The Tasting

Characters organoleptiques of Champagne


 limpidity The Champagne must be of an irreproachable limpidity.
 The color Dyes It Champagne is in the range of the yellows with variable nuances. In the beginning, the vintage of Pinot Noir is yellow of gold, that of Pinot Meunier presents a slight rosy bottom and that of Chardonnay is yellow greenish. These colors grow blurred and are harmonized in the operations of assembly. In the same way, the age of the Champagne wine influences the color and causes to sink it.
 The foam behaviour The Champagne must have a generous foam, extremement fine. A fine "foam cord" must be formed in collar around the wall of glass while remaining there a long time without however remaining there definitively.

Odorous caracteristiques


 The flavours It are what one calls the perfume. This one is influenced primarily by the nature of type of vines. Chardonnay have a discrete flavour. Pinot Noir prints with its wines a perfume more framed, older. Pinot Meunier gives fruitier flavours but growing blurred with time.
 The bouquet The flavours disappear with the passing of years to leave room to the bouquet. It is thanks to the favours of ageing that the flavours decrease gradually leaving room to the bouquet, fruit the many ones and complex internal chemical reactions.
 The freshness of sense of smell One says of a wine that it is "light" because it is not very charged out of alcohol, which is not the case of Champagne because its freshness relates to its acidity. The freshness which one can detect with the nose at the time of the tasting of a Champagne can come from two phenomena : This one can be a relatively young wine and its freshness will decrease then during its ageing. The Champagnes become more vinous in general and less expenses with the sense of smell into growing old. In addition, the freshness of a Champagne can rise from a decision of wine making, process of malalactic fermentation...

Gustatory Caracteristiques gustatives


 The freshness of the taste Like the freshness of the sense of smell, it is one of the essential characteristics of Champagnes. It is this harmonious balance which exists between the total acidity of the wine and the presence of the sugar which turns into to vinificator a true artist.
 The smoothness It is due to the conditions of the ground and the Champagne climate as well as the techniques of development which contribute to ensure the smoothness of Champagne.
 The fruity One It is related to the specific savour of type of vines. It corresponds in a certain direction, in the field of the taste, to the perfume of type of vines felt to the sense of smell. This one will evolve according to ageing to different flavours (roasted flavours, butter, nut...).
 The body One notices that the Champagne wines of which the known years of ageing exceed 3 to 4 years, start to evolve/move and the reduction in freshness of taste involves an apparent increase in the body in the tasting of the old Champagnes, which appear for that more charnus and more constructed.
 The persistence of the taste According to their constitution and their ageing, the wines are black a length of more or less large mouth. Pinot Meunier has the characteristic to explode in mouth, but does not last.
 The influence of proportioning The addition of dose causes to give to Champagne a certain softness whose sweetened character is all the more felt with the tasting which proportioning is significant...