B.I.V.B.

Bureau Interprofessionnel des Vins de Bourgogne - B.I.V.B

The AOC slope

From

Burgundy regions

The producing regions of Burgundy are from north to south:

Chablis
Petit Chablis is the generic
40 1er crus
7 Grand crus

famous for lean minerally chardonnay




Cote D'or - 33 grand crus
- Cote de Nuits
majority of wine is from pinot noir, one white GC "Musigny"
- Cote de Beaume
twice the size as cote de nuits, and makes a majority of red wine, but is famous for its whites.


Chalonnaise
five AOC villages

Maconnais


Beajolais Produces more wine than all the rest of burgundy combined. 99% red from primarily Gamay, 1% Chardonnay.
- Beaujolais
- Beaujolais Village

10 crus (no grand or premier, only cru)
- St Amour
- Julienas
- Chenas
- Moulin a Vent
- Chiroubles
- Fleurie
- Morgon
- Regnie
- Cote de Brouilly
- Brouilly

Burgundy - AOC levels

Generic AOC

bourgogne blanc, bourgogne rouge, bourgogne passtoutgrains, are of the generic AOC level, aprox 21 at this level. they abide by 55hl/ha


Village or Commune

there are 44 AOCs producing 36% of all wine in burgandy.

better vineyards, better drainage, less direct sun.
50hl/ha yield levels, all fruit must come from within village bounderies, and bottles must be labeled with the villages name.


Premier Cru (1er Cru)

562 1er crus, making 12% of burgandy wine. Each are situtated higher on the slope, with ideal soil, great drainage, and moderate fertility with less exposure to the the elements and direct sunlight. 45hl/ha yield limits. all fruit must be sourced within the vineyard, and the label must include the village and the vineyard.


Grand Cru

there are about 35 grand crus making only 3% of burgandy wines.

35hl/ha, 100% from the vinyard site, and labeled with the name of the vineyard.

C.I.V.C.

Comité Interprofessionel du Vin de Champagne

The CIVC are the board of growers, producers and buyers that set the annual price per kilo of grapes in the region.

This is what makes up the L'echelle de crus, the ladder of growths, and rates the vineyards of champagne.

Dosage levels

After the champagne has been disgorged, it is bone dry, and sparkling. To make various styles of champagne, sugar is added to the liquer d'expédition, which is the wine added to top up the bottle from what is lost in disgorgement.

extra brut -- <6g per liter residual sugar
brut -------- <15g/l
extra sec --- 12-20g/l
sec --------- 17-35g/l
demi-sec ---- 35-50g/l
doux -------- >50g/l

Making Champagne - Riddling and Dosage

Once the champagne is finished its autolytic aging, 15 months minimum for non vintage and 36 month minimum for vintage wines, the bottles may be prepared for shipping and sale.

While the wine is in the autolytic state, it can live forever. it is sealed with a crown cap, and the resulting 6 atmospheres of pressure from the secondary fermentation have created an anaerobic environment. the wine is preserved perfectly.

The gas is distributed in the liquid, but the lees are settled to the side and need to be removed before sale.

This process is called Riddling, or Remuage, and takes about a month if done by hand. The bottles, still in the A-frame racks in the sur latte position, are grasped one by one, given a quarter turn, and a slight jar when placed back in the same spot on the rack. This is done twice a day for the month, and the effect is to loosen the lees from the side of the bottle and move them down towards the neck. the bottles are also tipped so that by the end of the month, the necks are lower than before.

The bottles are then ready for disgorgement. The bottle necks are submerged in a brine so that the plug or puck of yeast freezes, and then when the bottle is turned upright, and the crown cap removed, the sediment pops right out.

Now the bottles are left not quite full, and at this time they are topped off with the Liquer d'Expedition, which is made up of more wine and some sugar, known as the dosage. the amount of sugar is what gives champagne its different styles.

The bottles are sealed with the traditional composite cork and wire bail system, and labeled, ready for sale.

Once the crown cap is removed, the wine begins a slow but steady death and loss of gas. Not to say it will undrinkable, but it will never be the same it was in autolysis.

Bollanger makes a Champagne called RD, which stands for recently disgorged, and they stamp each bottle with a date of disgorgement.

Method Champenoise Rules

1. Grapes from within the geographic growing regions of Champagne
2. Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Muneir grapes
3. Hand Harvested grapes
4. Coquart Press used to crush
5. Aging, NV 15 months, V 3 years
6. Bubbles must be formed in the bottle it is sold in

l'Echelle de Crus

The Ladder of growths. The price of a kilo of grapes is set every harvest by the CIVC

Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne

The price is scaled from 100% for the top crus, or vineyards, and down to 80% for the less important vineyards.

