 |
The creation of a champagne is the result of a balanced marriage
between the qualities of the different grapes: the Pinot Noir
gives body and vigour, the Chardonnay finesse and lightness
and the Pinot Meunier roundness and fruitiness.
Working
the grapevines
In
each season there is different work to do in the vineyard:
-
Pruning and tying-up from November to March
-
Green pruning and attaching new growth from April to June
-
Pruning. Several methods of pruning are allowed in Champagne:
cordon royat, chablis, and guyot.
-
In the Grands Crus and Premiers Crus only the cordon and
chablis methods are allowed
Several treatments must be carried out during these two periods
to combat mildew, oïdium, iron deficiency, etc.
The harvest
|
|
 |
In Champagne the grape-picking is done exclusively by hand.
It is carried out about one hundred days after the flowering
of the vines, which generally takes place from the end of May
to the middle of June. After being picked, cleaned and transported
out of the fields, the grapes are unloaded at the press, grouped
together and put under shelter to await weighing.
After weighing the pressing can begin. Three pressings take
place: the cuvée (1st pressing), the 1st taille (2nd
pressing) and the 2nd taille (3rd pressing). Very good yields
over the last years have led to only the cuvées and sometimes
the 1st taille being kept for blending.
The
first important aspects of the champagne-making process are
the yield limit of 100 litres of juice or must per 150 kilos
of grapes and the fact that the pressing of the grapes takes
place in stages, providing different qualities of juice (cuvée
and taille) and preserving the unique characteristics of each
individual parcel of land.
|
|
 |
|
 |
Clarification
Once the pressing is finished the grape juice or must is left
for twelve hours in the wooden vat of the press, allowing it
to clear. The deposit which has formed is eliminated by transferring
the liquid into other vats. The juice spends 6 months in barrel
or vat, a blend is made of different wines, varieties and years.
24g per litre of cane sugar, yeast and colloidal matter are
added, for the alcoholic fermentation. The barrels are then
put into heated storerooms.
Racking
The first racking is done in November or December. It consists
in separating the clear wine from the lees. It is repeated
in January.
Fining
This is the oldest method of eliminating impurities from the
wine and clarifying it. Tannin, which plays an very active
role in the conservation and clarification of wine, is added.
Tirage
This is the bottling of the wine. The bottles are placed in
sloping racks called pupitres, allowing the sediment to descend
gradually into the neck of the bottle.
|
|
 |
Turning
Every day each bottle is turned through just one eighth of a
turn, never a full rotation. This goes on for between 3 and
5 months. The bottles are then stored in cellars hewn out of
the chalk 30 metres underground, where they age for 2 years.
The
champagne process
This consists in making the wine sparkle through a secondary
alcoholic fermentation in the bottle.
|
|
 |
|
Disgorging
In this tricky process the bottle is held upside down and
the cap is prised off, so that the sediment is expelled by
the pressure in the bottle. In the bigger Houses the bottle
necks are lightly frozen by plunging them into a freezing
solution, so that the sediment forms a solid lump which is
extracted by machine.
Dosage
and corking
Dosage is the addition of a little sugar/champagne/brandy
mixture to top up the bottles: this is known as the liqueur
d'expédition. The quantity of sugar varies depending
on the champagne to be produced:
-
Brut: less than 15 g of sugar/litre
-
Extra-dry: between 10 and 20 g
-
Dry: between 17 and 37 g
Habillage
The habillage of a bottle is the labelling and sealing.
The top is sealed with a tin or aluminium capsule and a label
is stuck on the front indicating essentially the type of champagne,
the degree of alcohol, the volume, the origin and the name
of the wine grower or merchant.
|
|
|
