12/28/07 More on Champagne

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran. Since we are heading directly towards the New Year let's continue discussing Champaign. I suppose if you are going to be buying Champaign it will be helpful to understand a bit about the different styles in which it is made. The first thing you should know is that the terms Blanc de Blanc, Blanc de Noir and Rose are referring to the types of grapes that the wines are made from. In the case of Blanc de Blancs they are made from 100% white grapes, Chardonnay. In the case of Blanc de Noir these wines are made from red grapes, usually Pinot Noir, that are pressed and the juice is not allowed enough contact with the skins for the liquid to gain any of the red color. And finally Rose Champaign is made from red grapes in which either the skins are allowed to remain in contact with the juice to impart color or red wine is added to the white to give it that blush of color. Next you will notice terms that are describing the level of sweetness in a Champaign. For example Extra Brut means that the wine is extremely dry, if it says Brut by itself it refers to a wine that is dry to very dry but not extremely dry. Extra dry  is misleading  but it means that the wine is only medium dry. A term that you may see but less often is sec s-e-c and it means that the wine is fairly sweet while demi-sec means that you should be serving that Champaign as dessert. Remember to send your wine questions to Linda at vine to wine dot net and thank you for joining me on today's Vine to Wine.