Debate a Bubble - Champagne News and Reviews

Still champagne?

Still wine from Champagne - a contradiction in terms? Well, no in fact.

Back in the 16th century, before the invention of the sparkling champagne that we are so familiar with these days, the Champagne region was famous for its still wines: red white and rosé.

They were even considered as serious contenders to the wines of Burgundy. In those days the centre of the Champagne wine industry was the village of Aÿ, and the French king Henri IV was said to be a particular fan of Aÿ red wine.

France - Love it or Hate it

The first time I went to France was when I was 6 – and no I’m not telling you which year that was in – but it was a while ago.

Since then I’ve had literally dozens of wonderful holidays there, met many lovely people who I now count amongst my friends and I’ve even lived and worked there for 10 years and STILL I can’t decide if I love France or hate it

I know that there are no clear-cut answers to this question, but I thought it would throw up loads of interesting stories and amuse us all, so I thought I’d start a 'Love it or hate it' column.

Comparative tasting

I've always been a bit sceptical about attaching too much importance to the scores given to wines in tastings by 'a panel of experts'.

For one thing it is never true to think that any wine not mentioned can’t be any good. The judges can only taste so many wines and usually they only taste the samples submitted to them. For every wine given a score there are a hundred which don’t even get tasted.

Second and much more important, the scores given don’t guarantee that you will like the wine in question. We all have different tastes and the only opinion that really counts is yours and you're certainly not obliged to agree with a wine guru.

Having said that, the results of these tastings make interesting reading and certainly serve as a point of reference, especially when they tend to confirm one’s own opinion – yes I have to admit that I am biased and perhaps to be honest I am being a bit smug, so do feel free to bear this in mind as you read the following.

A vigneron's lot

When people find out that Yvonne and I and of course our children Chloe and Lucy spent almost 10 years living in the heart of Champagne region in France and yet chose to come back to England, they look at us as though we’ve got three heads and green skin.

Moving to France and starting a new life is certainly a seductive idea. We all tend to imagine ourselves buying a vineyard and enjoying a succession of balmy days, good, honest, outdoor work and the satisfaction of producing and selling our own wine. Whilst there are a great many good things about living in France, there are some disadvantages too, especially for a vigneron, or a grower of grapes particularly in Champagne.

I’m not even going to start about the bureaucracy and the incredibly complex rules and regulations surrounding champagne making – you probably wouldn’t believe it anyway – but if they don’t make you give up, the weather might.

Champagne is a long way from the sea and is situated on the western side of a huge land mass that stretches back into Asia, so it can get some quite extreme weather.

If your vines survive temperatures as low as -20 0 C in winter you still have the late Spring frosts to look forward to. Frost in early April is the most dangerous, just when the young buds are appearing. If the frost gets them, that’s pretty much the end of your harvest for the year. That’s why if frost is forecast the vineyard workers can be up all night with braziers to warm the air in the fields and with water to spray on the vines – believe it or not, if the buds are encased in ice the temperature inside the cover of ice is just above freezing and the bud survives !

2003 was a bad year particularly for Chardonnay grapes in the Côte des Blancs area. Chardonnay vines bud earlier than the other varieties and because of this, are most susceptible to Spring frost. In 2003 the entire Chardonnay crop was ruined in some villages and the average loss was around 80%

After the hazards of Spring come the hot, heavy days of Summer and every year there are some huge thunder storms and truly spectacular lightning shows in the sky. The hot, humid air seems to get stuck in between the slopes of the Marne River valley and the thunder and lightning go round and round and can’t seem to escape. The rain is often torrential and what’s worse is that the water cascades down the slopes of the vineyards taking half the soil with it to deposit it in the middle of the streets below, or in your house if you’re unlucky. Our house was often in the path of these mud torrents, but there was a sturdy wall all around the garden and luckily it always held firm.

Added to this there are incredible hail storms with jagged hailstones the size of golf balls. Needless to say these can do a lot of damage.

On one occasion back in 2000 I foolishly parked my new car outside the house instead of in the garage. By the time I realised what was coming it was too late to move the car - you don’t want to venture out in one of these storms. The storm passed in 5 minutes but it left my car just a mass of dents and gouges.

There was another huge storm this year on June 16th.
Humans can take shelter of course but the vines have no choice. Vineyards caught in the path of the hail are devastated and the leaves and young grapes are pummelled to the ground leaving a trail of destruction and, you’ve guessed it, no harvest for the year. Fortunately the hail is very localised , almost like the path of a tornado, but for those in the path of the storm it’s no joke. This year some 600 hectares were ruined. Not much in the scheme of things, unless of course it’s your vines that are affected. If they are, then you start thinking about next year.

