Champagne quiz #1 for you. Answers posted now.

3 years ago, while expanding my studies of Champagne, I made up a quiz and having just re-discovered and updating it, thought it might be fun to post it again for those who may not have seen it initially or even for those who may want to review it, so here it is with answers coming in a few days which will be noted in the thread title. You may want to make your own notes and avoid posting your answers so others are able to come up with their own:

1} What was the first year Krug produced a single vineyard, single vintage Blanc de Blanc?

2} What was the first year Krug produced a single vineyard, single vintage Blanc de Noir?

3} About how many grower champagnes were there by 2015?

4} Who first introduced grower champagnes in the US, when and what house?

5} Who was the first French owned sparkling wine venture in the US and when?

6} Who first created the special brand Dom Perignon and when?

7} Champagnes first single vineyard offering came from?

8} When was Salon first produced?

9} Since their first public offering, how many Salon have been released?

10} How many grape varietals are allowed in champagne and name them?

Cheers,
Blake

I was in California when the first Champagne house’s California winery opened and visited it. The question could be more precise as to what is meant by ‘establish’: does it means when they bought the property, planted vines, built winery, opened tasting room to public, or sell sparkling wine under that brand?

New plantings in Champagne are restricted to the well known 3 varieties, but any variety growing in the appellation before that rule came in (in the 1930s? '33 rings a bell) are allowed, and so is a replacement if the original old vine is removed. I’ve had a varietal Arbane also well as Champagnes made from a blend of six varieties.

It may be worth numbering the questions for people to answer.

Thanks for the feedback. I will reword the question re the first Champagne house in the US and number all.

I’ll post the answers this coming Saturday, June 27. Time TBD

BTW, the sources for the questions and answers come from an assortment of authors including Peter Liem, David White, Jancis Robinson Yoko and Wikipedia. There may be some controversy, but I’ve tried to keep it to more accepted material.

I’ll post the answers tomorrow, Saturday, June 27 at noon, PDT and if it seems there is enough interest, post a 2nd quiz. That can be more easily determined by everyone replying with their results on this one. Thanks to all for playing.

Please share how you did and offer any suggestions as to how it could have been done better. It is my intention to post at least another champagne quiz. Thanks.

1} What was the first year Krug produced a single vineyard, single vintage Blanc de Blanc? The 79` Clos du Mesnil release

2} What was the first year Krug produced a single vineyard, single vintage Blanc de Noir? The 95 Clos dAmbonnay release

3} About how many grower champagnes were there by 2015?
I initially intended for this to question how many import to the US, but left out US, so the answer is about 19,000 There were about 300 who import to the US up from only 33 in 97`

4} Who first introduced grower champagnes in the US, when and what house? Kermit-Lynch 81` J. Lassalle

5} Who was the first French owned sparkling wine venture in the US and when? Moet & Chandon 73 [Louis Roederer in 82 G.H. Mumm 87 Taittinger 87]

6} Who first created the special brand Dom Perignon and when? Mercier 1921 ; the 21 bottling was presented to Moet in 27 when a marriage united the 2 families. The first release for sale of this wine was in 36. Mercier was acquired by Moet & Chandon in 70.

7} Champagnes first single vineyard offering came from? Philipponannt Clos des Goisses in 35`

8} When was Salon first produced? 1905 but not released commercially until 1921

9} Since their first public offering, how many Salon have been released? 40 including the 66`, a trial bottling.

10} How many grape varietals are allowed in champagne and name them? 7 Pinot Noir, Chardonnay. Pinot Meunier, Pinot Gris AKA Fromenteau, Pinot Blanc, Arbane and Petit Meslier

Thanks to William Kelly, my learning experience got boosted as he informs me: "In fact, Krug produced a tirage of 1976 Clos du Mesnil that was never sold! So 1979 is the first commercial release rather than the first time they made a single vineyard Blanc de Blancs.

Nice quiz, Blake. I didn’t know most of the answers, so apparently I need to study and drink more Champage!

