What are common mistakes when making Coteaux Champenois and Rosé des Riceys?

Using Champagne for recipes where Coteaux Champenois would be better (save the bubbles for drinking — still wine is better for cooking). Expecting Coteaux Champenois red to taste like Burgundy (it's leaner, more tart — its own expression). Ignoring vintage variation (Coteaux Champenois is only good in warm years — bad vintages produce thin, acidic wine). Treating Rosé des Riceys like Provence rosé (it's fuller-bodied, more complex, meant for food not poolside sipping). Over-chilling either wine

Return to the chapter Return to the chapter

BV.32.0001 Beverage Terroir

Coteaux Champenois and Rosé des Riceys

Champagne — Still Wines

Coteaux Champenois and Rosé des Riceys

II · Description

Coteaux Champenois and Rosé des Riceys are the two still wine appellations of the Champagne region — virtually unknown outside France, produced in tiny quantities, and far more useful in the kitchen than the sparkling wine that overshadows them. Coteaux Champenois (AOC 1974) is the still wine of Champagne: white (from Chardonnay), red (from Pinot Noir), or rosé, made from the same grapes and the same vineyards as Champagne but without the secondary fermentation that creates the bubbles. In the cool Champagne climate, these still wines are lean, high-acid, mineral-driven — the whites resemble austere Chablis, the reds are pale, tart, Burgundy-like Pinot Noir (the village of Bouzy produces the most regarded red Coteaux Champenois, sometimes called 'Bouzy Rouge'). Production is minuscule: only in exceptional vintages do producers bother making still wine (most years, all grapes go to sparkling). In the kitchen: Coteaux Champenois blanc is the ideal cooking wine for Champagne recipes — it has the same terroir character as Champagne at a fraction of the price (€15-25 vs. €25-40+), and without the waste of evaporating expensive bubbles. Rosé des Riceys (AOC 1947) is one of France's rarest and most extraordinary wines: a still rosé made exclusively in the commune of Les Riceys (Aube), from Pinot Noir, using a unique saignée method where the must is macerated with skins for 2-3 days, then drawn off at the precise moment when the winemaker detects the 'goût des Riceys' — a specific hazelnut-and-wild-strawberry character that defines the wine. If the moment is missed, the wine loses its character and is declassified. Annual production: approximately 40,000 bottles from the entire appellation. Rosé des Riceys is the ultimate pairing wine for Chaource cheese and for the charcuterie of the Aube. Both wines deserve recognition as serious expressions of Champagne terroir, not merely the sparkling wine's poor relations.

III · The Thread

Txakoli (Basque still wine from sparkling region)
Crémant regions' still wines
English still Pinot Noir (cool-climate expression)
Austrian Sekt vs. still Grüner Veltliner

I Beverage And Pairing II Provenance 500 Drinks Cocktails III Provenance 500 Drinks Non Alcoholic IV Provenance 500 Drinks Wine V Provenance 500 Drinks Beer VI Provenance 500 Drinks Pairing Guides VII Provenance 500 Drinks Traditional And Cultural VIII Provenance 500 Drinks Spirits IX Provenance 500 Drinks Coffee X Provenance 500 Drinks Tea

Further training content for this entry is being completed.