Champagne is the most mercurial of French wines…but Does Champagne
age?
A fallacy out there that implies that’s in the minds of some
wine consumers is that Champagne doesn’t age.
The legend says that it does… As far as the best cuvées are
concerned.
For example; just like in other northern marginal climates
of classic vineyards like Chablis and Germany’s Mosel or Rhineland, Champagne
has the possibility to be complex and long-lived especially when the weather is
variable and diurnal.
The importance of acidity in harmony with the minerality of
great terroirs, plus extended lees ageing which is important because it acts as
a protective storage, can often result in vintages that can live for 10, 15 or
20 years – and for even half a century in outstanding years.
The general feeling is that most fine Champagnes in the
three main categories – prestige, vintage and non-vintage – benefit from additional
ageing in consumer’s homes which reveal more intense flavors.
So. the feeling is that Champagne really is suitable for
laying down to varying degrees.
Normally, the focus on flavors in Champagne’s ageing cycle
is made professionally at two key stages:
First stage, before disgorgement, when the wine stays
fresh and tight, gradually enhanced by its contact with fine lees, which add
complexity to the youthful flavors and gives a protective freshness to the
wine. Champagne ages differently from still wines. Its’ ageing in contact with
the lees is in an atmosphere saturated in CO2. Champagne evolves more slowly
than still wines
After three to four years on lees for Non Vintage, five to
eight years for vintage and more for prestige, it’s time for the second
stage… disgorgement of the sediment.
Disgorgement of the sediment ensures ideal maturation
through further bottle age as well as the development of more intense wine
flavors such as dried apricot, sour dough bread, toast and spices like cumin in
aged Chardonnay; leather, liquorice and that delicious whiff you get in the the
coffee shops.
…In mature Pinot Noir you get notes of kirsch and fermented
cherries especially in good Champagne rosés.
The question also comes up whether blanc de blancs have the
capacity to age longer than blanc de noirs, or is it a case of considering
wines individually?
The answer is in the soil; the terroir. Chardonnays on slopey
shallow soils over chalk sub-soils like those of the Côte des Blancs where many
popular Champagne houses are from give wines a capacity for long ageing. Also, the
use of (malolactic fermentation or none) supports the capacity for wine evolve
slowly.
Great Champagne is the most mercurial of French wines, its
character changing very unpredictably when least expected. It’s part of the danger
and excitement. In steering its journey to beautiful maturity, you may think
the wine is going to turn right, but quite often it actually turns left. I
guess that is just part of the enduring fascination of ageing Champagne.
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