Love is in the air as Valentine’s Day approaches and what better way to celebrate than with Champagne?
Let’s ride this Champagne train and learn the 10 step process of the Traditional Method (note: this is CHAMPAGNE SPECIFIC. We aren’t talking about other bubbles quite yet)
Champagne is made from three grape varieties. Pinot Noir is great for a fuller body and structure, Pinot Meunier adds fruit complexity and roundness, and Chardonnay brings the citrus, floral and mineral notes we all love.
Blanc de Blancs Champagne is made only from Chardonnay.
Blanc de Noirs Champagne is made only from Pinot Noir and/or Pinot Meunier.
However, most Champagne is a blend, both of multiple years (this is called ‘non-vintage’) and multiple grapes.
Cool. Let’s move on to the winemaking process.
- Harvest – This usually takes place in October, where timing is critical. Winemakers must be careful to leave the grapes on the vine as long as possible to achieve full ripeness (Champagne is cold, so grapes don’t ripen quickly), but must avoid the seasonal heavy rainfall. Most of the time, grapes are harvested by hand over the course of a few days, only picking grapes that are perfectly ready.
- Pressing – Often, wine presses are set IN the vineyards to press as soon as possible after harvesting. This maximizes the amount and quality of juice that can be pressed out and reduces the risk of damage during transport.
- Primary Fermentation – this is a cold fermentation in stainless steel tanks to retain freshness and pure flavors. Cold fermentation forces the fermentation process to slow down, adding flavor complexity while also giving winemakers more control over when to stop. This takes about two weeks.
- Blending/Assemblage – This is where art comes in. A Champagne blender (usually a team. Yes, it’s a total dream job) will consider aromas, colors, and flavors from multiple vintages into account in order to create the year’s Champagne. Check out this article for a lovely description and more detail.
- Secondary Fermentation – Liqueur de Tirage (a mixture of still wine, sugar and yeast) is added to instigate the second fermentation and sealed with a crown cap. Since this is bottled and sealed, the carbon dioxide gas produced from yeast consuming the sugar cannot escape. This is where our bubbles come from. Yay!
- Ageing – The Champagne will age in the bottle for at least 15 months for non-vintage (this is required), though it is often aged longer in order to extract the most flavor from expired yeast cells.
- Riddling/Remuage – Traditionally, bottles would be resting on A-frame racks (called pupitres) with the bottles being held at a downward angle. A Riddler/Remeur (insert Batman joke here) very slightly rotates these bottles, encouraging the dead yeast cells into the neck of the bottle over time. Now, machines called gyropalettes do it automatically. Super cool, actually.
- Disgorgement/Dégorgement – The necks of the bottles are frozen, bottles are opened and covered very quickly. This releases all the dead yeast cells to create a clear Champagne without losing the actual wine. It’s impressive. Here’s another video (Can you tell I’m a visual learner?)
- Dosage – The Champagne is topped off with Liqueur d’Éxpedition, a mixture of Champagne and sugar, to the desired sweetness and style of Champagne.
- Cork
