​DID YOU KNOW?

• Champagne is a sparkling wine that can ONLY be produced within the Champagne region of France, located about 90 miles NE of Paris.

 

• 7 grapes are allowed in the production of Champagne, but the big 3 – Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Meunier, make up 99% of vineyard plantings in the Champagne region.

 

• There are approximately 50 million bubbles in just one bottle of Champagne!

 

• The famous monk Dom Perignon did NOT invent sparkling wine, but he did make important contributions to improve its production and quality

 

• The pressure in a bottle of champagne is about 3x the amount of pressure in a car tire

 

• Marilyn Monroe once took a bath in champagne – it took 350 bottles to fill up her tub!

 
CHAMPAGNE VS SPARKLING WINE & METHODE VS OTHER METHODS
 
All Champagne is Sparkling Wine, but not all Sparkling Wine is Champagne! Kinda like all Unicorns are mythical creatures, but not all mythical creatures are Unicorns!
 
Wine can be made to sparkle in many ways:

• Méthode Ancestrale (the oldest method) – juice partially ferments in a vessel and is quickly transferred to bottle to complete alcoholic fermentation and trap the bubbles. Fashionable ‘Pet-Nat’ wines are made this way.
• Asti Method (used to make Asti Spumante) - juice is stored in stainless steel tanks, warmed to create an alcoholic fermentation and trap the bubbles, then it is chilled/filitered and bottled under pressure.
• Carbonation (used to make your soda sparkle) – base wine is injected with CO2 to create bubbles.
• Charmat or Tank Method (used to make most Prosecco) – base wine undergoes an alcoholic fermentation in a bulk tank to create alcohol and bubbles, it is then filtered and bottled under pressure.

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 But REAL Champagne is only produced through a process called ‘Méthode Champenoise’ or ‘Traditional Method’:

1. A base wine is placed into the very same bottle you eventually buy off the shelf
2. Small amounts of yeast, sugar, and nutrients are added to your bottle to create bubbles during what is called a ‘second fermentation’
3. After second fermentation, non-vintages Champagne rests in your bottle on its expired yeast for at least 12 months (or at least 36 months for vintage Champagne) to create toasty/nutty/bready flavors and become more complex
4. The expired yeast is expelled from your bottle, a cork and cage are added to the top, and your bottle is released from the winery for sale!

WHAT IS GROWER CHAMPAGNE?
 
Grower Champagne, also affectionately known as ‘Farmer Fizz’, is a class of Champagne made by producers who produce wines from their very own grapes - from vineyards they own, vineyards they work within, vineyards they deeply respect.
 
Unlike the major Champagne ‘houses’ who rely largely on bought-in grapes and sometimes 1,000s of grapegrowing contracts to make their wines, Grower Champagne producers utilize their very own vineyard holdings year after year. Growers produce bubbly that really shows individuality because they are vinified in small quantities and are able to beautifully express a particular village, vineyard, vintage or style.  
 
Often you will find Grower Champagne made with grapes from Grand Cru and Premier Cru villages -- the same top villages used to make Dom Perignon and other prestige bottlings – but Growers sell their prestige bottlings at much lower prices than the big Champagne houses.
 
When you buy Grower Champagne you aren’t subsidizing the multi-million dollar marketing budgets of the big Champagne houses, you are instead purchasing an authentic product from a highly skilled producer whose heart and soul goes into the bottle – these people making Grower Champagne are known as Recoltant-Manipulants, or grower-producers…
 
RECOLTANT-MANIPULANT
A special class of Champagne producer who makes and markets Champagne under their own label, made from grapes exclusively sourced from their own vineyards and processed on their own premises. These Grower Champagnes can be identified on their labels by the tiny letters ‘RM’ followed by a set of numbers.

FOCUS WINES

Aubry Brut
Chartogne Taillet Cuvee Ste. Anne
Denis Chaput Mesogee Brut NV
Gaston Chiquet Tradition
Geoffroy Expression
Geoffroy Rosé de Saignee
Goutorbe Cuvee Prestige

Hebrart Cuvée de Reserve
Henri Billiot Brut Rosé
Jeanaux-Robin Eclats Extra Brut 
Lalemment Brut Reserve
Michell Mailliard Cuvee Gregory Brut
Moussé Fils l’Or Eugene
Mouzon Leroux L’Atavique

Pierre Gimmonet Cuvée Fleuron
Pierre Gimmonet Special Club 2012
Pierre Gimmonet Blanc de Blancs
Pierre Peters Cuvee de Res BDB
​Vilmart Grand Cellier 1st Cru
Waris Hubert Amorial Blanc de Noirs