While I enjoy the Lasalle wines, and a lot of Kermit’s selections and acknowledge his importance in bringing a lot of great wines to the US for the first time, I didn’t think he was the first to bring growers in. Take a look at this 1969 catalog from Corti Brothers in Sacramento, as they were selling Gonet Champagnes:

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnx3aW5lbGlzdDE5Njl8Z3g6NWQ4MDU1OTRjNTA2YTFj

Boy I wish I could still find wines at those prices.

Blake,

A lot of producers make a lot of things that never get sold and remain in-house as a trial until they get it right. Krug noticed something special/unique about the wines from Clos du Mesnil right from the start. The vineyard was in bad shape when they purchased it from the Tarin family (it was known as Clos Tarin at the time; Krug also received ownership of the Julien Tarin label when they acquired the vineyard) and they immediately went into a staggered replanting project, but, even in bad shape, the vines that weren’t pulled up immediately had a very distinctive character. 1976 wasn’t the first trial by Krug for Clos du Mesnil; what made the 1976 Clos du Mesnil unique is that it actually saw a very, very limited distribution amongst a few people for tasting/evaluation purposes. Bottles of it were not only tasted outside of Krug, but a few left the hands of Krug completely. I am trying to remember how the wine was labeled, but it was some mix of Julien Tarin and Clos du Mesnil; it may not have even said Krug.

Krug also did a 1992 trial of Clos d’Ambonnay, but, to my knowledge, that one never left the house and I believe most of it (possibly all) was destroyed after they made the decision that 1995 would be the first release.

Blake, do you own the Alan Tardi book? if not, you should get it. It’s a great read about Krug. I am 1/2 way through it now.

https://www.amazon.com/Champagne-Uncorked-Timeless-World’s-Celebrated/dp/161039688X/ref=sr_1_2?crid=KMRFWEPNGVVS&dchild=1&keywords=alan+tardi&qid=1593305135&sprefix=Alan+tardi%2Caps%2C214&sr=8-2

Brad, what up. Miss seeing you on. Saturdays, man.

Was about to say - half these questions were hit on in the section of this book I read today. Great timing!

Good pickup on the Gonet from Corti Marshall. One of the issues with doing something like this quiz is that I’m referencing material from a book, in this case, “But First, Champagne” by David White, and as was the case 3 years ago, some found exceptions and differences in some of the “facts”. I’m probably learning more from posting this quiz than the read from the books as Brad, William and you have contributed more and beyond.

Thanks Brad for the input here. I’m aware that a lot of wines never get released to the public, but was not aware re the 76` Krug Clos du Mesnil as William stated nor the history you refer to re the vineyard and prior trials. Much appreciated.

I do not have the Tardi book, but will get it and appreciate the turn on Frank. When I visited them, they gave me tons of material as well as a bottle of the NV Rose when departing. I need to get that stuff out and do some reviewing. Although I intended to bring the bottle back, it lasted 1 day.

Marshall,

That is a cool catalog especially with the Gonet’s being shipped over without dosage. That was extremely uncommon for the times and didn’t really start to gain any real traction for another decade or so. The hard part with determining who brought the first grower/small producer wines in is deciding how to qualify the statment. Does it need to be a larger, more well known importer, does it need to be a continuous year-after-year offering, and does direct importing for just a store or two count. There definitely were grower/small producer Champagnes in the US before Kermit Lynch and 1981, but I think Kermit Lynch was the first modern importer with real reach to do it as part of a portfolio.

Frank,

Agreed. Saturdays are not quite the same.

I feel the same way- maybe an occasional resurrection is in order???

This is super cool added information, Brad! Thank you for sharing.

Added bonus to these quizzes, Blake . We get the addendums! The addendums really enhance.

I totally agree Nick. The learning experience for all of us keeps on growing and that’s really what this was all about.

It wasn’t until late in 2012 or early 2013 that I was able to finally get confirmation (from Krug) on the Krug test bottling of the 1976 Clos du Mesnil and the fact that it was done in volume and actually sent to a few folks in France for evaluation (I think some even went to a restaurant in the Côte d’Azur). Some claim that there was also a test bottling of the 1975 done in volume that may have also seen some evaluations, but I’ve never been able to confirm that one. Outside of the few bottles sent out for evaluation/test purposes, the 1976 bottling was eventually destroyed by Krug (or put to use as a reserve wine).