If you get through all this then you cross you fingers and hope that the sun doesn’t roast the remaining grapes on the vine. Usually the temperatures in the height of Summer are somewhere around 30 -350 C - hot yes, but not too hot.

Back in good old 2003 however temperatures got up to 400 C which starts to shrivel the grapes on the vine. The harvest took place at the end of August, at least a month earlier than normal. Not conclusive proof of global warming though – the previous record for an early harvest was in 1822 .

What with all this to cope with it’s a wonder that champagne is as cheap as it is

So, if you plan to start a vineyard in Champagne take plenty of patience, an iron will and plenty of cash to tide you over.

Demi sec

These days almost all champagne is classified as Brut, meaning that it’s fairly dry, but it hasn’t always been this way. Up to about half a century ago the taste in champagne was for something much sweeter, what we call demi-sec, and there was even a style even sweeter than that called doux.

Technically, the permitted sugar content for each style of champagne is as follows :

Extra Brut 0 to 6 gr of sugar per litre
Brut 6 to 15 gr per litre
Extra Dry 12 to 20 gr per litre
Sec 17 to 35 gr per litre
Demi-Sec 33 to 50 gr per litre
Doux more than 50 gr per litre

( n.b. some overlapping between certain categories )

Doux champagne is quite rare nowadays, but demi-sec is making something of a come-back for several very good reasons.

Adding sugar to champagne used to be a way of masking the acidity of champagne that was of poor quality and really needed more ageing before being drunk, but this is no longer the case and there’s absolutely no reason to imagine that quality of demi-sec is not just as good as brut.

If you’re at an event that goes on long into the night then brut champagne can become a little sharp on the palate after several glasses, whereas demi-sec is altogether softer and smoother on the tongue and is much easier to drink.

Demi-sec is also much more versatile than you might think.

It’s fantastic as a dessert wine, because it complements the sweetness of the dessert and in fact demi-sec champagne doesn’t seem sweet at all when you drink it with a sweetish food. Not long ago I had demi-sec served with crêpes suzettes cooked with oranges and Grand Marnier - it was wonderful combination. Just like any other champagne, a demi-sec should retain a good balance between sugar and acid so that it is not heavy and cloying. Plus, because it is sparkling, demi-sec champagne seems much lighter on the tongue than some other pure dessert wines.

At weddings I’ve always found that the brut champagne with the wedding cake is a real clash of sweet and sharp and I’d seriously suggest that you consider a demi-sec champagne for the toasts instead. It’s a much happier match with the cake.

Demi-sec is also great, served well-chilled, as an aperitif and can be very versatile when you match it with food. Guacamole, creamy blue cheese, pineapple, mild curry – all these can be superb with demi-sec champagne.

As evidence of the growing popularity of sweeter champagne Taittinger has recently launched a champagne called Nocturne ( this is actually a sec champagne with 20gr of sugar per litre ) which is aimed precisely at the late night market. It’s available in France but I haven’t seen it in this country yet.

Moët & Chandon make a great demi-sec called Nectar Impérial which is available in the U.K and is very popular in the U.S.A. where the average taste is for slightly sweeter champagnes anyway. There are two versions of Nectar Impérial: one has 45 gr of sugar per litre and the other a little less ( 35 gr per litre if memory serves me correctly ). Both are delicious, but if I’m going for a demi-sec then I prefer the sweeter of the two.

As far as small growers are concerned, I think that Gourmandine by Bénard-Pitois is fantastic. It has a gorgeously smooth texture and tastes of apricots and honey – a real treat.
Gourmandine is a Premier Cru champagne which partly explains the quality, and the other part of its secret is the long ageing – the youngest wine in the blend is at least 5 years old.

I must again declare an interest here because I import Gourmandine, so if you’d like to find out more, or try some, please contact me.

Do try a demi-sec champagne sometime. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised and it’s always fun to try something new.

Le or La

Le or La champagne ?

Just a wee note to clarify something that may be a little confusing

The French distinguish between La champagne by which they mean the entire region called Champagne, and Le champagne which means the wine produced in that region

Since we can’t do quite the same in English I find it useful ( and I don’t think I’m the only one who does this ) to use Champagne with a capital C to indicate the region, and champagne with a small c to indicate the wine.
An interesting contrast between Le and La Champagne can be seen in the rivalry between the two main towns in Champagne.

The biggest town is Reims, but Epernay although smaller, lays claim to be the most important of the two. Reims styles itself the capital of La Champagne, so, not to be outdone, Epernay calls itself the capital of Le Champagne.

The rivalry is friendly, but nevertheless real. If you go to a bar or restaurant in Reims the chances are that on the wine list you’ll find only the champagnes of the houses based in or near Reims. Go to Epernay and the reverse is true. What this means of course is that you have to visit both and try all the champagnes you can find !