Answers to the Champagne quiz

WINE TALK
1

Im constantly studying wine and most recently have read a few books on champagne. After coming across many startling facts, I thought Id share a few here in the form of a quiz. I`ll wait a few days and post the answers.

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

About how many grower champagnes were there by 2015?

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

Who was the first champagne house to establish a sparkling winery in the US and when?

Who first created the special brand Dom Perignon and when?

Champagnes first single vineyard offering came from?

When was Salon first produced?

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

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

2

Fun! I’ll take the first stab-

What was the first year Krug produced a single vineyard, single vintage Blanc de Blanc? 1979, Clos Mesnil
What was the first year Krug produced a single vineyard, single vintage Blanc de Noir? 1995, Clos Ambonnay

About how many grower champagnes were there by 2015? 10,000+

Who first introduced grower champagnes in the US, when and what house? Kermit Lynch, J. Lassalle in 1979

Who was the first champagne house to establish a sparkling winery in the US and when? Schramsberg, 1963

Who first created the special brand Dom Perignon and when? Having a total brain cramp

Champagnes first single vineyard offering came from? Philliponnat (Clos des Goisses)

When was Salon first produced? 1959

Since their first public offering, how many Salon have been released? I think 30?

How many grape varietals are allowed in champagne and name them? 7 - Petit Meslier, Arbane, Pinot Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and I am having a brain cramp on the 7th.

3

Pretty good Ian. You got a couple. Some surprises for you on some others as there was for me when I first read it.

4

What was the first year Krug produced a single vineyard, single vintage Blanc de Blanc? Earlier than the Clos du Mesnil. I know they did a BdB in '66 but not sure if it was a single vineyard. Don’t think it was. But, the may have done one who knows when in the 19th century.

What was the first year Krug produced a single vineyard, single vintage Blanc de Noir? I’ll stick with Ian’s answer.

About how many grower champagnes were there by 2015? Ian’s number sounds low. I’ll go 20,000

Who first introduced grower champagnes in the US, when and what house? No clue

Who was the first champagne house to establish a sparkling winery in the US and when? The guy’s name was Longsworth in the mid 19th century but don’t know the name of the winery.

Who first created the special brand Dom Perignon and when? Some English guy - can’t remeber his name. 1921 was the first vintage but the '26 was the first released

Champagnes first single vineyard offering came from? Tarlant??

When was Salon first produced? 1921

Since their first public offering, how many Salon have been released? 34 or 35

How many grape varietals are allowed in champagne and name them?[/quote] The 7th is Pinot Meslier.

5

Oops - Ian named that one and correctly had it as “petit” not “pinot”

Pinot gris.

6

7th variety is Fromenteau.

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The 7th is Pinot Meslier.[/quote]

I would have expected you to get most of these and you did kill a few with some surprises to come.

8

you guys are good.

9

My edit was changing Salon from 13 (just a mistype) to 30. (for all levels of transparency).

Mike Evans- Damn you! I couldn’t remember Fromenteau! That was KILLING me as I know that!!! Damn heat wave on the east coast!

Some of the question threw me based on the context. The US sparkling house threw me, as I knew about Longsworth (as Ray nailed perfectly), but I wasn’t 100% sure if they were a bonded winery (and really wasn’t sure if that was what you were asking). I may have totally over thought this too, and Ray could be totally right.

Blake, job well done. Super fun quiz!

10

Thanks Ian. Re the US sparkling house from a parent champagne house, there`s more surprises to come. BTW, Fromenteau is AKA Pinot Gris.

11

Blake,

Fun quiz. My comments are below and I am sure are not the same answers as yours so I am interested to learn what you have.

What was the first year Krug produced a single vineyard, single vintage Blanc de Blanc?
-The first bottled (almost 100% for winery purposes) was the 1975 from Clos du Mesnil; The first commercial release was 1979.

What was the first year Krug produced a single vineyard, single vintage Blanc de Noir?
-The first bottled (100% for winery purposes) was in 1992 from Clos d’Ambonnay; The first commercial release was 1995.


