Dom Perignon, Grand Cru Champagnes and Marketing Myths with Chris Ruhland

Natalie MacLean
Dec25th

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Introduction

Did the Benedictine monk Dom Perignon invent Champagne? Why is Grand Cru Champagne not necessarily the best Champagne? What makes Champagne so versatile and food-friendly?

In this episode of the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast, I’m chatting with Christopher S. Ruhland, author of the award-winning Press for Champagne: A Guide to Enjoying the World’s Greatest Sparkling Wine.

You can find the wines we discussed here.

 

Giveaway

Three of you are going to win a copy of his terrific book, Press for Champagne: A Guide to Enjoying the World’s Greatest Sparkling Wine.

 

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Highlights

  • Why was Chris so outraged that he wrote a letter to the editor of Decanter, one of the world’s most prestigious wine magazines?
  • How can we dispel common misconceptions about Champagne?
  • What makes Champagne so versatile and food-friendly?
  • What do you need to know about the main styles of Champagne?
  • Why is Rosé Champagne made differently from still Rosé?
  • Which are some of Chris’ favourite Rosé Champagne producers?
  • What sparked Chris’ interest in Champagne in particular?
  • How did Chris’ legal career and writing skills transfer over to writing about wine and Champagne?
  • How does Press for Champagne differ from other wine books in its approach and focus?
  • Why does Champagne have a universal appeal, even for those who aren’t wine enthusiasts?
  • How did Champagne become the wine of celebration?
  • What are some common myths about Champagne that Chris debunks in Press for Champagne?
  • How has the “Champagne only comes from Champagne, France” campaign impacted consumer awareness and the global sparkling wine market?
  • What are some of the ways popular culture has impacted certain brands of Champagne?
  • Did the monk Dom Perignon invent Champagne?
  • How has social media shaped our perception of Champagne?
  • What is Chris’s perspective on the pricing of Champagnes and how it affects accessibility?

 

Key Takeaways

  • Did the Benedictine monk Dom Perignon invent Champagne?
    • Short answer no, the Benedictine monk credited with inventing champagne, did not invent champagne. Champagne wasn’t even sparkling until after his death. But what is true, Chris explains, is he was a cellar master of the abbey and an important figure in Champagne wine production and in advancing its quality. He was focused on improving the quality of the vines and also mastered gently pressing the grapes to make white wine from red grapes, which is something that’s important in the region. He also wasn’t blind either, as far as anybody knows but the marketing myth persists.
  • Why is Grand Cru Champagne not necessarily the best Champagne?
    • Chris notes that he often hears people talk about Grand Cru champagne with reverence, as if it’s categorically better than champagne without that distinction. That’s not true. The whole system of Grand Cru and Premier Cru were based on a pricing scheme in the early 20th century between growers and producers to make transactions smoother. So they designated entire villages and all the producers from those villages pay a certain price for those grapes, no matter the vineyard in which they were grown. The system doesn’t exist anymore, but Champagne is still permitted to be labeled with those with Grand Cru and Premier Cru designations based on the villages that were designated as such before the system collapsed. You can find Grand Cru champagne that just happens to be from a Grand Cru village that’s not very good. And then you have champagnes like Louis Roederer’s Cristal and Dom Perignon that are not Grand Cru champagnes.
  • What makes Champagne so versatile and food-friendly?
    • Chris recounts the story of the Champagne dinner he and his wife had while in the region to prove the point of its versatility. They requested to pair each dish with Champagne, from start to finish. Although he didn’t remember the specific dishes or even the particular Champagnes, he did recall that it was a remarkable experience. As he mentioned, everything worked: all the different types of champagne with the different dishes. That’s great about champagne; there is such variety with so many different styles, that you really can drink it throughout an entire meal, and it can all work differently based on what you’re eating.

 

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That’s one thing that’s great about Champagne, there is such variety. - Christopher S. Ruhland Christopher S. Ruhland Click to tweet

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People talk about Grand Cru champagne with reverence as if it’s categorically better. That’s not true. - Christopher S. Ruhland Christopher S. Ruhland Click to tweet

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There’s plenty of vintage Champagne that’s not very good. There’s plenty of non-vintage Champagne that’s outstanding. - Christopher S. Ruhland Christopher S. Ruhland Click to tweet

 

About Christopher S. Ruhland

Christopher S. Ruhland trained and worked as a lawyer for thirty years before becoming a mediator. He holds the Diploma in Wines & Spirits from the Wine & Spirit Education Trust and he has passed the French Wine Scholar, Bordeaux Master-Level, and Rhône Master-Level examinations given by the Wine Scholar Guild, all with Highest Honors. He is also an avid collector and reader of wine books, which, he says, take up way too much space in his home. He is the author of the award-winning Press for Champagne: A Guide to Enjoying the World’s Greatest Sparkling Wine and gives presentations about Champagne and teaches wine courses.

 

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Transcript

Natalie MacLean 00:00:00 Did the Benedictine monk Dom Perignon really invent champagne? Why is Grand Cru champagne not necessarily the best champagne? And what makes champagne so versatile and food friendly? Arguably the most food friendly wine on the planet. In today’s episode, you’ll hear the stories and tips that answer those questions in our chat with Christopher Rowland, author of the award winning press for champagne A Guide to Enjoying the World’s Greatest Sparkling Wine. By the end of our conversation, you’ll also discover why Chris was so outraged that he wrote a letter to the editor of decanter, one of the world’s most prestigious wine magazines. And then what happened next? The most popular myths and misconceptions about champagne. What you need to know about the main styles of this sparkling wine. Why rosé champagne is made differently from still rosé wine. Some of Chris’s favorite rosé champagne producers. What sparked Chris’s interest in champagne in particular, among all the different wine types, how Chris’s legal career and writing skills transferred to writing about wine and champagne, how his book pressed for champagne differs from other books about champagne.

Natalie MacLean 00:01:16 Why champagne has a universal appeal, even for those who aren’t wine enthusiasts. How did champagne become the wine of celebration, and how the champagne only comes from champagne? France campaign impacted consumer awareness and the global marketing of sparkling wine. Some of the ways the popular culture has impacted certain brands of champagne. How social media has shaped our perception of champagne, and Chris’s perspective on the pricing of champagne, and how it affects accessibility. Who? Do you have a thirst to learn about wine? Do you love.

