Climate Champagne has a cold climate around 16°c this becomes difficult as growers have to fight spring frosts and winter freeze. Even the warmest years the sugar levels in the grapes stays very low with high acid. This makes them less than ideal for still(not carbonated) wine production.
To battle frost most vineyards are planted on slopes.
Grape Varieties
The three main grapes for making champagne are:
Chardonnay, for its high acidity with floral and citrus fruit characters.
Pinot Noir, for greater body and length and provides structural back bone to most blends
Meunier,easy to drink fruitiness and especially important for wines that are ment to be enjoyed while young.
Traditional method
Most champagnes are white even though around 66% of the grapes used are black. To avoiid coloring the wine mechanical harvesting is forbidden. they are not destemmed or crushed. they are pressed as quickly as possible and Press Houses are found throughout vineyards to make sure this happens.
To maintain high quality only 102 liters can be pressed from 160 kilograms of grapes.
Primary fermentation: Generally this takes place in a temp. controlled stainless steel vat. Prior to this the juice is clarified to avoid the development of non-fruit flavors. The resulting wine is dry with natural characters high acidity and moderate alcohol. Most base wines is used to make up blends the year after harvest, although some wines are stored for use in future years, this reserve wine have an important role in the blending process.
Blending: Champagne is a region the is dependent on blending. Blending from different villages, varieties and vintages. Generally blenders aim to produce a wine that conforms to t the house style. The grape varieties are used to give the wine its character and structure where as the reserve wines are vital in smoothing out vintage variations and adding complexity. It is easier to achieve the house style if the blender has as many wines to blend with as possible. This is why the base wine is fermented in so many different vats and this is the key reason why champagne houses dominate. They have access to the highest range of base and reserve wines.
Secondary fermentation: Once the blend is made a small portion of liqueur de tirage (adds sweetness) (mix of wine, sugar, yeast, yeast nutrients and a clarifying agent) is added before it is bottled. The bottle is then closed with a plastic cup shaped cap. They are then stored horizontally in cellars around 10°-12°c. with these temps. the secondary fermentation takes six to eight weeks. The alcohol is raised around 2% and the CO2 that is generated by the yeast created the sparkle.
Yeast Autolysis: once fermentaion is done the extra sediment froms at the bottom of the bottle. These dead yeast cells break down and release proteins and other chemical compounds into the wine that create that toast or biscuit flavors in sparking wine made this way. Autolysis lasts for four to five years but has been know to last up to ten. Once disgorged the wine will mature very quickly.
Riddling: To get the sediment out of the bottle after it has matured you riddle it then disgorge it. Riddling is moving the bottle from horizontal to invert vertical very slowly and a gental shake and twist the bottle a bit each time to get the sediment into the cap.*jour means Day
This takes up to eight weeks when done by hand. But macines created can do this in eight days. But this is still done by hand for bottles of unusual shape and size.
Disgorgement and Corking: The neck of the bottle is submerged into a very cold brine(water and salt) which freezes the wine in the neck. GThis freezes the sediment into the neck of the wine bottle the keep the wine clear. The crown cap is then removed and the pressure from inside the bottle shootle out the frozen sediment. The wine is then topped with a liquer d'expedition (adds sweetness)(mix of wine and cane sugar solution) then sealed with a cork and held secure with a wire cage.
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