On New Year’s Eve, do you save the sparkling wine until midnight?
I have often thought that it doesn’t make sense to save the good stuff until the end of the night when everyone is tired and your palate is exhausted. Therefore, this year we began New Year’s Eve Day with a Pol Roger 2013 Vintage Champagne.
Sparkling wine is made the world over but, out of all the sparkling wines in the world, Champagne is the most famous. So, what makes Champagne, Champagne?
Just as Whisky can only be called Scotch when it comes from Scotland, so too can sparkling wine only be called Champagne when it comes from the Champagne region in France. In addition to this, Champagne must adhere to some very specific rules. For instance, Champagne can only be made from three grape varieties: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. Champagne must also undergo a second fermentation in the bottle (this adds the bubbles), unlike some sparkling wines which undergo second fermentation in a large tank.
The first stage in making Champagne is to create a white wine by gently pressing the grapes and fermenting them, producing a wine relatively low in alcohol and high in acidity. The wines from different grapes and sometimes, different vintages, are blended to form a base wine for Champagne, which is called Assemblage.
After the base wine is blended, a liqueur de tirage is added to the wine, which contains a mixture of wine, sugar and yeast. Next, this mixture is put into thick-walled bottles that can withstand the pressure build-up that will occur during a second fermentation, and the bottle is sealed with a cap. The wine is then allowed to undergo the second fermentation which produces alcohol and carbon dioxide – bubbles!
The yeast from the liqueur de tirage will die when all the sugar is consumed and then the Champagne will be allowed to age on the lees (dead yeast cells) producing yeasty and toasty notes in the wine. At a minimum the wine is aged on the lees for 15 months, for non-vintage Champagne, and 3 years for vintage Champagne. The time that Champagne spends on the lees is called en tirage.
Before the Champagne can be made ready for the consumer, the dead yeast cells must be removed and this is accomplished through a process called riddling. The Champagne bottle is placed in a riddling rack at an angle of 75 degrees and the bottle is turned 1/8th of a turn every day, forcing the dead yeast cells into the neck of the bottle. Once the lees are in the neck of the bottle, the neck of the bottle is frozen forming a plug. When the cap is removed from the bottle the pressure inside forces the plug out, which is called disgorging. Then dosage (a mixture of white wine and sugar) is added to adjust the sweetness of the Champagne and top-up the bottle. The bottle is then corked and the cork wired into place to secure it.
You may have noticed that most Champagne does not have a vintage (year) indicated on the bottle. Champagne will only display a vintage in very good years when the grapes are of a particular quality. During such years, producers will make a Champagne that contains only grapes from that vintage and this is what is referred to as a vintage Champagne. In other years, non-vintage Champagne is made using a blend of wines from different vintages in order to achieve a particular flavour profile.
2013 Pol Roger Champagne $109.00
Since 1849 Pol Roger has been a proudly independent, family-run Champagne House, which has garnered devoted followers such as Winston Churchill and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
This vintage Champagne is a blend of 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay from 20 Grands and Premiers crus vineyards in the Montagne de Reims and the Côte des Blancs.
After pressing the grapes, the grape must is settled before it is transferred to stainless steel tanks where it is settled for a second time prior to fermentation. Each grape variety and village is kept separate during fermentation, and the fermentation process is slow and cool. Each wine undergoes a full malolactic fermentation prior to blending. Secondary fermentation takes place in the bottle. This wine spent seven years in the cellars of Pol Roger prior to hand riddling and disgorging.
On the nose there are aromas of lemon, brioche, meringue, caramelized sugars and green apple. This Champagne has a creamy mousse and high, but balanced, acidity. On the palate I really enjoyed the play of flavours: notes of brown sugar, bruised apple, brioche, green apple, lemon and salinity with a long finish.
References
Haynes-Peterson, R. (December 16, 2015). Champagne and Champagne Method – Methods of Production -WSET Level 2. Retrieved from: www.decanter.com/learn/wset/champagne-and-champagne-method-methods-of-production-wset-level-2-285689/
Heiligenthal, P. (November 15, 2012). A Visual 9 Step Process: How Champagne is Made. Retrieved from: www.enobytes.com/2012/11/15/how-champagne-is-made/
Hi Deb, as ever a lovely description and tasting note. Like you, my wife and I also enjoyed some champagne on New Year’s Eve and, like you, we too opened it earlier in the evening to appreciate it fully. Alas, ours was not a vintage champagne, but rather Taittinger’s ‘regular’ NV Brut Reserve. Still pretty wonderful though…you can’t beat the real deal.
I’ve never tried Taittinger, I will need to give it a try! A friend introduced me to Piper Heidsieck (non-vintage) over the holidays, and that’s another enjoyable Champagne. I’m really into the white wines and sparkling wines this winter for some reason.