Natalie MacLean 00:01:58 Stories.

Natalie MacLean 00:01:58 About.

Natalie MacLean 00:01:59 Wonderfully obsessive people, hauntingly beautiful places, and amusingly awkward social situations. Well, that’s the blend here on the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast. I’m your host, Natalie MacLean, and each week I share with you unfiltered conversations with celebrities in the wine world, as well as confessions from my own tipsy journey as I write my third book on this subject. I’m so glad you’re here. Now pass me that bottle, please, and let’s get started.

Natalie MacLean 00:02:36 Welcome to episode 317. Speaking of champagne, there’s a new movie out called Widow Clicquot that you may want to watch over the holidays, as it’s streaming now on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Fandango at Home and Google Play.

Natalie MacLean 00:02:53 I’ll include a link in the show notes. It’s based on the true story of the grand dame of Champagne barred Nicole Selden, who lived from 1777 to 1866 and who at the age of 20 became Madame Legault after marrying the head of a prestigious wine making family. Though their marriage was arranged, a timeless love blossomed between babe Nicole, played by Haley Bennett, and her unconventional, erratic husband Francois. Tom Sturridge that’s a name you might know. After her husband’s untimely death. Barb Nicole flouts convention by assuming the reins of the fledgling wine business they had nurtured together. Okay, so we still fledgling back then. Anyway, steering the company through dizzying political and financial reversals, she defies her critics and revolutionizes the champagne industry to become one of the world’s first great entrepreneurs. It is a magnificent story and the movie has received great reviews, so you’re in for a treat. I interviewed the author of the book Widow Calico Tyler Maceo, on episode 37, so you may want to go back and have a listen to that one if you’re in a bubbly mood.

Natalie MacLean 00:04:08 I also wrote about Veuve Clicquot and the other merry widows of moose, as I call them, the young women who took over the reins of the famous champagne houses. Think Bollinger, Laurent Perrier, Pomeroy, Roederer in my first book, Red, White and Drunken Lover, which you can get from any online retailer. Three of you will win a copy of Chris’s terrific book press for champagne A guide to Enjoying the World’s Greatest Sparkling Wine. All you have to do is email me and let me know that you’d like to win. I’ll choose three people randomly from those who contact me at Natalie at Natalie MacLean. Com it does not matter where you live. And just to prove that point. Peter van Roon of Ottawa and Magda Karani in London, England, have both won a copy of David Way’s Wei’s gorgeous book The Wines of Piedmont. In other bookish news, you know what’s coming if you’re reading the paperback? Or are you back or listening to the audiobook of my memoir, wine, which on fire, rising from the ashes of divorce, defamation and drinking too much.

Natalie MacLean 00:05:09 I would love to hear from you at Natalie at Natalie MacLean dot com. I’d be happy to send you personally signed book plates for the copies you buy for yourself, or to give as gifts. I’ll put a link in the show notes to all retailers worldwide at Natalie MacLean dot com. Forward slash 317. The paperback usually arrives within a day or two of ordering. The e-book and audiobook are instantly available. Poof! Okay, on with the show. Chris Rowland has trained and worked as a lawyer for 30 years before becoming a mediator. He also holds a diploma in Wines and Spirits from the Wine and Spirits Education Trust. He passed the French wine scholar, Bordeaux master level and roan master level examinations given by the Wine Scholar Guild, all with the highest honors. He is also an avid collector and reader of wine books, which he says take up way too much space in his home. I hear you Chris is also the author of the award winning press for champagne, A guide to Enjoying the World’s Greatest Sparkling Wines, and gives presentations about champagne and teaches wine courses as well.

Natalie MacLean 00:06:20 And he joins us now from his home in Austin, Texas. Chris, it’s so great to have you here with us.

Chris Ruhland 00:06:26 Nathalie, thanks for having me. It’s great to be here.

Natalie MacLean 00:06:28 All right. Well, tis the season to think about champagne, though I’m sure you would argue champagne is a year round drink, and we’re going to get into that. But let’s start with some of your most memorable wine moments. Tell us about the letter that you wrote to the editor of decanter, which is one of the world’s most prestigious and well-read wine magazines.

Chris Ruhland 00:06:49 yes. Yeah. It’s funny that only twice have I gotten so outraged about something I read in a publication that I decided I needed to write a letter to the editor. And of course, both of those were wine publications. But in this situation, decanter wrote an article and I can’t remember exactly what they said. But some of the effect that campaign is a wine for celebration. And I wrote in saying that I think it’s a wine for all occasions and you don’t need a celebration.

Chris Ruhland 00:07:16 And I said that, you know, it’s annoying when I go out to dinner and I order champagne and the waiter says, what are you celebrating? Yes. So I came up with the response that I’m celebrating dinner is, if I don’t know, did I order the wrong wine or what? But they published it as the letter of the month, and I got a magnum of Bollinger for my trouble.

Natalie MacLean 00:07:33 Oh my goodness, I must put it on my to do list. Right to decanter.

Natalie MacLean 00:07:37 That’s right.

Natalie MacLean 00:07:37 Magnum of Bollinger. Oh my God, one of the best champagnes and the double size. Now, I agree with you. Like champagne, it’s marketed itself so well, we’ll get to that, that it has become the wine of celebration. But I think you make it a celebration by opening champagne.

Chris Ruhland 00:07:52 That’s exactly right.

Natalie MacLean 00:07:54 I love your reverse theory. Open it on a non occasion and make it an occasion rather than waiting for one. Because I. I think we all have bottles of champagne that are in our cellar, and we’ve just held on to them too long.

Natalie MacLean 00:08:05 And if they don’t age well, well that’s kind of sad. So anyway that’s great. I mean.

Chris Ruhland 00:08:10 There are enough weddings and graduations and promotions for all the champagne we want to drink.

Natalie MacLean 00:08:15 That’s true. Absolutely. Start today with that resolution. Share with us the story about when you were in a New York hotel bar and ordered a glass of champagne.

