Pauline Lhote | |
---|---|
Born | |
Nationality | French |
Alma mater | University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne |
Occupation | Winemaker |
Years active | 2003-present |
Known for | Sparkling wine |
Notable work | Dom Perignon Rosé |
Pauline Lhote is a French female winemaker based in Napa, California, known for sparkling wine. [1] She is the current lead sparkling winemaker at Domaine Chandon. [2]
Lhote grew up on a farm in Champagne [3] and earned a degree at the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne in Reims. [4] Upon graduation, Lhote worked at Moët & Chandon and Nicolas Feuillate in France. [4] In those roles, she performed maturity controls, winemaking trials and cellar work. While at Moët & Chandon, she spent time creating red wines used in producing rosé sparkling wines, including Dom Perignon Rosé. [5]
Lhote came to the United States for a three-month internship at Chandon in Napa, California and stayed on as a permanent employee. [6] Lhote now leads the team that creates Chandon's sparkling wines. [7] [8]
Champagne is a sparkling wine originated and produced in the Champagne wine region of France under the rules of the appellation, which demand specific vineyard practices, sourcing of grapes exclusively from designated places within it, specific grape-pressing methods and secondary fermentation of the wine in the bottle to cause carbonation.
The wine region within the historical province of Champagne in the northeast of France is best known for the production of champagne, the sparkling white wine that bears the region's name. EU law and the laws of most countries reserve the term "champagne" exclusively for wines that come from this region located about 160 kilometres (100 miles) east of Paris. The viticultural boundaries of Champagne are legally defined and split into five wine-producing districts within the historical province: Aube, Côte des Blancs, Côte de Sézanne, Montagne de Reims, and Vallée de la Marne. The city of Reims and the town of Épernay are the commercial centers of the area. Reims is famous for its cathedral, the venue of the coronation of the French kings and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Sparkling wine is a wine with significant levels of carbon dioxide in it, making it fizzy. While it is common to refer to this as champagne, European Union countries legally reserve that word for products exclusively produced in the Champagne region of France. Sparkling wine is usually either white or rosé, but there are examples of red sparkling wines such as the Italian Brachetto, Bonarda and Lambrusco, and the Australian sparkling Shiraz. The sweetness of sparkling wine can range from very dry brut styles to sweeter doux varieties.
Dom Pierre Pérignon, was a French Benedictine monk who made important contributions to the production and quality of Champagne wine in an era when the region's wines were predominantly still red. Popular myths frequently, but erroneously, credit him with the invention of sparkling Champagne, which did not become the dominant style of Champagne until the mid-19th century.
Taittinger is a French wine family who are famous producers of Champagne. The estate is currently headed by Vitalie Taittinger, who is the daughter of Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger, a member of the consultative committee of the Banque de France. Its diversified holdings included Champagne Taittinger, Société du Louvre and Concorde Hotels, whose flagship is the famed Hotel de Crillon on the Place de la Concorde in Paris, France as well as the Loire Valley wine-producing firm of Bouvet-Ladubay, and a partnership in Domaine Carneros in California. All these holdings were sold to Starwood Capital in 2005. The family re-acquired the house of Champagne Taittinger in 2006 after securing financial support from the Crédit Agricole bank and also the backing of trade organisations.
Moët & Chandon, also known simply as Moët, is a French fine winery and part of the luxury goods company LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE. Moët et Chandon is one of the world's largest champagne producers and a prominent champagne house. Moët et Chandon was established in 1743 by Claude Moët, and today owns 1,190 hectares of vineyards, and annually produces approximately 28,000,000 bottles of champagne.
Krug Champagne is a Champagne house founded by Joseph Krug in 1843. It is based principally in Reims, the main city in France's Champagne region and is one of the famous Champagne houses that formed part of the Grandes marques. Today the house is majority owned by the multinational conglomerate LVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton S.E. whose portfolio includes other well known wine brands such as Moët & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot, Château d'Yquem and Ruinart. Despite LVMH's majority ownership, the Krug family is still actively involved in all the key decisions of the house but does not manage the day-to-day operations.
G. H. Mumm & Cie is a Champagne house founded in 1827 and based in Reims, France. G.H. Mumm is one of the largest Champagne houses and is currently ranked 4th globally based on number of bottles sold. The company is owned by Pernod Ricard.
Claude Moët (1683–1760) was a French vintner and wine merchant who founded the Champagne house that later became Moët et Chandon. Moët was the first winemaker in Champagne to exclusively produce sparkling wine.
Domaine Chandon is a winery located in the town of Yountville, California, in the Napa Valley. Established in 1973 by Moët et Chandon, and led by businessman John Wright, who operated the company for over 20 years, it was the first French-owned sparkling wine producer in the Napa Valley.
Ceja Vineyards is a family-owned winery in Napa founded by Mexican-American immigrants. The Ceja family have been growers in the Napa and Sonoma valleys in California for three generations. The wine production company was founded in 1999 and focuses on premium wines. The principals are; Amelia Moran Ceja, President; Martha Ceja, Vice President; Pedro Ceja, Secretary; and Armando Ceja, Treasurer. As of 2008 production is around 10,000 cases per year.
The Duckhorn Portfolio Inc. is an American wine company producing varietal labelled and blended red, white, rosé, and sparkling wines from California and Washington State. The main winery, Duckhorn Vineyards, is outside St. Helena, California.
Los Carneros AVA is an American Viticultural Area which includes parts of both Sonoma and Napa counties in California, U.S.A. It is located north of San Pablo Bay. The proximity to the cool fog and breezes from the bay makes the climate in Los Carneros cooler and more moderate than the wine regions farther north in Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley. The cooler climate has made Los Carneros attractive for the cultivation of cooler climate varietals like Pinot noir and Chardonnay. Many of the grapes grown in Los Carneros are used for sparkling wine production. Receiving its AVA status in 1983, the Carneros area was the first wine region in California to be defined by its climate characteristics rather than political boundaries.
Dawnine Sample Dyer is an American winemaker and entrepreneur who pioneered the use of champagne-making methods in California's fledgling sparkling wine industry in the 1970s.
California wine production has a rich viticulture history since 1680 when Spanish Jesuit missionaries planted Vitis vinifera vines native to the Mediterranean region in their established missions to produce wine for religious services. In the 1770s, Spanish missionaries continued the practice under the direction of the Father Junípero Serra who planted California's first vineyard at Mission San Juan Capistrano.
The Yarra Valley is an Australian wine region located east of Melbourne, Victoria. It is a cool climate region that is best known for producing Chardonnay, sparkling wine and Pinot Noir. Its proximity to the urban centre and high profile wineries have made it an important destination for enotourism, receiving over 3.1 million visitors in 2011.
Amy Aiken is an American entrepreneur and winemaker. She focuses on Cabernet Sauvignon wines and owns her own wine labels: Meander and Conspire.
Jean-Charles Boisset is a French vintner and the proprietor of the Boisset Collection, which operates 28 wineries in California, France, and Canada.
Viña Tipaume, located in Rengo, in the Cachapoal Valley, Chile, is a micro-winery producing Organic and Biodynamic wines. It was founded by French winemaker Yves Pouzet and his wife Valentina Grez in 1996. After scouting Chile for more than 10 years to locate areas where they could build their house and plant some vines, Pouzet identified this farm at the foothills of the Andes Mountains as the perfect place. In a small property of 6 hectares, they planted Carménère, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, Lacryma Christi and Viognier. Today, with a very limited production of 7,000 bottles, they produce only three wines: Tipaume, Grez and Sous La Terre.