There’s an old Joseph Perrier Champagne advertising poster in the men’s room here at the restaurant. Style-wise, it appears to be from the 1920s and shows a Champagne bottle with a stars-and-bars shield on the label along with the phrase “Goût Américain,” French for “American taste.” This could be the punchline of a typical Gallic joke, as in the phrase is oxymoronic given a certain worldview, but the phrase seems vaguely familiar to me. Through the fogs and vapors in my mind, I seem to recall that it has to do with obsolete dosage levels in the Champagne, hence a Champage formulated for the American market.
To refresh my mind, I have consulted several wine encyclopedias and I see that I am on the right track.
Before I get further into the subject, a refresher on Champagne production is in order. The base still wine from grapes grown so far north in such a cool, short season climate tends to be very acidic because the grapes rarely ripen well (2003 is a perfect counter-example). And by very acidic, I mean unpleasantly turn-your-mouth-inside-out acidic.
Once the wine has fermented and the bottles inverted so that the dead yeast collects in the neck of the bottles, the yeast is frozen into a plug that is disgorged from the bottle by the pressure of wine when the bottle is uncapped. The little bit of headspace from this plug is topped off with a sugar and wine syrup called the dosage. The amount of sugar added depends on the particular style of Champagne.
The one that we are most familiar with is Brut, a minimal sugar dosage that makes the acidic wine bearable for most people.
Goût américain (Fr.) From the 19th century through to the 1920s, there was not an established regime of dosage for Champagne as there is today. Instead of brut, sec, demi-sec etc., the different market determined the dosage of Champagne. The American market was the third sweetest, and we know from the observation of Henry Vizetelly that in 1882 Champagnes labelled gout américain contained between 110 and 165 grams per litre of residual sugar.
Goût anglais (Fr.) Although the English market was demanded the driest Champagne, and the first Champagnes ever to be labelled brut were shipped to London sometime after 1876, at 10-30 grams per litre of residual sugar, the concept of brut was obviously relative to its times. Vizetelly recorded that the gout anglais varied between 22 and 66 grams, which was considered dry in its day, but would now be though very sweet indeed.
Goût français (Fr.) In the late-19th century, goût français, a style that was popular in both France and Germany, carried a dosage of between 165 and 200 grams, making it second only in sweetness to Champagnes destined for Russian market (which did not have a designated “goût”,but according to Vizetelly contained between 200 and 300 grams, which is two to three times as sweet as Château d’Yquem).
The amount of sugar (dosage) added after the second fermentation and aging varies and will dictate the sweetness level of the Champagne.[18]
Brut Natural or Brut Zéro (less than 3 grams of sugar per liter)
Extra Brut (less than 6 grams of sugar per liter)
Brut (less than 15 grams of sugar per liter)
Extra Sec or Extra Dry (12 to 20 grams of sugar per liter)
Sec (17 to 35 grams of sugar per liter)
Demi-sec (33 to 50 grams of sugar per liter)
Doux (more than 50 grams of sugar per liter)
The most common is brut, although throughout the 19th century and into the early 20th century Champagne was generally much sweeter than it is today.
Throughout most of the 19th century, Champagne was made sweet. The taste was pleasing to most wine drinkers and the added sugar helped winemakers to cover up flaws in the wine or poor quality from less desirable grapes. Champagne houses would use the dosage to tailor the sweetness to whatever style was in fashion in a particular market. The Russians preferred the sweetest level with as much as 250-330 grams of sugar added. Scandinavia was next at around 200 grams followed by France at 165 grams, Germany with slightly more, and the United States preferring between 110-165 grams. The English preferred the driest style at 22-66 grams of sugar.[4] Gradually tastes developed to favor less sweetness and higher overall quality in the Champagne. The first slightly dry Champagne to emerged was labeled demi-sec or “half dry”. The success of those wines prompted the introduction of sec or dry wines. Other producers made wines with even less sugar and began to call these wines extra dry. In 1846, the Champagne house Perrier Jouët introduced a wine that was made without any added sugar. This style was initially ill received with critics calling this wine too severe, or brute-like. But over the next generation, this “brut” style with significantly less sugar than wines labeled extra dry became the fashion for Champagne and today is the modern style that the majority of Champagne is made in.[7]
Trend today is towards even lower dosage level and result can be imbalanced