Chris Ruhland 00:08:25 So this was, you know, late one day after a long day at work, and I just went to get a drink to take it back to my room. I ordered a glass of champagne and just some woman who was standing. I don’t know who she was. She looked at me when I had my glass of champagne and said, isn’t that a girl drink? Oh, no. And I was just taken aback, first of all, by the inappropriateness of the comment in the first place. But I just looked at her and said, no, it’s the best line, and I just walked away. But it just does go to this idea that the wine is so misunderstood.

Chris Ruhland 00:08:55 I mean, first of all, you can drink champagne if you’re a man. I think most people understand that. But there are so many aspects of champagne where it’s like cab and in with all these expectations that we really don’t need, honestly.

Natalie MacLean 00:09:08 Absolutely. Well, James Bond drank champagne. He was a man’s man, I’d say. And then tell us about the dinner that you and your wife enjoyed while you were visiting the champagne region.

Chris Ruhland 00:09:18 So this is my wife’s first time to champagne, I believe, or at least the first time extensively visiting champagne. And she also thought of champagne as an aperitif at the time. So I said, let’s just go to this dinner. And I bet that if we went and said, hey, we want to drink, drink champagne through the meal. This person who is helping us will know exactly what to do. And he did. And what was just cool about it, I don’t remember all the food, I don’t remember the champagnes. I just know that everything worked.

Chris Ruhland 00:09:46 You know, we had different types of champagne with the different foods that we ordered throughout the meal. And that’s one thing that’s great about champagne is there is such variety. There’s so many different styles. Did you really can drink champagne throughout an entire meal? And it can all work differently based on what you’re eating. And so it wasn’t as much a revelation to me, but it was to her. And then it also was the revelation to me was like, other people should get to know this.

Natalie MacLean 00:10:14 Yeah. In addition to the wide variety of styles of champagne, which again, we’ll get to, why do you think champagne is so food friendly? Is it the bubbles? Is it the acidity? What is it?

Chris Ruhland 00:10:24 Yeah, those two things are I think the main component is the high acidity in the bubbles. It’s super refreshing. So like if you see, for example, I know people who drink Diet Coke with everything, and it’s that refreshing nature of that drink or any soft drink like that that makes it appropriate.

Chris Ruhland 00:10:41 And in the same way or in a similar way campaign. As long as the food isn’t sweet and as long as it’s not Extremely spicy so that it gets to overwhelms the champagne. Champagne will go with it. And I know because I’ve had champagne with steak, with cheeseburgers, and you just need to try it to see how it works. But it really does.

Natalie MacLean 00:11:04 That’s great. Okay. Steak and champagne I love it. Is there a particular style of champagne that you would pair with heartier meat dishes?

Chris Ruhland 00:11:12 I would have belonged to noir. Yeah. For sure.

Natalie MacLean 00:11:15 So a white wine made from dark grapes. Okay, exactly. Well, we may as well get into what the styles are so that we have our definitions up front. If you want to take us through it, would you start with Blonde on Blonde first and then we get to Blonde or Noir. How would you sort of categorize them at a high level?

Chris Ruhland 00:11:30 Sure. I mean, there are so many different styles and different ways to slice the pie, but to get to what you’re talking about.

Chris Ruhland 00:11:37 So block to block would be a champagne made entirely from white grapes, and most often that would be 100% Chardonnay. There can also be some Pinot blanc at times, but usually we’re talking about 100% Chardonnay. Then a block De Noir can be either 100% Pinot noir or 100% Pinot munir, or a combination of the two. And then what we mostly see are blends, right? So most champagne, if you go to the store and pick up a bottle, you will normally see it’ll be a blend some chardonnay, some Pinot noir, some Pinot Meunier. And you know, that would just be a blend of the grape varieties. And then of course, you have rosé champagne. And then there are other distinctions to be made, but those are the basic ones that that you often see, right.

Natalie MacLean 00:12:22 Champagne to get their rosé. Most producers make it in a way that’s different from the way most dry still table wines are made. What’s the difference?

Chris Ruhland 00:12:33 Exactly right. As I’m sure you’re you’re aware and your listeners are aware, most rosé is made for still wine in what would be called a maceration method.

Chris Ruhland 00:12:43 Right? So you’re getting some color from the skins of the grape That way, just by making still wine.

Natalie MacLean 00:12:50 As the skins sit on the juice as it’s for masquerading, I should say.

Chris Ruhland 00:12:53 Yeah, exactly. And some rosé champagne is made that way. Sometimes it’s labeled rosé this year, but the majority, right? Exactly. That’s the idea. Yeah, it’s not completely descriptive, but of what actually happens. But it’s more like what you’re talking about was still rosé. Okay. But in champagne, most rosé is made in a way that is very unusual in the world of wine, which is you make a white wine and then you take red wine and you pour some right red wine into the white wine to add the color. Usually somewhere between 5 and 10% of still Pinot noir poured into the white wine, which often can be, you know, it can be Chardonnay, but it can also be a Chardonnay or made white. But that is a very interesting and different way to make rosé, and it’s what’s typically done in champagne.

Natalie MacLean 00:13:44 And why did they choose to do that versus the way that still roses are made?

Chris Ruhland 00:13:49 Yeah, there’s a very practical reason to do it that way, which is that of course, red wine has tannin. Right. And one thing you really don’t want for the most part in champagne is noticeable tannin. And given that you’re making a lot of wine, you’re making it once a year perhaps, or you know it’s during the year, but it’s one harvest, if you make it the same year method, let’s say, and you somehow get too much tannin or too much color, that can be a real problem. So what the method of pouring the red wine is, the white wine does allow you to really control that element. You’ve already made the white wine. It’s good. And you can start doing trials, you know, with how much should you put 6% red wine? Should you put 7%? What makes the most sense? And once you’ve got that dialed in, then you make the wine. And from a perspective of making sure that you get what you want and that you don’t care what you don’t want, it’s a more practical way of doing it.

Natalie MacLean 00:14:47 Interesting. I never knew that explanation. Do you have a couple of favorite rosé champagne producers?

