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Lexicon
The largest wine encyclopedia in the world with 26,079 Terms.
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Échelle des crus

Designation (graded ladder of growths) for the classification of vineyards in the French wine-growing region of Champagne. In contrast to the Bordeaux or Burgundy classification, this does not apply to specific vineyards or sites, but to municipalities. This means that all vineyards located there are classified. The beginning is in the 18th century, when individual vineyards were ranked according to quality in order to determine grape prices. Supposedly, the distance of the vineyard from the press house was the original decision criterion. The shorter the distance after the grape harvest to the press, the fresher the grapes and thus the higher the classification. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Champagne houses exerted great pressure on the many small grape suppliers due to the oversupply. In the process, the commissioned buyers also used questionable practices, up to and including intimidation and bribery, in order to achieve low prices. At that time, prices ranged from 50 to 100% and only 12 communes were awarded Grand Cru status with 100%.

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wein.plus is a handy, efficient guide to a quick overview of the colourful world of wines, winegrowers and grape varieties. In Wine lexicon, the most comprehensive of its kind in the world, you will find around 26,000 keywords on the subject of grape varieties, wineries, wine-growing regions and much more.

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The world's largest Lexicon of wine terms.

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