Prestige
Cuvées: A Guide to Deluxe Champagne
The
Cult of Champagne
by
Edward Guiliano & Louis Charles
You
might have heard the terms Cuvée Prestige or Tête
de Cuvée before. A non-literal translation of Tête
de Cuvée would be "the head of the class"
(a more technical explanation follows in this story). In
any case, these precious bottles are nothing less than the
best of the best the Champagne
region of France can produce. They also symbolize the
ultimate in luxury, something reserved for kings, czars,
British secret service agents and captains of industry.
As much as this is true, you, too, can partake in these
luxurious offerings.
WHAT
ARE THEY?
Champagne
has its very own mythology—it's the ultimate, the
best, the most festive—and many people don't even
associate it with wine. It's Champagne, the golden bubbles
from the Champagne region of France.
Affordability
dictates that not all that sparkles in wine bottles will
be Champagne from France. Indeed, 90 percent will be sparkling
wines produced in America or elsewhere. And of the 10 percent
that is labeled Champagne, only 10 percent to 15 percent
each year are deluxe Champagnes, the best a house knows
how to make. Each of the great Champagne houses of France
makes a prestige cuvée or (cuvée spéciale),
such as Moët's Dom Pérignon, Roederer's Cristal,
Perrier Jouët's Flower Bottle, Taittinger's Comtes
de Champagne and Veuve Clicquot's La Grande Dame.
 |
What
is so special about these super Champagnes in fancy bottles
with high prices? First of all, there is nothing else out
there in the sparkling wine category that approaches their
level of quality. And secondly, there are few products anywhere
that have a richer image. We can thank James
Bond for some of that. He can be credited with increasing
the public's awareness of prestige Champagne as well as
building their ne plus ultra image. In the novels by Ian
Fleming, Bond's bubbly was invariably Dom Pérignon
or Bollinger RD or Veuve Clicquot, usually consumed in the
company of an appreciative woman. It was one of the secret
agent's trademarks. In the most recent 007 film "Casino
Royale," Bollinger is featured. As advertisers,
waiters and wine merchants know well, these deluxe wines
appeal to our quest for the best. They make a statement
about our lifestyle, our self-esteem, our esteem for others,
our sophistication and, of course, our pocketbook.
THE
FIRSTS
The
two prestige cuvée Champagnes first created still
dominate the market today, and they have become quintessential
emblems in the popular consciousness of the elegance, joie
de vivre, quality, mystery, and even romance that Champagne
has come to express. Surely it is no surprise that they
are Moët's Dom Pérignon and Roederer's Cristal.
The
House of Roederer created Cristal in 1878 for the Imperial
Court of Russia and Czar Alexander II. The special cuvée
took its name from the unusual clear crystal bottle that
the czar insisted upon. Some say he did this because he
was anxious that his courtiers should not doubt they were
drinking a special wine not commercially available, while
others suggest less charitably that he wanted to insure
his health and safety by being able to discretely check
on the bottle's contents. It was not until the early 1920s
that limited bottles of Cristal were put on the market in
France.
Moët
& Chandon is by far the largest Champagne producer,
and far more Dom Pérignon is produced than any other
deluxe Champagne. Nevertheless, DP (as it is sometimes called)
or Dom is only a tiny percentage of Moët's total production.
The wine was first marketed in 1928, exclusively in England
and the United States, and was only made available in France
in the 1940s.
Virtually
all of the grand Champagne houses have long produced special
cuvées for their own private use, but Dom Pérignon's
success inspired these houses to expand production and introduce
these wines commercially in the 1960s and 1970s. These Champagne
producers helped build the exclusive image of these wines
by packaging them in special bottles, often replicas of
eighteenth-century Champagne bottles and usually visually
appealing bottles. It is not difficult to spot a bottle
of prestige cuvée Champagne across a crowded room.
But what's in the bottle that makes it so special?
