Uncorked › Champagne
Champagne Uncorked
The devil's wine, the widow who fixed it, and how the bubbles actually get in. Champagne is one region with four very different corners, and these five volumes walk each of them: the Pinot power of the Montagne, the Meunier valley, the pure chalk of the Côte des Blancs and the rebel south of the Aube.
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Start at Vol. 01 if you are new
Champagne
The whole region and the whole method in one sitting. The devil's wine and who actually tamed it, the three grapes and the sub regions they rule, the second fermentation step by step, the codes hidden on every label, houses against growers, and why chalk matters. Plus the wars, the widow and how to open a bottle without losing an eye.
Montagne de Reims
The forested hill south of Reims where Champagne's most powerful Pinot Noir grows in a horseshoe. Nine grand crus and the villages that hold them, the salesmen who built the great houses, the widow who made Brut fashionable, Krug and Cristal, and the growers of Ambonnay, Bouzy, Verzy and Verzenay who now set the pace.
Vallée de la Marne
The river valley that runs from Aÿ almost to Paris, home of Meunier and of the monk everyone gets wrong. The real Dom Pérignon, the two banks and their soils, Aÿ and the grande vallée, Lily Bollinger and her bicycle, Épernay's avenue of houses, Mercier's giant cask, and the growers rewriting the valley's reputation.
Côte des Blancs
One grape, one rock. Chardonnay on the purest chalk in Champagne, from Chouilly down to Vertus. The six grand crus and what separates them, the furrier who made Salon, Le Mesnil and its walled clos, Anselme Selosse and the growers he inspired, and the blanc de blancs the great houses keep for their crown jewels.
Côte des Bar
The forgotten quarter that nearly wasn't Champagne. The different rock under the Aube, the 1911 revolt, the long road to full status, the strange still rosé of Les Riceys, Saint Bernard's cellar and Drappier, and the young growers who made the Côte des Bar the most exciting corner of the region.