Grand Crus get 100% (of which there are 17)
Premier Crus get 90-99% (of which there are 40)
Villages get 80-89%

Making Champagne - Prise de Mousse

Champagne starts as any other wine, destemmed, crushed, albeit in smaller groups and on a rather delicate press called a Coquart which lets the juice run free, or Saingnée, to keep the red grapes from receiving too much color from the skins.

The resulting musts are fermented separately, in smaller batches, not one big tank of all the wines. They are kept oxygen free, and from these still, dry, wines the house cuvée is blended.
these individual wines can be aged in different manners, oak on the chardonnay, Malolactic on the PN, etc, all at the winemakers discretion.

The wines from Champagne all come from cold growing areas, which imparts low sugar and high acid qualities, so malolactic fermentation is used the majority.

The winemaker blends the Vin de Base from these separately made wines, always trying to achieve the house style. For a non-vintage Champagne, keeping the house style the same is the most important part. The wine maker also uses previously unblended reserve wines, that have been kept from previous years, to add certain characteristics that are missing. If a year was hot and lacked acid, a chardonnay from a previous cooler year would be blended in.

The finished Vin de Base is blended in a steel tank. At 0C, a measured level of sugar and yeast is added to the base wine, (liqueur de tirage) approx 6g to 10g per liter. it is mixed and bottled into the champagne bottles, which are then topped with 'coke' bottle caps. The cool temperature keeps the yeast from attacking the sugar.

This is called the Prise de mousse, the capture of the bubbles. this is the point it becomes Champagne.

The bottles are then moved to the aging cellar. Another particulate of the chalk in Champagne, is it is easily dug in, and the oldest cellars are dug 30m under ground, and are cool and dark. This allows the bottles temperatures to rise slowly and slightly, and secondary fermentation to start.

In the cellar, the bottles are racked on A-frames with 60 holes per side. the racks hold the bottles by their necks at a slight downward angle.

when the bottles sit on their side like this, it is called Sur Latte

In some cellars they are stacked vertical, upside down, this is called Sur Pointe

After about a week, the secondary fermentation is done. The yeast has no sugar left and dies, the resulting C02 is trapped in the liquid with no room to escape and the wine is in a state of Autolysis

Autolysis in winemaking relates to the complex chemical reactions that takes place when a wine spends contact with the lees, or dead yeast cells, after fermentation. While for some wines autolysis is undesirable, it is a vital component in shaping the flavors and mouth feel associated with premium Champagne production. The practice of leaving a wine to age on its lees (or sur lie aging) has a long history in winemaking dating back to Roman winemaking. The chemical process and details of autolysis were not originally understood but the positive effects of a creamy mouthfeel, breadlike and floral aroma, as well as reduced astringency were noticed early on.

This state of autolysis is where Champagne aging happens.
For Non-vintage champagne, it is a minimum of 15 months, and for Vintage a minimum of 3 years in this state.

The resulting wines are all extra brut, that is bone dry, containing 0g to 5g residual sugar per liter.

Champagne sub-districts

Montagne de Reims: Primary variety is PN

furthest north of the sub districts. the northern side has a unique microclimate that produces darker wines with bigger body. the southern side of the montagne produces deeper flavor, more finesse.

Vallée de la Marne: Primary Variety is PM due to frost prone vineyards, and PM breaks late and harvests early.

lots of easy drinking fruit

Cote des Blancs: Primary to exclusively CH due to the regions excessive chalky soil, contributing tons of acid, and complexity. Most sought after in all of Champagne.

Aube: Primary PN
This is the most southern sub district, and it produces ripe and fruity PN.

Cote De Sézanne: CH
Southwest of Cote des Blancs, lots of chardonnay but without the finesse. A little fruitier and musky at times.

Champagne

To the Mall and the Park
Where we love till 'tis dark,
Then sparkling Chanpaign
Puts an end to their reign;
It quickly recovers
Poor languishing lovers,
Makes us frolic and gay,
And drowns all sorrow;
But, Alas,
We relapse again on the morrow.

- Sir George Etherege

A.O.C. Rules

The Appellation D'Origine Controle designates the following rules for each French wine region

1 Geography

2 Grapes allowed

3 Viticultural practices

4 Vinification

5 Aging

6 Minimum alcohol levels ABV%

7 Yield

I.N.A.O.

institute national appellation origin

one of its primary tasks is to delimit the geographic area entitled to produce a product

it sets the levels, regions, names, and rules.

the top 15% of French wine are qualified as

A.O.C.
Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée

the next level is

VDQS
vins delimited quality superior

vin de table - table wine

vin de pays - country wine

malolactic fermentation

malolactic fermentation is the process where by harsher malic acids, found in green apples, are converted to smoother, rounder lactic acids, found in milk.

lactic 1g = .6g malic

this process is done for all red wines and white wines from cooler climates. when done in white wines from warmer climates, it creates a 'butteryness'

this is accomplished by inoculation of desirable bacteria, and creating a super saturation, whereupon the malic acids are consumed and converted to lactic.

this can be done as simply as adding a bouquet of quartered green apples to the wine.

