Exploring Champagne during Grape Harvest

It’s been like an exotic dream for many years- wanting to experience the Champagne region during the season of the grape harvest- what they call vendange. For four years, every time I remembered to check it, through a French colleague, it was either well in progress for me to make travel arrangements and go, or was over. The vendange usually happens during Sep-Oct, the exact date of the beginning of harvest varies every year depending on the climate. Once begun, it goes on for 15days, with no break on weekends.  

I think the seeds of this urge were planted long ago, as a 10-year old when I felt fascinated looking at this oil painting on the back cover of the Reader’s Digest magazine!- a young French village lady in traditional outfits, holding her skirt aloft about her calves, merrily stomping away on a heap of black grapes in a wide wooden cask- The pre-industrial era version of a ‘wine-press’, if you will. 

Around the same time, my mother was making red wine, as a novelty by trying out what she heard or read..

By keeping grape juice in earthen pot, with the neck covered with linen.
Though it was kept undisturbed in an empty dark corner for couple of months, like it was forgotten by others;
But to my mind, that dark corner was the most "happening" place,
and one place where my mind dwelled the most,
hyper-curious about what "secret magic" might be happening there-
For, I wanted to possess such a "secret magic" Power:
The Power, to turn the most ordinary, accessible, allowed and 'meek' thing like 'grape juice',
into something with a very intriguing, exotic, Powerful character--
a Powerful "magic drink", to which access is controlled/ restricted;
which has the ability to attract people,
and the ability to even "control" people,
and "take away" their will to think and act,
to make them look sub-human creatures.


Whatever was that secret of the world,
which transforms the meek to become powerful, using which
you can transform the powerful to become meek!!!


I wanted THAT power, to turn the ordinary into extra-ordinary!.
I wanted to acquire THAT "secret magic" of the world.!
And, I never wanted to surrender my "power to think"..to any drink!! ;))

..And.. there was a power-struggle going on in my mind-

Two enemy thoughts were waging war..
One told me, To acquire that magic, I will at least have to "open it and see"..
The other told me, that if I open it, that magic might escape..
Will all powerful secrets of the world, remain such elusive beasts then ?
That only exist under the cover of mystery ?
That only act when no-one's watching ?

The 'musical version' of the trip album, set to the background score of the Eagles' song
"Welcome to The Hotel California", featuring 'Wine' and 'Pink Champagne' in its lyrics ;) ..Other puns intended in the video..;)

The Roman Connection

 The history of the Champagne region might be of interest to many huge fans of The Asterix cartoon book series like myself! ;), who sipped those hilariously intoxicating and wonderfully exotic stories (translated from the original French versions of the comic book series), taking you through much of Europe- from pompous Romans like Julius and Brutus to the gladiators and even to Cleopatra!. Without being aware of it, those cartoons had drawn me so much into Roman history! Starting from Asterix the Gaul, it tells you stories of the celtic tribe pitted against the might of expanding Roman Empire. Set in 50BC, with Julius Caesar having conquered most of Gaul (modern France), except for this small village settlement of the “indomitable Gauls” in Armorica, because the villagers could get superhuman strengths from the magic potion made by the village druid Getafix! 

It caricatured the adventures of the shrewd Gaulish warrior Asterix and his fat friend Obelix mostly pitted against the Romans- the likes of Crismus Bonus, Dubious Status, Nafarious Purpus, Marcus Ginandtonicus.. et al!, On the Gaulish side, there are some indelibly etched-in-mind characters and names, like Unhygienix the fishmonger, Cacophonix the bard/musician, Instantmix the restaurant owner!! 

Asterix always carries the magic potion, and Obelix with permanent superhuman strength as he had fallen in the cauldron of Getafix’s magic potion as a baby! So those were stories weaved around a magic potion of the French.

The story of this new sparkling ‘magic’ bubbly potion of the French, I was to find out, is also linked to the Romans and also the rebellion against the Romans by the Germanic/Celtic tribes!

The region of Champagne in NE France bordering Belgium, got its name from Campania, the old Roman name for it when it was part of what was the roman province of Gaul (Campania apparently referred to an area south of Rome of that name, with similar terrain of rolling hills). The Romans were also the first to plant vineyards in the Champagne region, with the region being cultivated by at least the 5th century.