Chris Ruhland 00:14:53 Well, first of all, most champagne producers that are significant make a rosé. I love so many different rosé champagnes. You know, I hate to start at the very top, but Cristal champagne is incredibly expensive and a lot of people are never going to try it. However, if you have the opportunity to try it, it’s outstanding. It may be the best rosé champagne that there is.

Natalie MacLean 00:15:16 Wow, what makes it so great?

Chris Ruhland 00:15:19 You know, it’s funny, I could tell you that by giving you descriptors and berries and things like that. Probably wouldn’t start there. If you’ve never really explored rosé champagne, it’s more the impact that it has on a whole. It’s the complexity, the harmony, the texture and the length of the wine that, if you’ve already had a lot of champagne, just blows your mind. It’s one of those things that it’s the subjective experience that is almost indescribable. But if you were to go down from there, I think, you know, Bill Kurtzman is very well known for its champagnes, for example.

Chris Ruhland 00:15:55 And they and and throughout their line of champagnes, they’re very good. Mostly Co makes outstanding rosé champagnes. So there are a lot of options. I mean now that you’ve got me talking Barack is a grower but I think it’s Campania reminiscent. My French pronunciations are horrible, but something to that effect is also an insanely good rosé.

Natalie MacLean 00:16:21 Well, I’m getting thirsty. Why does your wife call you an extreme hobbyist?

Chris Ruhland 00:16:26 Well, because she’s right. I mean, when I get into a hobby, I dive into it very deeply. So in this example, I couldn’t just learn about wine and read about it and enjoy it. I had to get the double set diploma. I had to write a book about it. It’s the same with just about everything else I get into. And if you saw our garage, you would you would see that in action.

Natalie MacLean 00:16:47 And was there an moment or. champagne that turned you on to champagne in particular.

Chris Ruhland 00:16:53 Yeah. I can’t say for sure that there was. I do remember early on having a bottle of hide seek rare.

Chris Ruhland 00:16:59 It’s now just called rare, which I thought was next level. But really what drove me to be interested in champagne was the diversity of champagne. Finding so many champagnes that were different, that were unusual. And I thought that was fascinating because so many people just they think of champagne as champagne, as if champagnes are interchangeable to some extent. And I found that that was not the case. And that’s what made me really interested in it.

Natalie MacLean 00:17:28 And they tell us about the time you savored an expensive bottle of champagne with a World War One cavalry sword. What inspired that?

Chris Ruhland 00:17:36 It’s kind of a dumb thing to do because you lose champagne when you do that. But I bought this sort of antique shop in New Orleans years ago and New Year’s Eve 2013. It had been a difficult year. I was home with my two sons, who were much younger at the time, of course, and we just had to have a fun night. So we cooked, we watched movies, and I savored a bottle of champagne in the backyard.

Chris Ruhland 00:17:58 And my older son, I think he was maybe 13, 14, a 14 at the time. He took a video of it, which I actually watched again last night, and I laugh every time I watch it. So it was just one.

Natalie MacLean 00:18:10 Did you get it on the first try? The shearing off the top?

Chris Ruhland 00:18:14 It’s pretty straightforward to do. It’s not much of a parlor trick. Anybody can do it and you don’t need a saber. You can just use a knife. What you do is you do it. Once you realize you can do it, you realize it was fun, and then you go back to just opening the bottle the regular way after that.

Natalie MacLean 00:18:29 Absolutely. I mean, there’s lots of videos on YouTube too that can show you how to do that. If you’re curious, you know, because you do want to find the seam, the weakest part of the bottle and go up to the neck with a decisive whatever. But I’ve seen people do it with a spoon, too.

Chris Ruhland 00:18:43 Yeah, there’s all sorts of ways to do it. And you’re right.

Natalie MacLean 00:18:45 The Sabre is much more impressive.

Chris Ruhland 00:18:47 That’s it is. The saber is more fun.

Natalie MacLean 00:18:50 Before I dive into the book, your legal career and your writing seem very different the way I’m writing. How did you make the transition, and were there skills that overlapped?

Chris Ruhland 00:19:00 Yeah. So I think good lawyers are good writers, and lawyers have to investigate, analyze and explain. So it’s not so different to take a subject like champagne and do the same thing. What is different is that legal writing is combined in to a large extent by an expected style. I wrote a book for lawyers when I was practicing law. It was published by a legal publisher. And, you know, I wrote it in a way that lawyers reading it would expect to see. Right? And they would understand. This book was fun because I could just completely break out of that style and write in a way that was just more personal and and fun, frankly, for me to write, I would say that’s the main difference, but but really, to a large extent, there are skills that bleed over.

Natalie MacLean 00:19:44 Yeah, I hear you on that. I was in high tech marketing and we would write customer success stories. That was my favorite part, the research and the writing. It never occurred to me that I could do other types of writing, but there is a transfer of skills and it’s just a much freer space when you get into wine, because it’s really, you know, touching on people’s lives and all facets of human endeavor. It ties to everything.

Chris Ruhland 00:20:06 Yeah. And especially in this case or, you know, I self-published the book, so I didn’t have somebody telling me what they thought I should say or how I should say it. And there’s a freedom in that, too.

Natalie MacLean 00:20:17 Absolutely. So what drew you to the story in the first place? Why? Champagne? We talked about your passion for champagne. There’s so much diversity. Is it just because you sort of focused on it, because it intrigued you most as a wine, and then your extreme hobby ism took over and you decided to write a book?

Chris Ruhland 00:20:34 Well, that’s it to a large extent.

Chris Ruhland 00:20:36 But also, you know, what happened was I would talk to friends about wine people who aren’t wine geeks, right? And they would enjoy wine. And one thing I noticed is that they seem to know less about champagne than they did other wines. They didn’t really even treat it as a wine. It was just a thing to have before you actually got serious and drank wine. And I thought this was really strange and wrong, and I wanted to fix it in the sense of I want people to see what I saw in champagne. So when I wrote the book, that’s what I thought about. I thought about friends who fit into this category, and I thought I would explain champagne to them if they were sitting right in front of me. And then I essentially wrote what I would say.

Natalie MacLean 00:21:21 Right. Yeah. No, it’s great. Great conversational style. Maybe tell us a little bit about how this book is different from other books on champagne. Certainly you weren’t after an encyclopedia about champagne, but how would you explain it to someone who’s thinking about buying your book?

