The work of Champagne is the result of many stages.

 

The first step, and not the least, is pressing .

This is done just after picking. Each box of grapes is weighed, the grape varieties are separated as well as the young and old vines. This is where real traceability begins.

 

The bunches remain whole in the press to avoid the juice becoming colored by contact with the skin. The stalks provide natural drainage. Extraction is slow by mechanical pressure from the press. The grape juice called "must" is recovered. This is divided into two qualities, the cuvée (pure juice rich in sugar, acid and aroma precursor) and the taille (second or third press).

 

Our house will mainly use the cuvée for the production of its wines. An initial clarification takes place, it is called settling . By simple natural effect of their mass, the unwanted residues and other suspended flakes settle at the bottom of the vat.

 

Alcoholic fermentation , the transformation of sugars into alcohol by the activity of yeasts, is triggered by a controlled temperature and in the presence of air. This lasts about 2 to 3 weeks. The must then becomes wine.