Vineyards in Hautvillers

Wines from the Champagne region were known before medieval times. The sparkling wine which got its name from the region, had been made here since the last 3 centuries.

Mainly an agricultural area, the western end of it some 150km from Paris. Now, Reims and Épernay are the two main commercial centres of champagne producing area.. with the city of  Troyes further south as the other important centre.. 

Champagne Wine and Coronation of Kings

Cathedral Notre Dame, Reims.

.

French Kings' traditional  CORONATION CATHEDRAL for a millenium!

The real popularity of the wine from Champagne and its associations with luxury and high life came after the local wines were served during the banquets and celebrations of the Coronation/crowning ceremony of French Kings!

Through that it became a favoured drink of haute bourgeoisie and elite nobles throughout Europe.

Traditionally, the coronations of French Kings had happened in the Reims Cathedral; 

But the real reason for Reims being the chosen place for coronation can be traced back to the fag end of Roman Empire- When a leader of a Frankish tribe, Clovis I, in 486AD defeated the Roman governor appointed to rule the area. He became the King of Franks. Later Clovis conquered many neighbouring kingdoms and ruled most of Gaul, establishing the Merovingian dynasty. Belonging to the pagan tribes (in which druids were a powerful priestly class), he was converted to Christianity (Baptised as a Catholic) at Christmas around AD 498 in Reims, in a smaller church near the current Reims Cathedral. He was thus the first Catholic King to rule over Gaul (France).

[Merovingian dynasty is referred to in the novel, The Davinci Code, by Dan Brown, weaving a story that they are related to Christ’s bloodline! ;])

With the baptism of Clovis by Saint Remi in 498-499, the precedent of “royal unction”( Kings, prophets, and priests were ritually anointed with oil, in token of receiving divine grace) was established in the Reims Cathedral. Louis I (the Pious) was the first King to be coronated in the Cathedral of Reims, in 816, and an official document from the Emperor to the Archbishop made explicit reference to the baptism of Clovis in Reims as the reason for this decision to get coronated there. 

In 987, Hugh Capet was crowned King of France at the cathedral of Reims. Apparently most historians regard the beginnings of modern France with the coronation of Hugh Capet because, as Count of Paris, he made the city his power centre. The monarch began a long process of exerting control over the rest of the country from there.

After the first coronation in 816, in the next 1000 years, more than 30 French Kings were crowned in Reims Cathedral.

Writing about coronations made me drift to those moments I had a few years back, standing wide-eyed in front of this huge, 10m x 6m oil-on-canvas, in the Louvre- a painting of the Coronation ceremony of Napoléon Bonaparte , commissioned by  Napoléon to be painted – But that coronation was held in 1804 in the Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris.

Napoléon's Coronation in 1804, Oil on Canvas from 1807, clicked from Louvre museum during one of the Paris trips some years back

Sparkling History

Even though wine is now known to have been made at least 6000years ago (News in Jan 2011 from Armenia, the earliest known record), the history of champagne, the sparkling wine is not that old- though the exact origin of this wine-with-fizz is a bit fuzzy. 

Earliest known sparkling wine is apparently an accidental discovery in 1531 by monks in an Abbey in south of France near Pyrenees mountains.

Independently, a British scientist had documented in 1662, in a paper submitted to Royal Society the method to cause 2^nd fermentation to a finished wine by adding sugar to it.

 But according to popular myths, it was in Hautvillers, a small village 7km from Épernay, that Dom Pierre Perignon(1639-1715), a Benedictine monk who served as the cellar master of the Abbey of Hautvillers, ‘created’ the white sparkling wine 3 centuries ago, in late 17^th century.

Dom Perignon's Contributions

 Apart from the myths, it is known that Dom Perignon refined and codified a lot of procedures for winemaking, at a time when sparkling wine wasn’t really made. He perfected techniques that enabled the wine makers of  Champagne to truly make white wine from red grapes. He later “perfected” the process of using the second fermentation on wine. So thought he didn’t invent sparkling wine production per se, many steps in the making of Champagne as we know it today, were introduced by him.