Chris Ruhland 00:21:36 Yeah.

Chris Ruhland 00:21:37 So the book is different not only from other books about champagne, but really from almost every other wine book that’s written these days. So this book is a drinker’s guide to knowing and loving champagne. It’s a guide to telling you or showing you how to understand different styles and types of champagne, how to figure out for yourself what you like and why, and how to explore champagne so that you get the most out of it. So whereas most other wine books focus on the objective facts surrounding a wine like the history of the climate, the production, the producers, etc. my book is all about the subjective experience of the wine drinker, so any facts in the book are there solely to help the reader develop that subjective experience, as opposed to cramming a bunch of knowledge in their heads that you would need, let’s say, for a wine exam?

Natalie MacLean 00:22:28 Right. I think that’s much more interesting in the approach. What was the most surprising thing you learned while researching or writing your book?

Chris Ruhland 00:22:36 I suppose I. I knew a lot about champagne when I was riding it, but I guess the most surprising insight I had was that the book actually served its purpose on me while I was writing it, so I had all the champagnes that were discussed in the book, but I drank them all again while writing it, and it was very interesting to see that I actually appreciated champagne more than I had before.

Chris Ruhland 00:22:59 When I sat down and drank in this comparative way that I lay out in the book. It was interesting to see that, at least for me, it made sense. And I even got I got something out of the book in that way.

Natalie MacLean 00:23:12 That’s great. Well, you are reader number one when you write a book, so let’s hope that’s right. What was the most difficult part of writing the book?

Chris Ruhland 00:23:20 Well, the most difficult part was really trying to find a balance between saying too much and too little. I think when you write a book, a wine book, you have to describe wines and what they taste like with some manner of objectivity. Right? But I really didn’t want to do that too much, because the whole point of the book is to encourage readers to explore champagne on their own terms. You know, so so if I, if I was too descriptive, it just takes some of the joy out of the exploration, you know? And also, I think to the average wine drinker, the person I’m writing to, you know, technical information about wine is really boring.

Chris Ruhland 00:23:58 I don’t know about you, but like my friends, they don’t want to read about yeast strains. They don’t want to read about pruning methods. So I try to give details that you need to know if you want to enjoy champagne a lot more than you do now, but leave out other things that you don’t really need to know. And if you want to know them, you can look them up somewhere.

Natalie MacLean 00:24:20 Oh that’s great. Excellent. And what is the story behind the title of your book? Press for champagne. I like that I want a button.

Chris Ruhland 00:24:27 Yeah. And they are available I have one. So yeah, I mentioned this in the book, but there’s a restaurant in London that has pressed for champagne buttons in the actual booths. It’s a very cool restaurant, not just because of that, but. And the buttons are actually hooked up. So if you press the button, someone will come out and bring you champagne or know that you need champagne. So that was the inspiration. And then I also bought a button, like I said, to hang in my home.

Chris Ruhland 00:24:56 But I also wanted to recognize that there’s just something intrinsically joyful about champagne and the indicator that the book is about drinking champagne. So that’s how I got the title.

Natalie MacLean 00:25:06 Well, that button I wish I had had that in the hospital when I was delivering my son, rather than epidurals like, press for champagne? Yes, please. Yeah. Anyway, I love that. And as you said, you mentioned that champagne delivers immediate joy, laughter, surprise and conviviality. Why do you think champagne has this universal appeal, even for those who aren’t diehard wine enthusiasts?

Chris Ruhland 00:25:30 Well, I think it’s two things. I mean, I think, first of all, Champagne has this tradition of being a wine of celebrations, you know, even if it’s not only for celebrations, you know, it’s at weddings, it’s at parties, it’s at graduations. so you’re starting with a beverage that you already have these memories of that represents happiness, you know, and I also think that the bubbles have something to do with it, too.

Chris Ruhland 00:25:55 I mean, bubbles are just fascinating and they’re kind of fun. And for whatever reason, there’s a certain lightness to a wine that has bubbles. So I think those two things combined create this effect that we see.

Natalie MacLean 00:26:10 Absolutely. There’s a textural thing, but also just bubbles bursting in kind of your nose a little bit tickling your nose I don’t know.

Chris Ruhland 00:26:18 Yeah, absolutely.

Natalie MacLean 00:26:19 So champagne has definitely earned its status as the wine of celebration. But how did it do that? When you write in the book, it lost out to Burgundy 300 years ago when it was trying to be the wine of the court. And of course, that’s what set the fashion. Back then they didn’t have social media. So how did how did it get to be the wine of celebration?

Chris Ruhland 00:26:41 Well, so what I talk about about losing that competition, that’s when, you know, champagne made still wines, which, you know, it’s important to recognize champagne has made still wines for many, many hundreds of years, much longer than it’s been making sparkling wines.

Chris Ruhland 00:26:56 But, you know, the association between champagne and celebrations has really deep historical roots in champagne. French kings were coronated in France, in the champagne region, with wine, you know, going back to the fifth century. And so this association between French royalty and champagne again, it wasn’t sparkling champagne. It has very deep roots. And then you have Louis the 14th, who was a big advocate of champagne. And again, the court being important, you know, over time you also had marketing Vaguely. When champagne became sparkling, it became marketed as the wine of royalty, the wine of the czar. After that, there was no marketing where it was on cruise ships like the Titanic, and it was in advertising for airplanes and automobiles when cars were a luxury item.

Natalie MacLean 00:27:51 Yes, well, James Bond had a foldout compartment, and out came the champagne glasses. Right? Exactly. Not that we advocate for that today, but it was pretty nifty.

Chris Ruhland 00:28:00 A lifeline, yes, for sure. I would love to have one just sit in my driveway and use it.

Chris Ruhland 00:28:05 Yes.

Natalie MacLean 00:28:06 Exactly.

Chris Ruhland 00:28:07 Yeah. So it’s those two things. I mean, it’s the historical roots. And then frankly, it’s just a lot of marketing. Plus it’s the bubbles again they’re fun.

