Include all the knowledge of alcohol, and enter the world of micro-drunk wine!
WeChat public number: liquor encyclopedia (baikejiu)
As many people know, the vintage of a wine refers to the year in which its wine grapes are harvested. Due to the large difference in climate from vintage to vintage, even the same wine from the same grape variety in the same vineyard of the same winery will have different flavors depending on the vintage, so there is a distinction between Vintage Champagne and Non-Vintage Champagne (NV). But what's the difference between the two? Does vintage Champagne necessarily have to be better than vintage champagne without vintage?
01
What are Vintageless Champagne and Vintage Champagne?
Let's start with two diagrams:
If you're a Champagne Fan, it's easy to see that both are Moet & Chandon champagnes; the difference is that the previous champagne doesn't have a clear label for the year of harvest, while the second one has a clear print of the specific vintage. We often call the former vintage-free champagne and the latter vintage champagne.
However, champagne without vintage is not without vintage, but refers to a mixture of grapes from various vintages, so it is now said that it is multi-vintage. It tends to be produced steadily every year and is considered an important commercial wine for a Champagne distillery. In terms of regulatory requirements, champagne without vintage must be aged in bottles for at least 15 months, of which at least 12 months are aged on puree. Vintageless Champagne is more of a distillery, with consistency and stability, giving the impression that it is still the original recipe, or the familiar taste, everything is as if it has not changed!
Vintage Champagne is only made in the finest vintages, and the vintage of its grape origin must be the year indicated on the label. Overall, vintage Champagne doesn't come out every year. Moreover, in terms of regulatory requirements, vintage champagne is stricter than no vintage champagne, requiring at least 3 years of aging on the puree. Generally speaking, in addition to reflecting the brand characteristics, vintage champagne will show more of the climatic terroir characteristics of this vintage, drinking with a sense of plausibility, and there will be different surprises every year.
02
Why is Champagne vintage and no vintage?
As many people know, Bordeaux is mostly mixed wine because in the climate of Bordeaux, the risk of relying on a single variety is too great. A similar problem exists in the equally depressed Champagne region: the Champagne region, located in the north of France, has a cool continental climate with an average growing season temperature of only 16°C, which is extremely challenging for viticulture and growth. Moreover, some years in the appellation even encounter major storms, and the overall climate is not stable, which makes it difficult for the grapes to ripen. As a result, the quality of the grapes varies from vintage to vintage, and the quality of the wines produced varies. Therefore, in order to avoid the influence of weather factors, the locals began to mix different vintages of base wine together, so there was no year champagne. Another benefit of this is that the consistent stability of the champagne can be maintained, while also representing the overall style of the producer. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the only champagne available on the market was vintageless champagne.
In general, though, there are about 4-5 years of good weather every 10 years (now with global warming, good years occur more frequently than in the past). Therefore, if there is such a particularly good vintage, the winery will still choose to produce the vintage Champagne. A good vintage means that the grapes are of good quality; the quality of the grapes is good, and the quality of the vintage Champagne produced is often higher, while the style is greatly affected by the specific vintage.
03
The difference between vintage champagne and vintage champagne without vintage
04
Excellent vintage in the Champagne region
On the personal website of the famous wine critic Robert Parker, the champagne regions are rated for each vintage. The site includes year ratings from 1970 to 2005, with 17 years with more than 90 points, accounting for less than half.
In addition to these vintages, 1870, 1893, 1904, 1911, 1921, 1945, 1955, 1959, 1961, 1978, 1975, 1989, 1983 and, more recently, 2005, 2008, 2009 and 2010 are the best vintages of the Champagne Region. And since the 21st century, thanks to global warming and advances in winemaking technology, the frequency of vintage champagne has also begun to increase, and the overall production ratio is still less than that of no vintage champagne.
05
Who decides whether to produce vintage Champagne?
As mentioned earlier, vintage champagne is not produced every year. So, which year can be produced, and which year can not be produced by who decides? Is it officially recognized like Vintage Port? Or does the producer decide for himself?
In fact, the statute of vintage Champagne does not explicitly require that this vintage must be recognized by an official body. In general, producers can decide for themselves whether to produce champagne in a particular year. It is worth mentioning that sometimes in some not so good years, there are also producers who produce vintage champagne. Although it is not excluded that the producer has the ability to produce good wine in bad vintages, it is generally believed that officially recognized vintage champagne will be more convincing, and the producer's own decision is difficult to get rid of the suspicion of marketing. Because after all, in the eyes of the general public, the reputation of vintage champagne is better than that of no vintage champagne.
06
Does vintage Champagne necessarily have to be better than vintage champagne without vintage?
Usually, vintage Champagne is not produced every year, so there is less Champagne than no vintage; even if there is a very good vintage, only 80% of the grapes can be used to make vintage Champagne, and the rest is used to make reserve wine, in case the next year's harvest is too poor to affect the yield. In addition, vintage champagne is generally produced in the best vintage encountered in the winery, less + good, such a word will inevitably make people take it for granted that vintage champagne must be superior to no vintage champagne.
However, as mentioned earlier, whether to produce Champagne in a certain year is decided by the producer himself, in order to facilitate sales, it is not excluded that some producers may take advantage of the reputation of vintage Champagne and produce vintage Champagne in some less suitable years. This means that vintage champagnes are not always of better quality than vintage champagnes, at least depending on the individual producer.
What's more, as the global climate has warmed in recent years, the climate in the Champagne region has become less unpredictable. As you can see, in recent years, the number of champagnes of various brands has mostly increased, but the number of excellent vintages that are eagerly awaited is not as many as imagined.
Conversely, vintageless champagnes are often carefully blended by cellar masters, sometimes adding reserves left over from previous vintages. Therefore, as long as the effort is deep, the champagne without vintage can also have good quality. More importantly, vintageless Champagne has another advantage, it will not cause a "sudden change" or even a "steep drop" in champagne quality due to poor weather conditions and poor grape quality in a certain vintage.
07
A well-known producer that produces only vintage Champagne
Don Périnon
Dom Perignon is a well-known brand with the reputation of "King of Champagne", whose name comes from the founder Don Perignon, who is recognized by many as the father of Champagne. This is a famous brand that only produces vintage Champagne, that is, in bad years, Don Périnon will simply abandon the production. Of the 85 vintages from 1921 to 2005, Temperinon produced vintage Champagne in less than half of the vintages (41 vintages). Sometimes there are 3 or more consecutive good years, such as 1969, 1970 and 1971, 1998, 1999 and 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. In addition, in the 46 years from 1959 to 2004, Don Pérignon Rosé Champagne also produced only 24 vintage champagnes. In general, the vintage of Rosé Champagne will also produce the regular Don Pérignon Champagne (white), with the exception of 1986, when only the Rosé Vintage Champagne was produced.
Sharon champagne
Salon Champagne has always been known as the "King of Champagne" and was the founder of the first Blanc de Blancs champagne in the Champagne region. Like Don Pérignon, Salon Champagne is only vintage champagne. Moreover, the Salon winery only produces white and white champagne, and the grapes used are all from the old vine vines of the Grand Vineyard, and are only made in good vintages, with an average of 3 vintages per 10 years. It can be said that some of the vintages of the salon white and white champagne are called the best white and white champagnes on the market.