For this reason, the village of Hautvillers claims to be the cradle or birthplace of Champagne, and Épernay proclaims itself as the de facto capitale du champagne (the drink).

The most surprising and striking fact to know from here was that the Champagne region’s climate is not really very conducive for producing the best wine!!.

There's interesting  details here for those interested:

History_of_Champagne

Champagne_production

During the Middle Ages, the wines of the Champagne region were various shades of light red to pale pink as a bitter rivalry developed between the Champenois and their Burgundian neighbors to the south.. Unfortunately the climate of the region made it difficult to produce red wines with the richness and color of the Burgundian wines, even though the Champenois tried to "improve" their wines by blending in elderberries. Eventually their attention moved to produce white wines in an attempt to distinguish themselves from their Burgundian rivals. However, the white wine produced from white grapes were found to have a dull flavor and quickly spoiled. The most sought after wines were those "white wines" made from red wine grapes, such as Pinot noir which had more flavor, aromatics and longevity. Throughout the 16th and early 17th century, Champenois winemakers tried to produce the best "white" wine they could from red wines grapes though the results were often not white at all but ranged from greyish color to a shade of pink known as oeil de perdrix or partridge eye. It wasn't until a Benedictine monk named Dom Pierre Perignon from the Abbey of Hautvillers perfected his techniques would the Champenois be able to truly make white wine from red grapes.^[2]

Champagne House

Champagne Cellars in Chalky Earth

During the customary visit to a Maison du Champagne (Champagne house)- As the champagne making facilities of different brands are referred to-  complete with vine presses, processing tanks and bottling plants, one would invariably go through the Champagne cellars.

In Epernay alone, there are underground cellars of various producers totalling more than 100kms!, with estimated 200million bottles of fizzy wine being ‘aged’. Many cellars in use now were old chalk or stone quarries, some from Roman times.

Wine in bottles are brought in to the cellars after the grape juice kept in large tanks for several months go through the first transformation and become wine. Throughout the fermentation process, carbon dioxide is released as a by-product of the conversion of natural sugars in the juice into alcohol, but the CO2 formed during this escapes. To the resulting bubble-free wine, some sugar is added externally, with some yeast, and bottled and made go through the second fermentation process in the bottle, and matured for years in the cellars.(As per law, to be called Champagne, minimum of 15months, and to be called ‘vintage’, at least 3years. Usually most companies keep 6-8years).

 Thus the CO2 gas released during this second fermentation is trapped in the bottle. Occasionally, some bottles explode in the cellars due to this gas pressure built up. To withstand this, the champagne bottles need to be thicker than the normal wine-bottles. In old times, when that was not the case, and methods were not refined and amount of sugar not precisely controlled etc, the explosion of bottles in cellars were frequent and triggering chain-reactions which could result in lost 20-90%

 During this process of second fermentation and maturation, some sediments are formed, from the used-up/dead yeast. This made the drink cloudy when disturbed and removing sediments (disgorgement) caused the gas to escape and some wine to be lost.

Rack for Remuage

To solve this problem, a method called riddling(remuage) was introduced, first by the Champagne house now known as Veuve Cliquot, who kept is a secret initially. Towards the end of maturation, the bottles are kept in a special rack which holds the bottles slanting neck-down position so that sediments are collected at the opening of the neck. The bottles are given a little shake and turn every few days for some 6-8 weeks, gradually increasing the angle each time to point straight down. This manual method is still used for premium range, otherwise replaced by automated equipment for faster completion of the process.

Disgorgement

After this, sediments are removed by the ‘disgorgement’(degorgement) process. This was initially a skilled manual process of removing cork and sediments collected without losing much liquid and gas inside. In modern automated disgorgement method, small part of bottle’s neck is frozen with trapped sediments and removed with the help of  pressure from inside as well.

 Then in what was called as ‘dosage’, a small replacement dose of wine is added with some sugar. The amount of sugar that goes in during this dosage, decides the sweetness(and dryness) of champagne and also makes different categories of Champagne.