Natalie MacLean 00:28:15 And I heard the Titanic was one of the few ships that was not. What do you call launched or baptized by breaking a bottle of champagne over its hull. I don’t know if you came across that myth.

Chris Ruhland 00:28:25 I don’t know if it was or not, but again, that’s another thing, you know, breaking champagne. It’s kind of morphed into sparkling wine if you watch it. Formula one races, for example. Now they use an Italian sparkling wine. I understand next year they’re going to go back to using champagne, which I think is is nice, but but yeah, all sorts of things like that, just in combination have led to this, this feeling that we have about wine and celebrations. Yeah.

Natalie MacLean 00:28:50 It is the wine of first, first baby, first marriage, probably second marriage, third marriage.

Natalie MacLean 00:28:54 But, any marriage? Yeah. First yacht, whatever. Now, your book debunks some popular champagne myths. Can you share a couple of those with us?

Chris Ruhland 00:29:05 There are a lot of them, I would say. Well, to take a couple I can think of offhand. So I hear people talk about Grand Cru champagne, for example, with reverence. And I talk about this in the book as if Grand Cru champagne is categorically better than champagne without that distinction. That’s not true. It’s something I explain in the book.

Natalie MacLean 00:29:26 And maybe you could just give us a Coles notes version. Why isn’t it as we think the best.

Chris Ruhland 00:29:32 And my attempt to to do this briefly, it’s going to be the best I can. But essentially in champagne, Grand Cru refers to an entire village, not a vineyard as it would. It doesn’t say Burgundy. The whole system of Grand Cru and Premier Cru came out of a pricing scheme in the early 20th century between growers and producers in an effort to really make transactions smoother.

Chris Ruhland 00:29:57 So they just designated entire villages Grand Cru, and producers pay a certain price for those grapes, no matter where they came from, in the village and then and then down. But it became very political, and the system doesn’t exist anymore. But champagne is still permitted to be labeled with those with Grand Cru or Premier Cru. From the villages that were such at the time, the system collapsed. And so you can find Grand Cru champagne just happens to be from a Grand Cru village. That’s not very good. And then you have champagnes. Like just to give example, we talked about Cristal. That is not Grand Cru champagne, neither is Dom Perignon. Some of the best champagne glass is not Grand Cru champagne. So it’s unfortunate that there’s this perception. Why don’t you get me started with this one? It may. I may go on too long.

Natalie MacLean 00:30:49 No, that’s a good explanation. I didn’t I wasn’t aware of that one. Is there another one, another myth you would like to debunk?

Chris Ruhland 00:30:56 Well, I also think that you hear people saying that vintage champagne is better than non-vintage champagne.

Chris Ruhland 00:31:01 That’s something else. That is just, again, as a category, you can’t say it’s true. In certain limited instances it can be true. But again, there’s plenty of vintage champagne that’s not very good. There’s plenty of non-vintage champagne that’s outstanding. So this is, again, one of the things I talked about in the book is trying to get our arms around what’s true and what’s not in champagne and why. To help you figure out, you know, to just to cut through some of the bars in champagne, basically.

Natalie MacLean 00:31:31 Sure, that’s an important distinction because if I understand correctly and just correct me if I’m wrong, Non-vintage champagne is kind of the signature of the champagne houses. They try to be consistent year after year. It’s kind of their big focus. Whereas vintage champagne is declared, I don’t know if it’s 3 or 4 years out of ten, maybe more now with climate change, but that’s often not what they consider the proof of their mastery of champagne making. It’s the non-vintage champagne that is their pride.

Chris Ruhland 00:32:01 Yeah, it can depend. That’s the thing. It really can depend on producers. And we could go through examples. But I mean, again, that’s I think that’s closer to the truth what you just said. But again, it’s not totally reliable in every instance. You are right in a sense that, I mean, a lot of effort is put in a non-vintage champagnes, often because the vast majority of bottles that are purchased or non-vintage champagnes.

Natalie MacLean 00:32:24 Right. Okay. You discuss the legal definition of champagne and efforts to protect its name. How has the champagne only comes from champagne? France campaign impacted consumer awareness and the global sparkling wine market.

Chris Ruhland 00:32:40 I think it’s been good for champagne, but also good for other sparkling wines. It’s a situation where I think there’s more awareness now that champagne is one type of sparkling wine. Enough people have said that over and over and over again. You know, Prosecco is not champagne. It’s a different type of sparkling wine made somewhere else. In Prosecco, for example, it’s the best selling sparkling wine by volume, so lots of people enjoy it.

Chris Ruhland 00:33:02 But it’s not champagne. And so I think it’s helped champagne maintain its price proposition, frankly, by saying that there’s something exclusive here that we only we have. And I think that’s one of the more significant impacts, probably effects probably of of that campaign and probably what it was designed for.

Natalie MacLean 00:33:23 And did you say Prosecco is the number one type of sparkling wine that’s.

Chris Ruhland 00:33:27 Sold in the.

Natalie MacLean 00:33:28 Volume by volume. Yes. Okay, interesting. And still on the marketing vein, some houses like Bollinger have tied into popular culture. This may have been before product placement in movies and such that it may have just been happenstance, but James Bond being a prime example, and he had the glove compartment that would come out and he would always reference his Bolly. Do you think that kind of branding enhances or detracts from the appreciation of champagne?

Chris Ruhland 00:33:58 I think I would say both.

Natalie MacLean 00:34:00 Okay, yes.

Chris Ruhland 00:34:01 On the one hand, I mean, this is true of any wine or really almost anything we consume. You know, the way we experience a wine we drink, it is influenced by more than the liquid alone.

Chris Ruhland 00:34:12 Right? Unless you’re drinking the wine blind. And we know that from all sorts of studies that the label and your associations with the label are going to matter in terms of how you experience this wine. So if you have a positive association with Bollinger because you saw a James Bond movie, I mean, I think that could contribute to your appreciation of the wine. You could enjoy it more, and that’s a very reasonable conclusion. And then, you know, of course, there are situations where branding can backfire too. So it could be a double edged sword. But so I think it’s, you know, it’s both I mean, I think it does enhance our appreciation of the wine when we see, you know, Dom Perignon enjoyed by a celebrity, let’s say. Or in your case, Bollinger with James Bond. And then at the same time, you can also just enjoy it for what it is. You can get beyond that to some extent over time, perhaps, and enjoy it for what’s in the bottle.

