Vine to the glass
The work at the vineyard is all year round. The farmer must prune, fertilise and spray his crop whilst struggling to protect his
crops against viruses, parasites and rot. The average age of a vine is 15 years, and when a vine has reached the age of 30
(the peak of quality) it is finally replaced with a new vine.
The vines are the most productive between age 10 and 25.
The harvest is the highlight of the year in the Champagne region with a very colorful harvest festival. Harvesting starts in the
middle of September.
For the processing it is very important that all the grapes are whole and in their best condition on arrival at the presshouse.
Because of this, presshouses are always located as close to the vineyards as possible. The coquart press, made of wood and
in the shape of a circle or sqaure, is still considered to be the best press.
When the pressed grape juice has been taken to the fermenting vats, thanks to the yeast that sat in the grapes skin, it immediately
begins to ferment. Other seleted yeasts are added depending on which style of champagne is being made. The vats are usually
made of steel. Fermentation usually takes 10 days at a temperature of 18 - 20C. After fermentation has finished, the vine is racked
twice. Racking is where the wine is separated from the sediment. The wine is then placed in a new vat.
In March/April the most difficult stage in the creation of champagne begins: the blending. This is the responsibility of the cellar
master, the "chef de cowes". The fermented wines are wines that are completely still and lie in separate vats. The cellar master mixes
and matches until he finds the perfect palette.
After blending in giant tanks the first fermenting is finished. More sugar and yeast are added for the second fermentation
and the wine is bottled and sealed temporarily with a crown-cap instead of a proper cork. The bottles are then stored in vast cellars
at 10 -12C for at least 15 months.
The final process is called digorging. Here the bottle neck is frozen in brine at -28C. The sediment of yeast at the top of the bottle
is half frozen and shot out of the bottle by machine with a sharp mechanical movement. The wine that is lost in this process is
replaced with new wine and some sugar.
After this process, the cork is added to the bottle. At the beginning of the century, all champagne corks were made in one piece.
Now, because of the high price of cork they are made up of several discs. The top part is agglemerated cork, and underneath are
two or three discs of real cork. The part that is in contact with the wine is always of the highest quality.
When the cork is in, the bottle is shaken and the cork is then held in place by a wire muzzle.