Le champagne et sa région | Historique | La progression

The champagne and its region | History | Moving on

Difficulties

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Champagne region again suffered as the religious wars, the Thirty Years War and the Fronde added to the procession of unhappy events, not to mention the bad weather (frosts or drought) and the epidemics (the plague of 1598).

At the end of the 17th century, the condition of the vineyard was certainly not at its worst, and it was better off than agriculture, but nevertheless remained precarious.

In addition, the Champagne region saw its vineyard reduced in size. During these troubled times, production areas became smaller, and the plantations only covered the losses in the best vineyards. Wine continued to be sold, but the poor state of the roads made trade difficult.

16th and 17th cent vines

Until the second half of the 17th century, the term "River Wines" was used before "Champagne wines", referring to the cultivated hillsides on either side of the Marne Valley, or "AY wines", the reputation of which is specific to the 16th century.

These wines were made from numerous vine types, which had long existed in Champagne, or which had been imported from Burgundy.

The cultivation and production of the vine were not specific to the region, and as in the rest of the Kingdom, white wines and red wines with little colour known as "clairet" (lightly coloured wines) or "partridge eye" (light grey coloured wines) could be found, while wines of a more intense red colour, like the ones from Beaune, were more fashionable at the time.
In fact, in Champagne there were on the one hand excellent wines that had a good reputation, and on the other hand numerous wines of a poorer quality.

Appearance of « vins gris »

In order to improve their wines, the people of Champagne began to produce white wines from black-skinned grapes. The clear pulp of these grapes gave wines of a superior quality compared to those usually produced from white grapes.

In order to avoid the skin colouring the juice, harvesting was then done with caution, and an appropriate pressing technique was adopted to obtain the white wine known as "vin gris" (a wine intermediate in colour between white and rosé or pink), which was to become very successful.

Pressing, using the "Etiquet" wine press, was also to be divided, giving wines of different categories of delicacy and colour, with the juice or must becoming coloured as pressing progressed.

A new system of decanting that allowed better removal of sediment from the must was opted for, and the wines thus retained their quality even better.

The use of the bottle became widespread, although it was only used between the wine cellar and the table - to begin with, bottles were strapped and closed using a dowel (a wooden peg), which was held in place by a cord.

As far as Dom Pérignon, the cellar keeper at the abbey of Hautvillers was concerned, he carried out the first blending of grapes, thus concentrating the different ageing and characteristic taste qualities of each vine type. He ensured the more consistent quality of his wines, and gave the wines of Champagne the characteristics that they still have today.