IN
THE BOTTLE
First
of all, the grapes. There are 250 separate villages in Champagne,
and the quality of the grapes harvested in each vineyard
varies. Since 1911 (with periodic revisions), the villages
have been rated and, today, scale from 80 percent to 100
percent. There are a dozen 100 percent villages, or grands
crus, and the grapes from these villages have the highest
quality and are the most expensive. About 40 villages are
rated between 90 percent and 99 percent and are called premiers
crus. The great majority of villages are rated at about
85 percent. The grapes that go into prestige cuvée
Champagnes are almost exclusively from 100 percent villages
and never come from lower than the top level of the premiers
crus.
 |
| Reims,
Champagne |
Although
the Champagne region is planted with 42 percent Pinot Meunier,
33 percent Pinot Noir and 25 percent Chardonnay vines, and
each is integral in the blend of nonvintage Champagnes,
the rapidly maturing Pinot Meunier is usually eliminated
from the deluxe wines. Chardonnay provides the wine with
elegance and lightness, and the long-maturing Pinot Noir
gives it body and structure or what the French call La
Charpente. Several of the prestige cuvée wines
are blanc de blancs, made, of course, from only Chardonnay
grapes, and a few are rosé Champagnes, generally
made by adding a small percentage of still red wine to the
blend.
When
describing prestige cuvées, it is difficult to speak
in absolutes because there are no laws specifically governing
their production. Champagne is the most regulated and strictly
controlled wine produced in the world, and the rigid controls
for vintage and nonvintage Champagnes are upheld for prestige
cuvées (which are almost exclusively vintage Champagnes
to start with, meaning they are only produced in years when
the grapes are of excellent quality). For the prestige cuvée
Champagnes, houses apply even more rigorous standards in
pursuit of even greater excellence.
When
the grapes are pressed in Champagne, the law permits only
three pressings, from 4,000 kilograms of grapes, with a
maximum yield of 2,000 liters of grape juice from the first
pressing (known as the cuvée) and 333 liters each
in the second and third pressings. Only the superior juice
from the first pressing is used in prestige Champagnes,
and usually only the juice from the first one-third of this
pressing is used. That initial and highest-quality juice
is known as tête de cuvée (head of the cuvée)
and has become synonymous with these wines.
All
of the prestige cuvées are brut with a minimum amount
of sugar added. The small dosage is possible thanks to the
quality of the grapes and the long aging process. All are
produced in limited quantities and most only in vintage
years, which in Champagne may mean only four or five times
in a decade.
The
period of aging for prestige cuvée Champagnes further
distinguish them from other sparkling wines. By law, a nonvintage
wine must be aged at least one year and vintage wines at
least three years, though in practice both are regularly
aged longer at the finer houses. For deluxe Champagnes,
four or five years of aging before dégorgement
is common and seven or eight years isn't exceptional. This
prolonged aging can add not only to the quality of the wine,
but also to the cost of producing it.
There
is a remarkable diversity of individuality among prestige
cuvée Champagnes. They range in style from the light
blanc de blanc of Taittinger's Comtes de Champagne to the
full-bodied wines with high percentage of Pinot Noir in
their such as Krug's Grande Cuvée. Additionally,
because most are vintage wines, they take on characteristics
of an individual vintage and differ from previous bottlings.
PRESTIGE
AT WHAT PRICE?
Perhaps
the most frequently asked question about these super Champagnes
is: are they worth the price? For some, cost is part of
their appeal. The high prices are justified if you can taste
and appreciate the difference between a nonvintage and prestige
cuvée Champagne. Many discriminating people can and
therefore believe that paying the premium can be worthwhile.
The
prestige bottles, however, are not two or three times better
than the nonvintage, though their price is usually double
or triple the nonvintage. It is like everything else for
sale: if you want the best, you have to pay a price for
each increment in quality.
If
this might serve as a consolation, all things considered,
the best of the best of Champagnes are still an outstanding
value. Try comparing them to the best of the best of Burgundy,
Bordeaux or even Napa. This alone might turn you into a
disciple of this order and steer you to drink more Champagne
year around, and possibly push you to try a cuvée
prestige now and again. If you've read this entire piece,
you certainly deserve it!