Chris Ruhland 00:35:09 Sure.

Natalie MacLean 00:35:10 Then speaking of celebrities, you mentioned Jay-Z’s boycott of Crystal crystals made by Louis Roederer. What happened? What what was going on there? Jay-Z, the rap artist also married to Beyonce, I think.

Chris Ruhland 00:35:24 Yes, I believe you’re correct. Yeah. So. So in that case, you know, he had mentioned Cristal in his music and apparently was a fan of Crystal. And then the managing director of Rollie Rotor at the time, did an interview with The Economist and was asked whether Crystal’s association with hip hop music was bad for the brand, something like that. And he said something to the effect of it might be, but we can’t stop them from drinking it, which, you know, wasn’t particularly sensitive. And so Jay-Z reacted to that and only the kind of way that he would, which is decide he’s going to buy his own or create his own champagne brand. So he bought almond Rock, which is also known as Ace of Spades, I think since then he sold half of it to LBM h, and he started mentioning Ace of Spades in his music.

Chris Ruhland 00:36:18 So back to what we’re talking about are branding. If you don’t do it right, it can go wrong in some directions. And in their case, you know, that was something that they probably regret. I would.

Natalie MacLean 00:36:31 Probably. I think they were a little put off by the fact he was pairing Crystal and Cheetos in some of the lyrics, but hey, could be brilliant.

Chris Ruhland 00:36:40 See, the thing is, I mean, personally, I think his association with the brand was very positive. I don’t, I don’t think his or even any hip hop music association with Cristal or Dom is negative. I think it’s a good thing. So I think they kind of lost an important customer there.

Natalie MacLean 00:36:58 Absolutely. It has the potential of revitalizing the brand the way Madonna has always sort of paired up with younger singers and has had this amazingly long career as a result. I think there’s some there could be real value there.

Chris Ruhland 00:37:11 Yeah, absolutely.

Natalie MacLean 00:37:12 Yeah. So the narrative about Dom Perignon, the blind Benedictine monk who’s credited with inventing champagne, is actually not true.

Natalie MacLean 00:37:23 What parts are true and what aren’t.

Chris Ruhland 00:37:26 Well, so.

Chris Ruhland 00:37:26 Okay, so the part that’s not true is he didn’t that he invented sparkling wine or invented sparkling champagne. So champagne wasn’t a sparkling wine in any significant way until after his death. So. So I’d say the major part isn’t true, but what is true is he was a cellar master of the abbey and Oba. You can actually visit the abbey today. At the time, he was just a very important figure in champagne in terms of wine production, advancing wine quality, advancing great quality. He was very focused on improving the quality of the vines. He mastered gently pressing the grapes to make white wine from red grapes, which is something that’s important in champagne. So he was an important figure. But what happened was this myth around him, and he wasn’t blind either, as far as anybody knows. So the cartoonish Dom Perignon that we have now, There’s a statute. If you go to muet, there’s a statue of Dom Perignon. Well, nobody knows what he looks like.

Chris Ruhland 00:38:26 Looked like. So there aren’t any photographs or paintings on.

Natalie MacLean 00:38:29 So he’s like Duncan Hines.

Chris Ruhland 00:38:32 Yeah, right. Yeah. So.

Chris Ruhland 00:38:34 Yeah. So. So there’s this cartoonish version of him that Mowat very smartly appropriated in the early 20th century for its prestige cuvée. And that’s how it lives on.

Natalie MacLean 00:38:47 Wow. Okay. All right. How do you think social media has played a role in shaping our perception of champagne?

Chris Ruhland 00:38:54 Yeah. It’s interesting. I mean, I think so social media has has done a few things that I think are very positive in terms of champagne. I think one is to some extent it’s promoted champagne to a younger audience. Basically. Back to what you were talking about earlier. Champagne just can’t be an old person’s drink it. Right. If they’re if they want to be successful. So the fact that you see younger people posting photographs of champagne. It just really broadens the audience for champagne, I think, which is a very positive thing. I think also the fact that social media is constant, there’s to some extent there’s this d seasonal ization of champagne consumption, you know.

Chris Ruhland 00:39:39 You mentioned that, you know, and it’s true a lot of champagne is purchased in December. but when you look at social media and you get a lot of wine pictures, you see champagne being consumed every single day in all sorts of settings. And so I think it’s helped promote this idea that you can drink champagne in March on your patio or whatever. And one of the things I think that’s been very positive.

Natalie MacLean 00:40:06 Yeah, they call it well, they have called champagne the poinsettia wine because 75% of sales traditionally was between American Thanksgiving and Christmas. So or the holidays. Let’s talk about another historic figure. Winston Churchill. What was his influence on champagne?

Chris Ruhland 00:40:24 Israel influences. You drink a lot. He drank a lot of it.

Natalie MacLean 00:40:27 So he was good for sales.

Chris Ruhland 00:40:29 Yeah, right.

Chris Ruhland 00:40:30 He drank a lot of it. He was a big consumer of food and alcohol, and he really loved champagne. And so then they have named their prestige cuvée, which is a wonderful champagne. Winston Churchill. And if you look on their website and they’re advertising and they play up this connection between the house and Winston Churchill, I think he’s still a popular figure or a well known, positively viewed figure.

Chris Ruhland 00:40:57 And and to that extent, you know, they’ve written off of that.

Natalie MacLean 00:41:03 Right, right. Yeah. The man was prodigious in his output, his writing output. I don’t know how he did it when he seemed to be drinking all the time.

Chris Ruhland 00:41:11 Yeah, and eating all the time. Yeah.

Natalie MacLean 00:41:13 What a mind. How do you feel about the luxury pricing of champagne? You know, you’ve mentioned Cristal. What does that go for these days? Is it $500 a pop? Like a bottle? Gosh.

Chris Ruhland 00:41:23 Well, first of all, I just have to say you’re pointing to the one part of my book that didn’t age well, which is the prices in 2021. Although I did say in the book that there were 2021 prices. But my gosh, since then, between this general inflation and then increase in champagne prices, the prices have gone way up. So Cristal, which in 2021, you know, you could find for $200 is still a good amount of money.

