Champagne

[A Balic]

Earlier this year I went on a trip to Champagne with my wife. We stayed in Epernay, for several days and at one of the local restaurants there was a extensive list of champagnes, most of them from small producers. After making our way thought this list, we came to the conclusion that many of these were average quality, compared to other sparkling wine, but quite a few were very good. I am interested why these wines are never seen out side of Champagne. Obviously, many of these wines will be to small in production to be exported, but is it more of a case that there is a perception that champagne has to be an expensive wine?

[Rail Paul]

I'd suspect many exporters are reluctant to invest their time and money in developing a brand which may not have enough supply to satisfy customer wants. The life blood of any business is to have customers requesting your product by name, if you don't have it, you can't sell it.

Like the wines selected for certain Wine Spectator awards. If 600 cases were made, the odds some will turn up in Costco are pretty low. Put a few cases into very high end restaurants to get the buzz going, send a few to the investors, a few cases to Zachy's, Sherry-Lehmann, USqL, and that's about it...

[bobferdon]

The amount of producers in Champagne is staggering. We just don't drink enough of it to warrent bringing in much more. The US market is controlled by a few very large houses and the americam market is more concerned about image and not quality...

[Steve Klc]

Bobferdon--how responsible do you feel the champagne producers themselves are for creating that image here in the states?

The deeper I dug into champagne (and to a lesser extent sparkling wine production) I came away amazed with the complexity of it all behind the scenes, the blending of vintages, holding back reserve wines tied to specific plots of land, etc.

Then the politics--the historical rating of villages or crus which in turn determined the price paid for grapes, the myriad small growers selling to a big houses, willingly bound by long term contracts, large houses buying up vineyards in order to control price and production and then there are those small producers--the unknown gems Adam calls attention to.

Apart from the big houses, Karen MacNeil in her new book "The Wine Bible"--which I cannot recommend highly enough--recommends these small growers now exporting champagne in small amounts:  Rene Geoffroy, Jean Milan and Pierre Peters

[A Balic]

Thanks for the information about  Karen MacNeil, a very interesting book indeed.

Having moved to the UK has given me some pause for thought about wine. Australia is a wine producing country and I think that this gives people the a little more freedom in the way that they drink wine. I started this topic because I had noticed that in the UK, Australian sparkling wine was priced very strangely. Wines that were very basic in quality in Australia are very expensive in the UK, but top of the range Australian sparkling wine is cheaply priced and only a few pounds more expensive then the drose. This is all about price positioning blah, blah. But, it does raise the question, what are our tastes in wine (and everything else) are dictated by.

As an example, last Christmas I bought a bottle of 1976 Chateau Climens for about US ำ. An excellent producer from a good vintage and a very low price. Why, because Sauternes is not popular for the moment. Why not though, thats the rub. Anyway, this is starting to read like a first year students first assay, but does anybody else have an example of what they think is a great wine style, that is not currently popular?

[Rail Paul]

I took a look at Zachy's website (www.zachys.com) to see what is available in champagne for purchasers in NY state or those willing to sign away their lives to attempt shipment elsewhere.

Less familiar (to me, at least) names like Egly-Oriet, Gatinois, Henriot, Jacquart, Lamandier-Bernier, Oudinot, etc with prices from the ฤ range to the low hundreds per bottle.

I suspect Sherry-Lehman, Union Sq Wines, etc would have a similar selection.

[John Moore]

To those in search of a better bubbly…

I have an import company here in Germany that in the past specialized in rum.  We just broadened our scope and incorporated a single champagne into the product mix, the Henri Giraud 100% Grand Cru Cuvée Fût de Chêne from Aÿ.  Obviously I doubt that any of you will be ordering from here, so please don’t take my involvement with the product as bias.  It is absolutely phenomenal.  Why?

-

Henri Giraud 100% Grand Cru Cuvée Fût de Chêne from Aÿ

I.  Family History and Heritage of Henri Giraud Champagne

·1625 Francios Hémart settles in Aÿ and establishes vineyards.

·At the beginning of the 20th century, Léon Giraud, a soldier from the battle of Marne, marries a young Hémart lady and reconstructed the family vineyards following the war.

·Today, Claude Giraud, the 12th generation of the Giraud-Hémart family, personally oversees the production of Henri Giraud wines.

·Henri Giraud Champagne is most likely the oldest champagne house still owned and operated by the same family.