What is labelled ‘Brut’ will have very less sugar (upto 6g/litre). With the most ‘dry’ being labelled  Brut Nature/ Brut Zero, that contain no extra sugar added during ‘dosage’ (0-3g/l). Most sweet having ‘doux’(45+g/l), and less sweet having ‘sec’ labels.

 The remuage process for collecting sediment, made the disgorgement efficient and economic, and is considered a turning point in Champagne production.

The remuage process was invented with the help of  a cellar master by Madam Clicquot, known as "Grand Dame of Champagne", a French businesswoman who took on her husband's wine business when widowed at 27. The famous premium Champagne company/brand bears her nick name, “Veuve Clicquot” (Veuve in French means Widow).

These methods together for traditionally producing sparkling wine from Champagne region, is called méthode Champenoise.   Though sparkling wine can also be made by less rigorous and quick processes like making soda by artificially infusing CO2 into wine, you won’t get to taste the quality and care that goes into this sparkling wine made in champagne- from every step of vine growing onwards.

 Marion and ‘her’ Champagne! :

During a tasting session (degustation) arranged at the tourist information, met this young lady Marion with her mother. Her great grandfather had setup a champagne brand, currently run by her father, she and her elder sister help manage. She is currently doing her special diploma degree in “Viticulture & oenology” with specialization in… champagne making, of course! ;). With her patience, kindness and attitude to listen and attempts to respond, my spontaneous queries found excuses to escape from my tongue-tips, they kept at it, and leapt out.. Finally I reined in the words straining on their leash when I felt may be it’s a bit too many, trying my “very fringe-French” to get through to her when her brows start to draw together, while she herself was straining to get some of the English words translated in her head ;) 

Marion's family Champagne house in Mardeuil village

She invited to her village of Mardeuil for meeting her next day at her family Champagne House, so she could give a walk-through or a personalised show-n-tell, rather than the rushed, rehearsed or, drab-sounding guided tours ritual with a repeated-umpteen-times mechanical feel!

But before I stopped my queries, happened to unearth an exciting fact, I could hear a ‘tonk’ in my head, of the pickaxe hitting metal while digging for treasure! ;)) -- She has a champagne named after her, Cuvée Marion , a nice pink champagne!, from their faimly’s Maison de Champagne (Champagne House/brand)  André Lenique (founded in 1768 by her great great… grandfather).

• In Champagne and sometimes in other regions producing sparkling wines by the traditional method, the cuvée also refers to the best grape juice from gentle pressing of the grapes. In Champagne, the cuvée is the first 2,050 litres of grape juice from 4,000 kg of grapes (a marc), while the following 500 litres are known as the taille (tail), and is expected to give wines of a more coarse character. Many Champagne producers pride themselves on only using the cuvée in their wine.

André Lenique  source their own grapes from family vineyards.

Pinot Meunier

 The main grape varieties grown in the Champagne region are Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier (both red grapes) and the white grape Chardonnay. Most Champagne houses make wine with a blend of these 3 varieties. Pinot Meunier is considered a very close natural genetic variant of Pinot Noir, distinguishable by the dusty/white powdery texture mostly on the underside of leaves. Otherwise both have typical, dark purple pine-cone shaped clusters. ‘Pinot’ being French for “pine”, ‘Noir’ for black, ‘Meunier’ for miller, referring to the flour-like dusty look on its leaves. 

Distribution of Grape varieties

 Marion's family Champagne house is one of almost 5000 small-scale family-run vignerons(wine-makers), across more than 320  villages of Champagne region with total of 76000 acres of vineyards. There are more than 19,000 independent growers in the Champagne region. They together produce more than 300 million bottles a year!. Most of the champagne produced is consumed within France (60~70%).

 (Currently 40 more villages in the peripheries of currently demarcated region, are being considered to be added to the champagne community, to meet increasing demand).

 Some of the biggest/premium brands include Moët et Chandon (of Epernay, 1743) Veuve Clicquot (of Reims, 1772.. now part of a Louis Vuitton group company), Taittinger (of Reims, 1734).

Champagne has been an integral part of sports celebration since Moët et Chandon started offering their Champagne to the winners of Formula 1 Grand Prix events.

