, as corks popped their tops. It was downright dangerous, with rapidly increasing pressure forcing bottles to explode – often in a chain reaction throughout the cellar. Little wonder the good monks at Hautvillers Abbey employed a Cellar Master to put an end to those fiendish bubbles for once and for all. His name was Dom Pérignon.
Myth and Mastery
So, in spite of the delightful anecdote about ‘come quickly Brothers, I am drinking the stars,’ Dom Pérignon did NOT invent Champagne. But while Dom was busy not inventing Champagne, something odd was happening across the ditch. The Brits had received shipments of the dodgy fizzy stuff – and they loved it. It became the tipple of choice for Royals and the fashionable Upper Crust. Eventually the French succumbed too, and the courts and chateaux of pre-revolutionary France were awash with sparkling Champagne. This is the period when some of today’s most revered Champagne Houses were established – including Ruinart (1729), Moët & Chandon (1750) and Louis Roederer (1776).
Getting Modern
In the 1700s, Champagne was on the move. So was Napoleon. His 1812 march on Moscow is credited with having secured Champagne’s popularity among the Russian upper classes (presumably as they toasted his departure). Technological advances led to stronger glass, identical bottles, and standardised corks, but even so, European aristocrats were enjoying their Champagne through gritted teeth. Literally. The process of inducing a second ferment in the bottle left an icky yeast residue. But winemakers at The Widow (Veuve) Clicquot had a nifty fix...
The Riddler
They inverted the bottles on specially designed racks so the yeast residues could settle in the neck. When the goop was isolated from the wine, it could be frozen, and the plug removed. The swiftly recorked wine was clear and delightful. The process is known as riddling, or remuage. The last great leap forward came in 1844, with the invention of the muselet (Champagne cage). Finally, le vin du diable could be contained.
It’s a Gift
Many readers may recall a time when all sparklings were routinely referred to as champagne.
In these enlightened times, that seems incredibly cavalier. Champagne (the drink) is Champagne (the region’s) great gift to the world. Its cachet earned by dint of its extraordinary terroir, and miraculous transformation from base cuvée to delectable, luxurious, sparkling wine.
Little wonder we turn to Champagne to mark the truly momentous occasions in our lives.
Like Thursdays.
Footnote: * It’s just possible that it was the other way round.