Red Wine Making

grapes for red wine are destemed. green stems make bitter wine, brown stems can add depth

grapes are transferred to cold steel for

prefermentation maceration also called cold soak

this is the grapes sitting and crushing under their own weight initially, allowing the juice contact with the skins, providing color, flavor and acid. this is done at 32F to prevent fermentation from happening.

remontage or pump over is done once the berries have released enough juice and CO2 that the berries are floating and no longer crushing under their own weight. the juice is pumped out and back over the top, adding some violence to create more crush. this is done 2-3 times a day for the time that the cold soak happens, seven days plus.

pump over is done in large, steel containers, equipped for this purpose.

punch down
for smaller vats, often wood or concrete without pumping systems, the punch down method is used. a worker uses a large tool to break the cap or cake of berries down, and release more juice. the worker will work all the way around the tank doing this, 2-3 times a day.

punch down works better for thicker skinned grapes, but only in smaller quantities due to the labor required.

pigeage
is an old method from Burgandy, where a person would climb into the tank, usually naked, and while hanging from a rope, tread through the must, kicking and swimming to break up the cap. thought to be more delicate, it also is dangerous since the grapes are thick like quicksand, and with all the releasing CO2, a person could be poisoned.


once the winemaker believes the desired intensity is reached, the juice may be treated with sulpher dioxide (SO2) to kill unwanted natural yeasts, and then the liquid is racked off to a fermentation tank where yeast is added and the temperature is raised.

the remaining berries are taken to the press for crushing and extraction of the remaining juice, which due to the manner of removal, and longer contact with high flesh to juice ratio, is extra tannic. This press fraction can be fermented separately and used to and strength to the finished wine.

once the fermentation starts, the heat created sets the color of the wine, so that any more skin contact will not change this.

White wine making

most white grapes are destemmed, crushed and the MUST is pumped into a 32F steel tank for

cold settling

chilled to prevent fermentation, it sits for 12-18 hours, and let the solids settle. If certain yeast is desired, the must can be treated with sulpher dioxide SO2 to kill any indigenous yeast, and prevent oxidation. the MUST is then

racked

racking is pumping off from above the sediment or any lees into another barrel, or tank, where yeast is then added, and temperature raised to let the yeast grow. yeast attacks sugar, creates more heat, CO2, alcohol.

sugar + yeast ---> alcohol, CO2

the fermentation tank is equipped with a cooling system to keep the wine from getting too hot, and spoiling the wine.

the wine is aged in whatever manner the winemaker sees fit, oak, steel, etc.

the wine is blended, and fined to remove impurities.

filtration
the wine can be filtered if desired. 10 grades.
0-3 are 'pre filtration'
4-9 are filtration

9 is the finest, 'sterile filtration' used with wines with residual sugar, keeps yeast out and prevents any unwanted bottle fermentation

Growth stages of the vines

La Taille

Cutting back last years growth from the trunk.

single guyot is the training of one vine off of the trunk, all plants in a row have the single vines training in the same direction.

double guyot is the training of two vines off the trunk in opposite directions.


Budbreak
like any tree or plant, the first green buds breaking out, the first leaves start to generate energy, beginning of the canopy


flowering

look up

fruit set
this is when the flower leaves drop and the proto grapes are dark green balls. they have no sugar, only acidity for approx 80 days

this is an important time, because the plant decides how many seeds to make. this changes yearly, and each grape in the bunch has the same amount of seeds. more seeds means less water, and lower flesh to water ratio which means more intense flavour.

but more seeds means more risk of breakage during the crush and broken seeds make bitter wine.


growth of season
the leaf set is pruned to balance the light and exposure the grapes get, yet maintain the energy produced through photosynthesis.

up until a month before harvest, grapes are still green, but growing.

verasion
the sugar spikes up. the skins turn from green to red, or green to yellow. ripen.

if temperature continues to increase during this time, sugar will continue to increase. acid will grow as well, but only to certain point then the acid levels will drop.

california grapes are often too hot, so there is too much sugar and the grapes still arent ripe, and the sugar levels reach 15-16% potential alcohol.

in CA grapes can get sunburned waiting to get ripe
in LI the grapes can get too much rain, and suck up all the water, diluting the juice.

birds and deer now can smell the fruit. deer can eat 30lbs of grapes a day. 5lbs to make 1 bottle.

Tannins

Grape tannins are felt on your tongue

Wood tannins are felt between your gums and teeth.

When you spit, if you keep your tongue inside your teeth, you can prevent the spread of tannins to your teeth

French vs American Oak tastes

French:
Vanilla
Caramel
Toast
Clove

American:
Dill
Coconut