II.  The History and unique nature of Aÿ

·Throughout history noted as the finest region for the production of champagne.

·”Echelle des Crus”: grants each village in champagne a percentage.

·Out of 257 villages in the region only 17 are classified as true Grand Crus, 100% growth area.  Aÿ is the historical and geographical heart and quality benchmark of the Grand Crus.  Only pinot noir and chardonnay can be considered grand cru.

·Other super-luxury ”prestige” brands have the highest average echelle rating in their constituant wines, often not even reaching the level of Premier Cru (90 – 99% Cru rating).  Familiar names such as Dom Perignon, Cristal, Krug, Roger, and others typically average about 88%!

III.Exposure / Soil of Aÿ

·Aÿ is at the intesection of the three largest terroirs of the Champagne region: the marne valley, the montagne de Reims, and the côte des blancs

·Aÿ is at 49° lattitude, extreme northern limit for the cultivation of vines.

·Receives only 1700 hours of sunlight per year.

·This terrior has only about 50 cm of topsoil and over 200 meters of chalk.

·The slopes of the Giraud vineyards are the only southern facing slopes where grand cru is created.

·These harsh conditions make the vines struggle and fight for life, of course yielding much less in terms of quantity but of extraordinary quality.

IV.Harvest and Production

·Aÿ is planted only with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes.  There is no pinot meunier planted in Aÿ.

·All Cuvée Fût de Chêne is a blend of 70% pinot noir and 30% chardonnay.

·All grapes are hand picked.  When necessary, the same vines are visited numerous times to ensure that the grapes are at the perfect level of ripeness.

·An extremely gentle press is used, applying only 900g of pressure.

·An air bladder is inserted into the center of the press to ensure that the press is soft, and that only the choice juices from the grapes are captured.

·Whereas the industry normally uses 1,2 kg of grapes per 1 liter of juice, the Giraud system requires 1,6 kg per liter.

·The first fermentation takes place in 225 liter oak barrels during the first 12 months: Henri Giraud is one of the only Grand Cru champagnes aged in oak in the world; it is THE ONLY champagne currently aging in the Vicard oak barrels of the Argonne Forest ·Even the bottles used by Henri Giraud are unique, shaped in the form of the ancient “pomponne” glass.  Information is actually etched into the glass,

·Henri Giraud is only disgorged in the very last minute before being shipped.  They still use the ancient method of á la volée, or “flying disgorgment”.

· Extremely limited production.

V.Taste

·In selling this product we normally do blind tastings with Moët & Chandon Dom Perignon and Louis Roederer Cristal.  The Giraud then sells itself, without exception to date.

I wish you all the best of luck finding this product in your various markets.  It has just been introduced outside of France in the past few months, so it may take some time to find.  Happy hunting!

John

(Edited by John Moore at 9:37 am on Dec. 19, 2001)

[cabrales]

Two champagnes I like are:

S de Salon -- A champagne based on a single grape, the Chardonnay (limited production; may not be to everybody's taste; also expensive).  1993 (and certain 1980's years) can likely be purchased at Galeries Lafayette food section and Fauchon in Paris, among other places.

Ruinart Blanc de Blanc

[Bux]

Ruin art is a favorite with artists of a perverse nature.

[cabrales]

Bux -- I hope you, like I, don't necessarily consider perversity a bad thing :)

At George Blanc's last week, I ran into a Ruinart Blanc de Blancs from 1979 that was not on the wine list and that was sold to me for 800 Francs.  It was sitting in a little corner of the winer cellar like it had always been intended for me.  The same evening, I also had the 1988 version from the wine list (less than 600 Francs).

Unfortunately, the food at Georges Blanc was disappointing and the service was poor.   This was also my assessment of the restaurant the prior time I had visited.  The Bresse chicken "G7" style (foie gras and roasted garlic sauce), which had been served at the G7 summit in Lyons in the late 1990s (?), was uneventful. The crepes Vonnasienne, essentially large blinis, accompanying the chicken were soggy.  But the wine list saved the evening, given my perverse tendencies towards Ruinart Blanc de Blancs :)

[Bux]

Perversity is in the eye of the beholder. It's perverse to drink a champagne for the pun in its name, but it's not really perverse to notice the pun and drink the champagne because it tastes good. ;)

[Bux]

Cabrales, I didn't really answer your question. A little perversity can go a long way, but life without a bit, might be very boring. Or to put it another way, I'd aim to offend both the prudes and perverts.