Natalie MacLean 00:41:52 U.S. dollars. You tack on 30% for us in Canada.

Chris Ruhland 00:41:56 That’s okay.

Chris Ruhland 00:41:56 In Texas. Yeah, in U.S. dollars, $200, you know, now is well over $300 depending on the vintage. Obviously, if you’re looking for older and outstanding vintages, you can pay a lot more. But yeah, every time I look, the prices are going up. It’s quite depressing, but it is what it is.

Natalie MacLean 00:42:17 Do you think that’s just one of the marketing factors? As you say, that is what it is. Or do you think? Does it hurt champagne at all because it just makes it so exclusive that only that. Well, that a lot of younger consumers can’t even touch it. They’re not even going to.

Chris Ruhland 00:42:33 I mean, I mean, I think.

Chris Ruhland 00:42:34 There are a few things going on. First of all, there are some champagnes that are still reasonably priced. You can still buy champagne. So I’m just going to say that everything I say is in US dollars. So you can still find champagnes for 40, $40, $45, not price that differently from other wines of the same quality level.

Chris Ruhland 00:42:52 But yes, with the higher priced champagnes, I think obviously you just have supply and demand in play, right? But what you also have is the fact that luxury goods of all types, they need to be thought of as luxury goods to perpetuate that kind of success and feeling you see this with all sorts of things. I mean, I don’t know how much does an Hermes handbag cost? And should it cost that much? Right. So. Or even with the wine. You see this in Napa Valley all the time. We’re pricing for some wines, or it’s intentionally very high simply to put it in that category of a luxury wine. So I think, you see.

Chris Ruhland 00:43:32 I think all those factors are at play. Sure, sure. Absolutely.

Natalie MacLean 00:43:36 Well, there you have it. I hope you enjoyed our chat with Chris. Here are my takeaways. Number one, did the Benedictine monk Dom Perignon invent champagne? Short answer no. The Benedictine monk credited with inventing champagne did not invent it. The wines from the champagne region weren’t even sparkling until after his death.

Natalie MacLean 00:43:57 But what is true, Chris explains, is that he was cellar master of the abbey and an important figure in champagne wine production, and in advancing its quality. He was focused on improving the quality of the vines as well, and mastered gently pressing the grapes to make white wine from red grapes, which is something that’s really important in this region. He wasn’t blind either, as far as anyone knows. But hey, the marketing myth persists. Number two, why is Grand Cru champagne not necessarily the best champagne? Chris notes that he often hears people talk about Grand Cru champagne with reverence, as if it’s categorically better than champagne. Without that distinction, I’m sure that drives him bats because it’s just not true. The whole system of Grand Cru and Premier Cru were based on a pricing scheme in the early 20th century between growers and producers to make transactions smoother, so they designated entire villages and all the producers from those villages, and they would get a certain price for their grapes, no matter the vineyard in which they were grown.

Natalie MacLean 00:45:02 That system does not exist anymore, but champagne is still permitted to be labeled with those Grand Cru and Premier Cru designations based on the villages that were originally designated as such before the whole system collapsed. You can find Grand Cru champagne that happens to be from a Grand Cru village. That’s not very good, Chris explains. And then you can find champagnes like Louis Roederer, Crystal and Dom Perignon itself that are not Grand Cru champagnes. And finally, what makes champagne so versatile and food friendly? Chris recounts the story of the champagne dinner he and his wife had while in the region. To prove the point of its versatility, they requested to pair each dish with champagne from start to finish, and although he didn’t remember the specific dishes or the particular champagnes, must have been a humdinger of a dinner, he did recall that it was quite a remarkable experience. As he mentioned, everything worked all the different types of champagne with all the different dishes. That’s great. That’s what’s great about champagne. There is such variety with so many different styles.

Natalie MacLean 00:46:10 You really can drink it throughout an entire meal. In the show notes, you’ll find a full transcript of my conversation with Chris, links to his website, and book the video versions of these conversations on Facebook and YouTube live, and where you can order my book online now, no matter where you live. If you missed episode 37, go back and take a listen. As I mentioned, I chat about Champagne and Napa Valley with author Tyler Mazzeo, and I’ll share a short clip with you now to whet your appetite.

Tilar Mazzeo 00:46:38 A Widow Clicquot and ended up doing research and found this amazing story about a woman who not only became history’s first international business woman, but who invented a process which I know we’re going to talk about a little bit called Remy Walsh that is still used in the wine industry today. And it was really the thing that moved champagne from being a luxury product that was so expensive that only the kings and queens of France could afford it to a luxury product, that those of us who are lucky of a weekend can take a sip of.

Natalie MacLean 00:47:14 You won’t want to miss next week when we continue our chat with Chris. If you liked this episode or learned even one little teensy thing from it, please email or tell a friend about the podcast this week, especially someone you know who’d be interested in learning more about the fascinating history and evolution of champagne. It’s easy to find my podcast. Just tell them to search for Natalie MacLean Wine on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, their favorite podcast app, or they can listen to the show on my website at Natalie MacLean. Com forward slash podcast. Email me if you have a SIP tip question, or if you’d like to win one of three copies of Chris’s book. Or if you’ve read my book or listening to it, I would love to hear your thoughts about this episode. Were you surprised about the history of champagne? Do you have a favorite champagne? Let me know! Email me at Natalie at Natalie MacLean dot com. In the show notes, you’ll find a link to take a free online food and wine pairing class with me called the five Wine and Food Pairing Mistakes That Can Positively Ruin Your Dinner and How to Fix Them Forever at Natalie MacLean.

Natalie MacLean 00:48:18 Com forward slash class. That’s all in the show notes at Natalie MacLean dot com forward slash 317. Thank you for taking the time to join me here. I hope something great is in your class this week. Perhaps. What else? Champagne?

Natalie MacLean 00:48:40 You don’t want to miss one juicy episode of this podcast, especially the secret full bodied bonus episodes that I don’t announce on social media. So subscribe for free now at Natalie MacLean. Com forward slash subscribe. Meet me here next week. Cheers!

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