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Percentage of wine exported globally in 2017 that was exported as bulk wine—a big rise over previous years. Bulk wine is wine that a producer sells (usually inexpensively) as unlabeled, unbottled wine. The buyer then bottles the wine and sells it under its own label. Although bulk wine has negative connotations, experts who specialize in it say quality has increased. Bulk wine is a $3.5 billion business globally.

La Grande Dame, Cristal, and Comtes de Champagne are all examples of:

A. Prestige Cuvées

B. Grand Marques

C. Blanc de Blancs

D. Premier Grand Crus

About 40% of all the Champagne sold this year will be sold over the next three months, so it’s a good time to brush up on Champagne terminology. Proprietary names like La Grande Dame, Cristal and Comtes de Champagne are the names that Champagne Houses give to their very top wines which are known as prestige cuvées. The grapes for a prestige cuvee come from the best (and highest-rated) vineyards the House has access to, and the wines usually spend a very long time on the yeast lees–sometimes as much as ten years. As a result, prestige cuvées are usually both a) exquisite and b) expensive. La Grande Dame, Cristal and Comtes de Champagne are the prestige cuvées of Veuve Clicquot, Roederer and Taittinger respectively.

Where Plush Lives

Merlot is one of the world’s most planted wine grapes and is now planted on every continent except Antarctica. In fact, it would be quicker to list the countries where it is not grown than… Continue reading

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