News from Champagne

Post-production monitoring of Champagne appellation wines

Post-production monitoring has been standard practice for all Champagne wines since 2000. This is part of an overall policy of quality control launched several years ago by the CIVC in a bid to maintain consistent quality standards irrespective of the producer (grower, cooperative or Champagne House) or the style of wine (Brut, Demi-Sec, Rosé, Vintage, etc).

Accordingly in 2004, nearly 300 wines in every category were sampled for testing prior to dispatch and throughout our distribution networks in France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom (accounting for 80% of sales). Testing was performed by a 100-strong panel of experts who assessed the wines’ organoleptic profile in the course of 30 tasting sessions. All of the tests were conducted according to a pre-defined protocol and descriptive terminology.

Corking problems aside, less than five per cent of the wines sampled since 2000 have failed to meet the standards of quality set by the CIVC. Most of the flaws detected would not be noticeable to the average consumer and related to aging and storage, oxidation and reduction in the course of production, and flawed hygiene.

Post-production monitoring of the quality of Champagne wines has proved to work well, both as an incentive to the industry to pursue higher standards in general, and as a tool to solve any problems in the most efficient way possible.