1971 Champagne MUMM Cordon Rouge ISLE OF WINE

This wine of kings comes in many flavors and guises. There are the light and frothy quaffs, and rich and weighty renderings. There are flavors of citrus, apples and minerals, and flavors of yeast, malt and toast. Some are mindful of freshly baked bread and others of roasted nuts. All of these seductive qualities are products of both nature and the winemaker's art, linked by technique and by age.

Of all the aspects of wine drinking, none is more confusing for novices and long-time drinkers alike than the question of age. Myths abound: All reds need time to mature, all whites should be drunk young and all Champagnes should be immediately consumed to appreciate their freshness. Industry statistics clearly show that nearly 98 percent of wine sold in the United States is consumed within a day or two of purchase. Even makers of the most age-worthy reds happily sell their wine to restaurants where they know it will be dispensed and consumed before the ink is dry on the bill of sale.

Given Champagne's strong identification as a special occasion, celebratory beverage, its makers have had their hands full just getting the general public to accept it as an everyday, fine wine, and an exceptionally food-friendly wine at that. The next step, perhaps even more challenging, is to understand Champagne as a wine that can improve with age.

Some Champenois are concerned that consumers won over by Champagne's freshness and nuance may be unprepared for the difference in flavor of aged Champagne. Louis Roederer Winemaker Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon says "some of these flavors are so particular, people are surprised by the character of old Champagne." He believes that 95 percent of their customers would have trouble understanding some of these flavor facets and aging anomalies.

Even the devotees who make up the 5 percent that Lecaillon would call savvy may be hard-pressed to explain the intricacies of aging or debate the merits of the complete Champagne-aging process, which can be divided into two separate - and very different - methods. The essential second fermentation that takes place in the bottle and creates Champagne's distinctive bubbles leads directly to the first method of maturation, which occurs before disgorging and is known as aging on the lees (the heavy, yeasty sediment created during the secondary fermentation and eventually expelled). Aging the finished wine on the cork after disgorgement represents the second method - a process that is essentially optional and even controversial. Few would dispute the value of extensive aging on the lees, which generally imparts toasty, doughy flavors and complexity, but there is an ongoing debate about whether aging on the cork improves a Champagne or deadens it.

"When aged on the lees, preserved from oxidation, a Champagne will keep more freshness and will taste crisper," due to the wine's natural acidity, says Fabrice Rosset, president of Champagne Deutz. "Wine aged on the cork has received plenty of oxygen in the disgorging process, so we move from the reductive process of lees-aging to the oxidative process of aging on a cork."

Cork-aging is an issue, a loss of control, if you will, for every winery. According to Dacotah Sutor, a U.S. spokesperson for Charles Heidsieck Champagne, cork-aging yields a wine that "will slowly deepen in color, lose some of its bubble and take on the caramel and burnt flavors that are the classic characteristics of maderization."

Palates are divided on the benefits of cork-aging. Over the years (and particularly in researching this article), I have tasted many Champagnes aged on the cork well beyond their release date and continue to marvel at the irony of a white wine that is capable of aging longer than most reds. The resulting qualities that develop are almost never explored by consumers and seldom discussed by the Champagne makers themselves.

"True, we don't talk much about it," says Christian Pol-Roger, general manager of the grande marque that bears his family's name. "The fact is, some Champagnes age well [on the cork] and others do not, but beyond that, it is really just a question of taste." The "taste" he refers to is sometimes called goût Anglais (the British propensity for very old, even oxidized, wine) by the French. Those who possess an English palate generally revel in the slightly maderized qualities imparted by cork aging.

Perhaps the subject has been glossed over by some houses because of market realities as well. Ed McCarthy, author of Champagne for Dummies, calls the myth that Champagne doesn't age after release "Stuff and nonsense!"

McCarthy ventures the hypothesis that Champagne houses have an economic interest in selling more wine by convincing consumers that the wine they purchase is best consumed within the year. "Of course they want you to drink it as soon as possible and buy more," he asserts. "They don't tell you that Champagne almost always improves with some [cork] aging."

