Falstaff Magazin International 01/2021

wine / CHAMPAGNE < the

wine / CHAMPAGNE < the so-called échelle des crus, which governed the prices of the grapes. The best villages, a total of 17, were regarded as grand cru, and 42 as premier cru. This échelle des crus was abandoned in 2010, but the terms grand cru and premier cru are still used frequently to denote when the wines come from these privileged villages. The region, which has 33,787 hectares/83,490 acres of vineyard, is divided into four subregions: the Montagne de Reims, the Côte des Blancs which includes the Côte de Sézanne, the Vallée de la Marne and the much more southerly Côte des Bar. Christine Rinville, vineyard director for Champagne Taittinger explains how the wines from the villages in the Côte des Blancs all have distinct identities: “Avize, Chouilly, Oger, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger and Cramant – these are crus with fairly similar soils but distinct expressions. All of them bring finesse and minerality, but maybe they will express notes that are more delicate, like Avize, tender and fruity like Chouilly, softer like Cramant, sunnier like Oger, or will have a more austere and THE WINEMAKER MUST BE ABLE TO IMAGINE HOW THIS BLEND OF BASE WINES WILL EVOLVE IN BOTTLE AFTER THE SECOND FERMEN- TATION AND THE OFTEN YEARS-LONG AGEING ON YEAST. deeper character which reveals itself more over time, like Le Mesnil-sur-Oger.” Florent Nys, cellar master at Champagne Billecart-Salmon, is as exacting when it comes to the villages famed for Pinot Noir: “Verzenay is dense and complete, Verzy is silky and mineral, Ambonnay is elegant and profound, Bouzy is rich and full-flavoured, Aÿ comes with an additional hint of florality – and Mareuil-sur-Aÿ is a good mix of all.” Blending these – or choosing a single-vineyard wine – is a question of art, experience and craft. The winemakers must be able to imagine how this blend of still base wines they compose will evolve in bottle after the second fermentation and the often years-long ageing on yeast. It is this time of ageing on the spent yeasts from the second fermentation, called lees, that delivers the magic of Champagne: the autolytic flavours, the texture and the finesse of the bubbles. “In Champagne, if you are not thinking of lees right from the beginning, you miss the point,” says Odilon de Varine, cellar master at Champagne Gosset. Champagne is a symphony of wines, of villages, of grape varieties, of vintages, of soils – or of single years, single vineyards, single grape varieties – but time is always the key ingredient. Blending is an art, and the wines are expressions of these villages but also of all the winemaking expertise and craft, evolved over centuries. Champagnes are wines of place, so do stop and savour them. Your reward is purest pleasure. < The Champagne flute has been abandoned over the past years. Wider but tapering glasses are now preferred as they allow us to better smell the wines. Photo: Shutterstock 32 falstaff winter 2021

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