Champagne. In the Middle Ages, the wines from the coast of Champagne were treated as “Wines of France”, which are produced throughout the Paris Basin.

These wines bear the name we know them today since the reign of King Henry IV, at the end of the sixteenth century, it was in Paris that the first designated as “wines of Champagne”.

Throughout the seventeenth century, these wines experienced more and more followers, both in the court of France and at the court of England. These fans are responsible for the development of “wines of Champagne” gray wine, very faintly colored.

But the winemakers very quickly realized that these gray wines were aging badly in barrels. They then had the idea to put them quickly in bottles to preserve the best aromas. It is estimated that the first bottling date from the 1660s. The draw took place before the end of the first fermentation.

The Champagne winemakers found that the wines became naturally sparkling, especially if they are lightly colored, contain little alcohol and were pulled in the spring equinox.

This change immediately seduced the English: it is perhaps because of them that the champagne remained bubbly because it caused a lot of problems for the winemakers : the bottles exploded.

The champagne was not yet complete: It’s Dom Perignon, a monk at the Benedictine Abbey of Hautvillers who was the first in the region to understand the mechanism of its winemaking and improve it. He managed to strike a fine balance by mixing red and white grapes from different villages. It has profoundly changed the way the winemakers at the time produced sparkling wine.

This is the eighteenth century that the champagne began to acquire worldwide fame through famous globetrotters like Claude Moët, Philippe Clicquo. Also Famous widows like Mrs Pommery, Ms. Clicquot, Ms. Perrier to name a few resumed the affairs of their husbands and finished promoting a high quality champagne.

The champagne was finally recognized as the wine of coronations June 7, 1654 at the coming of King Louis XIV.

There are about 250 Champagne houses, which carry about 70% of sales. They buy most of their grapes from 15,000 Champagne winemakers who control 90% of the surface of the vineyard and make up 30% of sales of champagne.

More than 300 million bottles are produced each year.

Production:

1 Champagne is made ​​from a white grape (Chardonnay) and two black grapes (Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier).

4000 kg of grapes in 2050 gave the first of a renowned quality juice, the wine, and then pressing them again, 410 l of moidre quality, size. The liquor is then decanted to that clarifies; it is settling.

2 – Fermentation

The juice thus obtained are seeded in selected yeast and fermented at controlled temperatures. During this operation, the grape sugar is converted into alcohol, carbon dioxide which escapes in many energy and secondary compounds. The wine is then racked, clarified, and maintained at 10 ° C before the assembly.

3 – The assembly

This is one of the key points of making champagne. It involves mixing wines from different grape varieties, different plots, different tanks and years to achieve a similar wine every year. Each champagne house has its own style of wine. It is the task of the cellar master, using this secret and complex assembly, to reproduce annually the style of the champagne house. The mixture is referred to as vintage.

4 – the draw

This is where the great originality of champagne starts. The vintage is set to stabilize at -3 ° C, then it is filtered and bottled. New yeast are added to the bottles  as well a new syrup. A new fermentation begin.

5 – The foam

Again, the sugar will be transformed by the yeast in alcohol, energy, carbon dioxide and aromatics. But the fermentation takes place in closed bottles, the carbon dioxide can not escape and is dissolved in the wine. It is he who will form the famous champagne bubbles. The fermentation takes place in an underground cellar, and the bottles are placed horizontally.

6 – The aging

When there is no more sugar, yeast dies and form a deposit. The champagne is left alone to age horizontally for two to three years for current champagnes, three to five years for vintage champagnes and more for prestige brands. The exchanges between the filing of wine yeasts will give the fine taste of champagne .

7 – Riddling

Riddling aims to concentrate the filing yeasts and drag them to the neck to clarify the wine. The riddling, which comprises rotating the bottles was traditionally done manually but became increasingly mechanized. Meanwhile, the bottles are put on a desk, increasingly vertically. At the end of the operation, the deposit is fully concentrated at the end of the neck.

8 – Disgorging

It is to dip the end of the bottle in a bath of brine at -28 ° C. This forms an ice cube that traps the deposit and allows to extract by pressure at the opening of the bottle. To compensate for the volume expelled, add a liquor (mixture of wine and sugar, according to its composition, will give a crude wine, dry or semi-dry). This is the assay. Then pose a sealed cork, held by a wire cage. It then remains to label the bottle.