Of course, some Champagne is more suited to the process than others. In her book Vintage Timecharts, wine critic Jancis Robinson notes that while few non-vintage Champagnes have a long life ahead of them, the best vintage Champagnes can become significantly more complex with aging on the cork, providing they are properly stored.

Thierry Gasco, chef de caves at Champagne Pommery, says storage is crucial for aging Champagne on the cork, both at the winery or in the consumer's possession. "Champagne is sensitive; it must be kept under ideal conditions to slow the oxidation process."

Christian Pol-Roger agrees: "Storage is terribly important: darkness, no vibration, the right humidity and temperature - these are all important aspects of how a Champagne ages."

The generally perceived delicacy of Champagne is in stark contrast to the robustness of the wine when it is aged under ideal conditions. A well-made Champagne is capable of gaining remarkable complexities with cork aging, although the characteristics vary greatly from wine to wine and blend to blend.

Count me among those who are willing to lay down a few bottles of fine Champagne in the hope that the added complexity will be worth the wait. Most of the winemakers with whom I spoke agree. Pommery's Gasco looks to gain flavor components that include dried apricots, vanilla and mocha; Bollinger Export Director Hervé Augustin finds toasted bread, butter, nuts and mushrooms. Jacques Peters, Champagne Veuve Clicquot's cellar master, marked the millennium with non-vintage Clicquot that he had aged for an additional five years after release. "I love the added richness and round-ness the Champagne develops with age," he says.

Consumer perception aside, Louis Roederer's Lecaillon also endorses cork aging: "I always put my [own] wine aside for some time."

Deutz's Rosset believes Champagne is that rare wine that can be enjoyed at many stages. "There are times for young and fresh wines, other times for mature and complex wines," he says diplomatically. "I like Champagne at every stage of evolution, but I particularly like the balance of freshness and vinosity of mature Champagne."

But before a Champagne is disgorged and corked, its maker must first decide how much time it requires on the lees. The period can be as short as twelve months for non-vintage Champagne or as long as six or seven years for high-quality, vintage Champagne. The duration varies for a given vintage and a given blend, but ultimately lees aging must yield a wine that befits a particular house's style.

Some houses emphasize citrus flavors and crisp acidity - a fresh style that calls for conservative aging on the lees - while others strive for a richer style that requires more extended lees aging.

"The longer you keep the wines on their lees," Bollinger's Augustin says, "the better you allow the yeast to free up new aromas and contribute to the overall flavor."

Both the fresher and richer styles can be enhanced and underscored with careful aging.

Double your pleasure

Champagne ages in several ways, all facets of which are related to both the primary fermentation and the aforementioned secondary fermentation.

Some houses, such as Krug and Bollinger, may ferment the base wine in oak barrels, which increase oxidation, though most Champagne is first fermented in stainless steel tanks. The grapes are usually harvested before they are fully ripe to ensure a backbone of acidity that will halt the primary fermentation at about 9 to 10 percent alcohol content. And maturity curves differ for chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier - the region's three legal grape varieties.

After this primary fermentation, wines made from one or more of the three varieties, are blended together to make a cuvée. This cuvée is dosed with yeast and a bit of sugar, then bottled to undergo its second fermentation.

It is from the resulting sediment (the lees) that flavors are imparted to the wine, adding complexity and dimension beyond what was achieved in the primary fermentation. As the lees slowly decompose, the wine's flavors are enriched.

The yeast and sugar also contribute to the creation of carbon dioxide. Because the bottle is now tightly sealed, the gas cannot escape. Instead, it dissolves in the wine and will emerge as millions of effusive bubbles when the cork is eventually popped.

To be sold as non-vintage Champagne, French law dictates the wine must age at least 15 months after the second fermentation begins, and three years if it will bear a vintage date. The best houses, however, invariably opt for longer aging periods to add more complexity to the final product, giving their non-vintage wines three years or more, and their vintage-dated wines as much as five, and even longer for luxury cuvées.

