Back to Vins'ics #3 : La Vinification du Champagne [RéUpload]

Main ideas / concepts

• Champagne production starts like making white wine, then uses a second fermentation inside the bottle to create the characteristic bubbles.
• Grape varieties used in Champagne include both white-skinned and black-skinned grapes:
  • Chardonnay (white variety)
  • Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir (black-skinned varieties)
• Blending is central: the cellar master combines wines by
  • grape variety
  • plot
  • and often includes wines from older vintages, which is why many Champagnes are non-vintage.
• “Brut” (and other styles) refers to sugar dosage added at the end to adjust sweetness and restore volume after disgorgement.
• Bubbles form when yeast + sugar are added in the bottle, producing carbon dioxide.
• Rosé Champagne can be made in two ways:
  • by blending red and white base wines, or
  • by brief skin contact after pressing.

Step-by-step methodology / process (vinification of Champagne)

1) Harvest & base wine creation (like white winemaking)

• Harvest both black and white grapes.
• Press grapes to extract juice (including pressing black grapes in a way that avoids color extraction from skins).
• Perform alcoholic fermentation to convert the juice into base wine.

2) Blending phase (cellar master’s work)

• Segregate pressing results by:
  • grape variety
  • plot
• Blend components; an example composition might be:
  • 50% Pinot Noir
  • 40% Chardonnay
  • 10% Pinot Meunier
• Often include wines from older vintages, producing commonly non-vintage Champagne (as opposed to a single-vintage concept).

3) Preparation for the “prise de mousse” (second fermentation)

• Bottle the wine (it isn’t “Champagne” yet in its final sparkling sense; it becomes Champagne thanks to the lees).
• During bottling, add the coeur de tirage (“heart of the wine”):
  • ~20% yeast
  • plus sugar
• Purpose: trigger the second fermentation in the bottle.

4) Bottle fermentation & bubble formation

• During the second fermentation:
  • yeast consumes sugar
  • produces CO₂ (carbon dioxide)
• The CO₂ creates bubbles, trapped in the bottle.

5) Aging on lees

• Minimum aging: at least 15 months
• Vintage Champagnes: often 36 months
• Bottles are kept at the bottom, then shaken to move sediment (dead yeast cells) toward the neck.

6) “Gorges” / finishing (disgorgement)

• Freeze the neck of the bottle (where sediment collects).
• Open/pop the cork so impurities are expelled by bubble pressure.
• Because material is lost, re-top up to 75 cl with a single batch of cask liquor (added after disgorgement):
  • composed of roughly 20 g of sugar (as stated)
• The final sugar dosage determines the Champagne style/designation.

7) Sugar dosage categories mentioned

• Brut: 0 to 12 g/L
• Sustained upward (sweeter designation): over 50 g/L
• “Nature” / very low sugar (as mentioned): 0 to 3 g/L
  • presented as closer to the taste of wine, with just a few bubbles

8) Rosé Champagne: two methods

• Method A (blending):
  • During blending, mix white wine + red wine
  • described as authorized only for Champagne producers
  • then the blend undergoes the same bottle fermentation process
• Method B (skin maceration):
  • after pressing, do a short skin maceration with black grapes (typically Pinot Noir)
  • brief enough to obtain rosé color without turning the wine fully red

Speakers / sources featured

• The episode narrator/speaker (name not given) explains the process, addressing viewers with “Hello everyone.”
• Music is present, but no identifiable performer is credited in the subtitles.
• No other explicit named speakers or sources are mentioned.