Moët et Chandon's vineyard

 Champagne is usually served in a Champagne flute, having a long stem with a tall, narrow bowl, so that the escape of gas is reduced/slowed down with reduced exposed area. 

There are so many customs and procedures they follow, from planting the grape vine to taking care of it throughout the seasons, that are unique to this region. Added to it, the usual factors like soil conditions, microclimate of the local area etc, which they call as terroir, all plays a part in the ‘character’ of the grapes. Acidity/Sugar levels, time to ripen, the aroma it imparts to the finished wine etc. This part is almost towards the northern limits of climate ideally suited for vine-growing .

Champagne only from Champagne (and the Spanish Coup attempt with Cava)

Not only the French love their drink, they fiercely defend their sole right to produce it- No one else can produce anything similar and call it champagne! Under European Union law, the name “Champagne” is ‘controlled/protected designation of origin’- all wines produced and sold in the EU must not label a wine as "Champagne" unless it comes from the designated Champagne region’s AOC zone (Appellation d'origine controlee ) 

The Spanish were at it- From the Catalunya region (with Barcelona as its capital),they made the Spanish sparkling wine, made using the traditional method of the French sparkling wine. They tried the same double fermentation process, and sold it as ‘Champaña’, much to the chagrin of the Champagne Community. The Catalans were chased down by the French and forced to forgo the name champagne, through the EU laws that came into effect with Protected Geographical Status for Champagne. So the Catalans adapted the name Cava, the Catalan word for cellar, because the wine is aged in the cellars. and call it whatever else they would like. 

I had this interesting experience with Cava during Barcelona visit... As is usual in all trips trying to taste some authentic local fare, (if at all there is any local vegetarian specialities, ie!), made it a point to try very Catalan food. Ordered Cava, the small half-litre bottle with a dinner of paella. Never expected it would have so much effect, not sure if that was due to some potent combination and chemistry with that food- That was the most drunk/sloshed I ever felt in life!. With the control-freak instinct, had never felt, or rather gone beyond, more than the ‘mellow’ state, when you just start to feel, something has got into your system!, and just smooth, a touch lighter and pleasant.

 I was OK till 10min after finishing my dinner. Stepping out from the restaurant to the buzzing main thoroughfare of La Rambla, popular with locals and tourists alike, full of late night ramblers. I had a tough time browsing the shops. “Gosh, this is getting a bit too woozy”, I was telling myself, touching the forehead, when watching the interesting cartoon on a displayed T-shirt, trying to read the print below, ‘it’ started moving, trying to evade me. Tried to shake it off the head like a drenched bird. Positive, that might work!. But intriguingly, it DIDN’T! The forehead drawn, facial skin stretched, eyelids open fully, tried to see if I could really concentrate if I tried. I COULD!, but unfortunately, the world around was dodging me!.

 I had to stop for half hour, sit on a park bench, like a night-owl in its drowsy day-roost, woken up by some noise, swivelling the head slowly from time to time, from one fixed position to the other, and watch the world go by in slow motion and recover, before continuing my walk.

Had been to one end of La Rambla earlier in the evening- To get inside the Columbus Monument, a 60m tall column with the statue of Christopher Columbus. It is at the place where he landed in Barcelona on his way to meet the King and Queen, returning from the famous first voyage to the Indies/America. Got to the top of  the couple-of -meters-wide, crammed, claustrophobia inducing viewing platform inside the monument column below the statue, in the smallest ever lift I’ve seen! Evidently, either the vision of the people who designed it, wasn’t even as far reaching as the view of the city from it, or they didn’t mean to send anyone up to have lofty views!

 After half an hour into the original big plan of exploring by night following up from the successful Columbus Monument visit, I realised that the bottle of Cava —with its steady, slow, narrow and graceful stream of bubbles.. like the true character of sparkling wine made ‘the Champagne way’—  had effectively bottled all my plans!, leaving me feeling like one of those cartoons with bubbles shown over their heads. But though it had made me unsteady, slow, and rather bloated, thankfully, I could still hold on to my grace! For a control-freak, That really was the saving grace of a very unusual bubbly night! ;))