Traditional Champagne method
Secret of making Champagne wines
How do we make champagne?
The pressing
With the harvest comes the time of vinification, the first stage of which is pressing. The bunches of grapes picked during the day are brought whole to the press where they will be pressed to extract the precious juice.
The bunches must remain intact, otherwise the skin of the black grapes will stain the juices.
This is why the harvest is manual.
Already limited to picking, yields are also limited to pressing.
On arrival at the press, the grapes are weighed in increments of 4000 kilos (one marc). We will extract from it, in accordance with the rules of the appellation, 2,500 liters of juice.
Once in vats and for some in barrels, they will naturally undergo a first fermentation.
Yeasts transform the sugars naturally present in grape juice into alcohol. It's here alcoholic fermentation which results in a still dry white wine called vin clair .
Blending
Several months after the harvest will be necessary for the wines to clear up and become “clear wines”. During these winter months, Yannick will filter and rack the wines several times. It is only from March the following year that we will taste each of the vats and barrels several times to see the evolution of the wines and begin to imagine the composition of future cuvées.
Each year, we meet with the oenologists of our house, members of the family to taste the whole range of wines that we have at our disposal and which will become the future cuvées of the Yannick Prévoteau Champagne.
We can blend grape varieties, villages, years (reserve wine).
Blending wines is a subtle art. It appeals to the sensory memory of the winemaker.
The bottling
With Spring, comes the time of bottling the previous harvest , called: the Tirage .
Yannick prepares a few days before this operation, a liquor (known as a liqueur) of which he has the secret.
Composed of old wines, sugar and yeasts, it will be added to wines. This operation will then trigger a second fermentation, which will take place inside the bottle this time!
This will be the "prise de mousse":
the birth of bubbles, the natural effervescence.
The Riddling
This is the final operation before the traditional cork stopper is placed during disgorging.
To facilitate the expulsion of dead yeast (lees) present in the bottle following the second fermentation, the bottles will be stirred a few days before disgorging.
This operation is done either manually on desks for special bottles or mechanically with the help of gyropalettes.
The Aging
The wine will then rest in the bottle, in our cellars, for at least 2 years for our “Heritage” and “Marius” cuvées and much more for all the other cuvées in our range.
Our vintages rest in the cellar for a minimum of 10 years.
The legislation is 18 months minimum for a non-vintage champagne and 3 years minimum for a vintage champagne.
Disgorging & Dosage
Disgorging consists in expelling the deposit of yeast which has formed in the neck of the bottle after riddling. Immersed in a brine bath, the deposit freezes and forms a plug which, under the effect of pressure, is expelled.
In the champagne vinification process, the dosage step consists of adding a mixture of wine and sugar to the bottle, called: liqueur d'expédition.
The sugar level of this liquor will determine the category of the champagne:
Brut nature : less than 3g of sugar per litre, our brut nature cuvées are zero dosage, no liquor added.
Extra-brut : between 0 and 6g of sugar per liter
Brut : less than 12g of sugar per liter
We do not make sweet champagnes. But for your information, I let you discover the amount of sugar added for the other dosages:
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Extra-dry : between 12 and 17g of sugar per liter
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Dry : between 17 and 32g of sugar per liter
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Demi-sec : between 32 and 50g of sugar per liter