The question of when to disgorge the sediment is paramount, for it represents the moment when the Champagne house strikes a tricky balance between quality and commerce.

"A Champagne is released, ideally, for its peak quality selling period," affirms Dennis Yeast, the U.S. importer of Charles Ellner Champagne.

But when is that?

Daniel Thibault, Charles Heidsieck's winemaker, has authored an impressive chart detailing the difference over time in the proteins and amino acids, the process of change called autolysis (so much nicer a word than decay) that gives Champagne much of its toasty, yeasty and mushroomy character.

"Immediately after beginning its secondary fermentation in the bottle," he explains, "there is a dip in flavor and complexity that slowly begins to rise again. By the time the wine has reached the legal minimum of one year's aging on the lees, flavor and complexity have only just regained their original levels at the point the fermentation was started." He says the legally mandated three months of aging in bottle after disgorgement helps the dosage (the final addition of of sweetened wine used to top up the bottle after the yeast plug is expelled) marry with the wine, but it's really nothing more than a brief interlude that adds only nominal aged character.

When it comes to lees-aging, it is from the one-year mark forward that things literally become more interesting. "From the one-year point to five years on the lees, the aging curve traces a steady rise in the transformation of proteins and amino acids, and after five years the curve nearly flattens as the development slows markedly," Thibault says.

It is that slowed-down aging process that allows Champagne houses to keep undisgorged wines cellared for a very long time. "For each house," he says, "the question of when to disgorge, ending the aging on the lees, is a delicate balance of the costs involved in keeping the wine to gain more complexity and selling it to recoup money invested."

Contact with the lees over time enhances the depth and complexity of the flavors and aromas. According to Dacotah Sutor, the change is most significant in the second and third years that the Champagne rests in the cellars. When it passes the three-year mark, there is a shift in momentum.

Rosset believes that with age, "chardonnay expresses nutty flavors of brioche, pastries, toffee and honey" - qualities, he says, that add a sense of richness, but do not develop without time in the bottle. Chardonnay is, after all, the slowest-maturing of the three grapes in the Champagne palette, a fact that often comes as a great surprise to wine lovers.

Charles Heidsieck's Sutor says the misconception may stem from a national palate predisposed to ripe wine. "American winemakers have a mixed relationship with the chardonnay grape," she says. "They tend toward making oaky, upfront wines that reach their full potential early on; the French have a history of creating age-worthy Chardonnays."

To understand the benefits of extended lees aging is one thing, but to be able to go out and purchase such a wine, chill it and pop the cork is quite another. At the very least, it's illuminating, and sometimes even exhilarating.

Though not often emphasized in marketing strategies for fear of cannibalizing the non-vintage segment - which is every house's bread and butter - extra age is the primary reason for purchasing vintage-dated Champagne, which invariably is pricier than its non-vintage counterpart. The Mis en Cave program really represents one of the first opportunities for a consumer without a wine cellar and deep pockets to experience first-hand the differences aging on the lees brings about in Champagne. The lessons one can learn from the Mis en Cave wines are transferable to nearly every Champagne house: what is gained by lees aging, and the option to gain added complexity with bottle age.

In the final analysis, most Champagnes will continue to be consumed soon after purchase. For the average bottle, the complexities gained by age will be realized only for the duration of its stay in the cellars of Reims.

But at least there is an option. Once disgorged, Champagnes, are, indeed, age-worthy on the cork. By creating the right storage conditions and exercising a degree of patience, there are new flavor dimensions to be discovered. In fact, I can think of no wine for which the cliche "nothing ventured, nothing gained" is more applicable.

Fabrice Rosset says that when all is said and done, his preference is for aged Champagne. Half-jokingly, he suggests taking a bottle of Deutz, and putting it under your pillow for 15 years. "When you share it with other aficionados, you will realize again that Champagne is not only bubbles, it is wine!"

770ml

Unstated% Alcohol Volume