Wine & Spirits - December 2017 - 17

BOOKS

Two Views on Champagne
by Deanna Gonnella

From the Ground Up
This is the book Champagne lovers have been waiting for.
If you've ever read champagneguide.net, you know that
Peter Liem isn't your usual point-assigning wine critic. A former
sommelier (also once tasting director for this magazine), his interest
in Champagne runs deep. In 2006, he moved to the small village
of Dizy, in the Vallée de la Marne, and his proximity to the region's
growers and winemakers gave him an intimate view of the place. It
allowed him to focus on Champagne through the lens of terroir.
It's an unusual stance in an industry that's long been defined by
style and status, and it's a perspective Liem has championed since
2014, when he began shaking up the status quo with La Fête du
Champagne, now an annual event held in New York and London
that brings together an eclectic mix of large and small houses,
growers and négociants. His new book, Champagne: The Essential
Guide to the Wines, Producers, and Terroir of the Iconic Region (Ten
Speed Press, 2017; $75), presents Champagne as a vibrant place just
entering its golden age.
Liem starts with the basics, laying out everything you need to
know about Champagne production, weaving in accounts from
the cellars where he's tasted, vineyards that he's walked and
conversations with winemakers he's visited. The level of detail can
get pretty intense, as he recounts Emmanuel Brochet's struggle
with ambient yeast fermentations or Cédric Bouchard's fondness
for precisely 4.5 atmospheres of pressure in his bottles, yet Liem's
enthusiasm for his topic keeps the text lively and brisk.
Part Two, "The Place," forms the heart of the book, where

he delves into a detailed description of Champagne's varied
soils and landscapes, with recommendations for single-cru and
single-vineyard bottlings that clearly reflect their terroir. He's
supplemented this information with gorgeous reproductions of
seven maps from Louis Larmat. Originally published in 1944, they
remain the most detailed available. The copies, produced on postersized paper and packaged in their own sliding-drawer compartment,
are nearly worth the price of the book on their own.
Liem closes with "The People," a diverse selection of personalities
whom he believes are moving the appellation forward by giving
Champagne "a true sense of place" in the wines they create. Focused
sharply on the individuality of each producer, with attention called
to benchmark and standout cuvées, it's a vivid and exciting view of
Champagne as a complex, vibrant region just beginning to realize
its full potential. Too often you close a book and it ends there. This
book leaves you, instead, with the thirst to go explore for yourself.
Keeping Score
In The Champagne Guide 2018-2019: The Definitive Guide to
Champagne (Hardie Grant Books, 2017; $35), Australian wine writer
Tyson Stelzer profiles and rates more than 600 cuvées from just over
100 Champagne producers. His first installment of The Champagne
Guide earned him the title of International Champagne Writer of the
Year 2011 in the Louis Roederer International Wine Writers' Awards.
This edition, his fifth, is a buying guide to the wines, independently
assessed by Stelzer, who hosts Taste Champagne, Australia's most
comprehensive showcase of the region. ■
WINE & SPIRITS

DECEMBER 2017

17


http://www.champagneguide.net

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - December 2017

Contents
Wine & Spirits - December 2017 - Cover1
Wine & Spirits - December 2017 - Cover2
Wine & Spirits - December 2017 - 1
Wine & Spirits - December 2017 - 2
Wine & Spirits - December 2017 - 3
Wine & Spirits - December 2017 - 4
Wine & Spirits - December 2017 - Contents
Wine & Spirits - December 2017 - 6
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Wine & Spirits - December 2017 - Cover3
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