About how many grower champagnes were there by 2015?
-Actual growers who make their own Champagnes (either on their own or via a cooprative) was a little over 5,000 though the number of labels is far beyond that. The total number of growers is approaching 20,000, but most don’t make their own wine.

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

  • Kermit Lynch takes credit for this in the 1970s and it was probably J. Lassalle, but he may have had someone else before Lassalle back in the 1970s that isn’t with him today. There also was probably someone before Kermit Lynch, but I don’t know who.

Who was the first champagne house to establish a sparkling winery in the US and when?

  • While many people went to Champagne to learn and many Champenoise came to the US to try or be winemakers, I think the first house to establish something in the US was Moet et Chandon in 1973

Who first created the special brand Dom Perignon and when?
-This was a publicly used name for a long time. De Venoge used it in the late 1800s along with others. It was first trademarked by Mercier who never used it and gifted it to Moet et Chandon when a Mercier married a Chandon-Moet. The first official vintage was 1921

Champagnes first single vineyard offering came from?
-If you are referring to the label on a sparkling wine then I believe it was Clos des Goisses. For a still wine from Champagne, I think Clos Tarin was before that. The very first vintages of Salon in the early 1900s were single vineyard, but not labeled as such. I am sure many others were before this, but unlabeled. The first true single vineyard Champagne release was probably in the early 1700s.

When was Salon first produced?

  • Commercially 1921; privately 1905

Since their first public offering, how many Salon have been released?
-37, although if you consider the experimental NV based on 1966 then you have 38; if you consider triple fermented late releases then 40; if you consider counterfeit vintages then 42!

How many grape varietals are allowed in champagne and name them?
-7: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris (Fromenteau), Arbanne, Petit Meslier; although there are ways to get a few other grapes in there too like Gamay and variations like Chardonnay Musque.

12

Brad, I was hoping you`d jump on here and thanks for taking this from the macro to the micro. For sure, my answers are different from yours in that mine have less then half of the content of yours. Always appreciate you.

13

I`ll post the answers on Sunday, June 25.

Having Brad post in with answers is a classic example of the student testing the teacher and getting a learning experience.

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Blake. Let me help with one. Sunday is June 25.

15

You got that one right David- thanks

16

Most to this came from a great read, “But first, Champagne” by David White.

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

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

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 are about 300 who import to the US up from only 33 in 97`

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

Who was the first champagne house to establish a sparkling winery in the US and when? Moet & Chandon 73 [Louis Roederer in 82 G.H. Mumm 87 Taittinger 87]

Who first created the special brand Dom Perignon and when? Mercier 21 ; 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`.

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

When was Salon first produced? 05 but not released commercially until 21

Since their first public offering, how many Salon have been released? 38 including the 66`, a trail bottling.

How many grape varietals are allowed in champagne and name them? 7 PN, Chard. Pinot muddier, Pinot Gris AKA Fromenteau, Pinot Blanc Arbane, Petit Meslier

Cheers.
Blake

17

Blake,

Thanks for doing this and posting your answers. The only comment I have is on the number of grower Champagnes. The number of folks growing grapes in Champagne is betwen 19,000 and 20,000, but most don’t make their own wines. Only around 5,000 growers actually bottle their own juice (or let a co-op do it for them). Some of them do bottle it under multiple labels, but there are still only around 5,000 growers who make some type of a “grower” Champagne.

Again, a fun quiz. Now, what are you going to do for a follow-up! champagne.gif [wow.gif]

18

Pinot muddier

You a wiseguy?

19

Thanks Brad for embellishing the quiz. As I said earlier herein, this is great example of the student testing the teacher and getting a learning experience.

Also as I stated in the answers, the question re the # of small growers was meant to address those who export to the US and I got stuck with the broader question and had to go to Wikipedia for the general answer. You`ve taken it much further, thank you.

I`m actually thinking of doing more quizzes and perhaps at least one follow up to this one as it seemed to be enjoyed by many. I did a test run on an email list I send notes to and the responses were very encouraging to do more.

Thanks for being my mentor.

20

Re Gamay, the book states it was authorised in the Aube only if the growers promised to uproot it in 42. WW ll delayed this until 62