Answers to Champagne quiz #2

[Mark_C_Johnson]

@Dan Kravitz

Mr. Surly will chime in here. I am not an expert on Champagne, only an expert on being irritating:

1. Many choices here, Selosse (please note spelling) is not one of them. His ‘impact’ has now grown to where you could generously say it affects 2% of the production. Wine Snob Alert!!!
   I could name Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin, or Louis Roederer for their breathtaking success in marketing and making Champagne a long-lived brand.
   But I would give the crown collectively to the growers of the Marne whose protests in 1911 were so carefully calibrated that not a single life was lost as the houses of Moet, Mumm and Heidsieck were burned to the ground and every bottle in their cellar destroyed, with the successful goal of limiting the production of Champagne to the Marne, making Champagne justifiably the most protected brand ever.
   [The Aube, with comparable soils, also justifiably got back into it a few years later.]

2. Who invented Champagne? OK, who invented Antarctica? They are both places. Nobody invented them. Who invented sparking wine? In terms of intentional production of bubbly wine, probably some folks in Limoux about 500 years ago.

3. Montagne de Reims is best known for Pinot Noir, not necessarily for blended wines. But the west slope is home to superb terroir for Pinot Meunier… bigger yields in the Vallee de la Marne, but nowhere near the same quality. You don’t need to study Champagne to know that mountain wines are generally considered of higher quality than valley wines (I’m ready for the assault from Napa, Loire, Rhine and Mosel lovers… also please note that many of these ‘valley’ wines are grown in really steep hillsides).
   In my limited experience, the Aube tends to have more taut, zingy Champagnes than soft, easy-drinking ones. They are mostly Pinot Noir, there is virtually no Pinot Meunier, but I’m guessing that by now at least 10%, maybe as much as 20% of the vineyard is Chardonnay.

4. A Paris Pint is a hell of a lot more than a pint.

Beset regards,


Dan Kravitz

Hell Yah!! You go Dan!!

[Blake_Brown]

@Dan Kravitz

Mr. Surly will chime in here. I am not an expert on Champagne, only an expert on being irritating:

1. Many choices here, Selosse (please note spelling) is not one of them. His ‘impact’ has now grown to where you could generously say it affects 2% of the production. Wine Snob Alert!!!
   I could name Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin, or Louis Roederer for their breathtaking success in marketing and making Champagne a long-lived brand.
   But I would give the crown collectively to the growers of the Marne whose protests in 1911 were so carefully calibrated that not a single life was lost as the houses of Moet, Mumm and Heidsieck were burned to the ground and every bottle in their cellar destroyed, with the successful goal of limiting the production of Champagne to the Marne, making Champagne justifiably the most protected brand ever.
   [The Aube, with comparable soils, also justifiably got back into it a few years later.]

2. Who invented Champagne? OK, who invented Antarctica? They are both places. Nobody invented them. Who invented sparking wine? In terms of intentional production of bubbly wine, probably some folks in Limoux about 500 years ago.

3. Montagne de Reims is best known for Pinot Noir, not necessarily for blended wines. But the west slope is home to superb terroir for Pinot Meunier… bigger yields in the Vallee de la Marne, but nowhere near the same quality. You don’t need to study Champagne to know that mountain wines are generally considered of higher quality than valley wines (I’m ready for the assault from Napa, Loire, Rhine and Mosel lovers… also please note that many of these ‘valley’ wines are grown in really steep hillsides).
   In my limited experience, the Aube tends to have more taut, zingy Champagnes than soft, easy-drinking ones. They are mostly Pinot Noir, there is virtually no Pinot Meunier, but I’m guessing that by now at least 10%, maybe as much as 20% of the vineyard is Chardonnay.

4. A Paris Pint is a hell of a lot more than a pint.

Beset regards,


Dan Kravitz

Dan, I appreciate your comments and am quite aware there were some debatable questions and answers in the quiz as there were in the first one. I did not find your remarks irritating and in fact, enjoyed them and agree on some of the points.

As stated previously, my inspiration and source for doing these quizzes came from reading David White`s book, “But First, Champagne”.

I put these quizzes together to serve as a learning experience for me and others and that definitely has been accomplished.

Fair warning, there`s one more quiz to come and the answers to #3 will be posted in a day or 2. Enjoy.

[Dan_Kravitz]

Blake,

Many thanks for your soothing comments, although I apologize for not being irritating .

I will look for your next quiz. I love Champagne inordinately, but as Sally basically does not like it, it’s hard to find occasions to open bottles (plus it tends to cost money, even though I import from two RMs).

We don’t entertain all that often (we are well off the beaten path), but I will have guests from time to time through the summer and will host them with Champagne (along with one specific California bubbly).

Best regards,

Dan Kravitz

[Blake_Brown]

@Dan Kravitz

Blake,

Many thanks for your soothing comments, although I apologize for not being irritating .

I will look for your next quiz. I love Champagne inordinately, but as Sally basically does not like it, it’s hard to find occasions to open bottles (plus it tends to cost money, even though I import from two RMs).

We don’t entertain all that often (we are well off the beaten path), but I will have guests from time to time through the summer and will host them with Champagne (along with one specific California bubbly).

Best regards,

Dan Kravitz

And thanks for your soothing response.