published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

This thesis is the first to study the history of champagne in nineteenth-century Britain, a period in which the usage and style of champagne changed fundamentally. From a sweet, lightly effervescent wine drunk on its own or with desserts, it became a fully dry and fully sparkling wine drunk throughout the meal. The central questions I address are why these changes occurred and what role the marketing and branding of champagne played in these changes. This analysis integrates production studies (including marketing and branding) and consumption studies by drawing on the rich vein of contemporary consumption data and the evidence of the day-to-day practice of the London agents of the French champagne houses. The thesis demonstrates that champagne was able to develop uniquely powerful brands that were managed in ways that closely prefigure the marketing practice of modern luxury brand owners. Historiography: Whilst there have been many books on the subject of consumption in the last three decades, very few of these have focused on drinkers and drinking. There have also been many different approaches to consumption studies from sociologists, anthropologists, literary scholars and historians and this work draws on all those traditions. My own interest lies in the changing daily habits of consumption and I have therefore drawn extensively not just on the historical scholarship but also on the writings of modern experts on branding and marketing to understand how consumer choice is currently understood and managed. The commercial importance of food and drink means much work has been done in these areas - not excluding wine. The history of drink in the last three centuries, however, has had relatively little interest until recently. Recent works by John Burnett, Charles Ludington and James Simpson illuminate the general history of wine in Britain but, though there are many general books on champagne, there has only been one history, that published by André Simon in 1905. Simon, agent for a champagne producer, was well placed to understand the trade and his work remains an important source. I have endeavoured to review all these works through the lens of the nineteenth-century British press and the archives of selected champagne producers and their British distributors.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 62-66).

La mousse est une caractéristique organoleptique majeure des vins effervescents. Dans le cadre d’une meilleure maîtrise des propriétés moussantes des vins de Champagne, l’objectif de ce travail est de mieux comprendre l’impact de la maturité des raisins et du fractionnement des jus au pressurage sur la composition des moûts et des vins, en particulier sur les protéines, et la relation avec la moussabilité des vins.Au cours de la maturation de raisins sains Chardonnay et Pinot noir de deux millésimes, les caractéristiques œnologiques des moûts évoluent pour un TAP compris entre 4% et 11% vol. Une augmentation de la teneur en protéines est aussi montrée au cours de la maturation des baies. De plus, pour des raisins vendangés à « maturités industrielles », des changements essentiels de la composition biochimique des moûts, ayant un TAP compris entre 8% et 11% vol., sont observés.Une étude de la maturité de raisins Chardonnay et Pinot meunier de trois millésimes, a montré que des raisins plus mûrs, et sains, donnent des vins de base avec des teneurs en protéines totales plus élevées, ayant une meilleure moussabilité que des vins issus de raisins moins mûrs. Les analyses statistiques montrent des corrélations positives significatives entre différentes caractéristiques œnologiques des moûts et des vins de base et, pour la première fois, une corrélation entre la moussabilité et la teneur en protéines des vins, en relation avec la maturité, a été montrée. Au-delà de la maturité des raisins, la teneur en protéines et la moussabilité des vins peuvent être fortement influencées, dans la notion de Terroir, par le couple cépage/parcelle et le climat du millésime.L’étude du fractionnement des jus au pressurage, réalisée sur les cépages Chardonnay, Pinot noir, Pinot meunier et cinq millésimes, montre une évolution générale des caractéristiques des moûts et des vins, au cours du pressurage à l’échelle industrielle et au laboratoire. La composition des moûts et des vins peut être fortement influencée par la variabilité de la parcelle, de la maturité, du millésime, de l’état sanitaire des raisins, mais faiblement affectée par l’échelle et le type de pressoir. Ces sources de variabilités conduisent à des différences de teneur en protéines et de propriétés moussantes pour les vins de base champenois. / Foam is a major sensory characteristic of sparkling wines. As part of better controlling the foaming properties of Champagne wines, the goal of this work is to better understand the impact of grape maturity and press fractioning on the composition of grape juices and base wines, especially on the proteins, and their relationships with wines’ foamability.During the maturation of healthy grapes (Chardonnay and Pinot Noir of two vintages), the oenological characteristics of musts evolve in a TAP range from 4% to 11% vol. An increase in protein content was also showed during the ripening of grape berries. In addition, for the grapes harvested at ‘industrial maturity’, essential changes in the biochemical composition of musts were observed with a TAP between 8% and 11% vol.The study of grape maturity that performed on Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier grapes of three vintages, showed that riper and healthy grapes could give their corresponding base wines with higher total protein contents, and better foamability than those wines made from less ripen grapes. Statistical analyses showed significant positive correlations between different oenological characteristics of musts and base wines and, for the first time, a correlation between foamability and protein content of wines, in relation to grape maturity, has been shown. Except for the grape maturity, the protein content and the foamability of Champagne base wines could be strongly influenced, in the concept of ‘Terroir’, by the pair grape variety/vineyard and the climate of the vintage.The study of the press fractioning of grape juices, carried out on Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier of five vintages, showed a general evolution of the characteristics in musts and wines, during the pressing cycle that realized on industrial and laboratory scale. The composition of musts and their corresponding wines could be strongly influenced by the variability of vineyards, grape maturity, vintage and the health condition of grapes, but hardly affected by the scale and the type of press. Those sources of variability could lead to differences in protein content and foaming properties for Champagne base wines.