Champagne making process

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Champagne making process
Benjamin Cochain
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Introduction
Dom Perignon ? wines refermented during spring ?
birth of Champagne
Champagne is the most northerly of the major wine
growing regions in France, and is one of the
oldest vineyards in Europe. 
The trade name Champagne can only be used for
sparkling wines produced in this region
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The Champagne making process
Harvesting
To obtain the name Champagne, the grapes must be
harvest manually and the harvesting must be done
in one time to insure the homogeneity of the
juice
White and black grapes ? champagne White ?
Blancs de blanc Champagne Red and White ? pink
and red Champagne
Black and white grapes ? grow in separate
vineyards throughout the champagne region
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The Champagne making process
Pressing

• Each specific grape ? pressured independently ?
  extraction of juice (rape)
• Appellation Champagne ? grapes must be unbroken
  and entire
• Specific criteria of the champagne production
  wine press
• The loading must be easy, fast and with a short
  fall of the grapes
• The area of pressuring must be large
• The juice must be extracted at 90 from the
  pressure axe to grant rape auto filtration

Limited productivity 102 l of rape for 160 kg
of pressured grapes
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The Champagne making process

• Five different kind of wine-press are used in
  Champagne region
• The traditional vertical wine press (before 1950)
• Load capacity 2000-4000 kg
• Manual maintenance
• Producer Coquard, Darc, Dol-lat et Marmonier
• The mechanical horizontal wine press (1950)
• Manual intervention limited
• Load capacity 2000-12000 kg
• The pneumatic horizontal wine press (1950)
• Load capacity 6000 kg
• Use pneumatic energy
• The pneumatic horizontal wine press with lateral
  membrane
• Use very easy
• Load capacity 2000-12000 kg
• One of the most used in Champagne production

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The Champagne making process
First Fermentation
Before fermentation? control of the acidity of
the grapes juice ? insure a good ageing process
Fermentation in stainless steel cylinders or
barrels Add of yeast to the grapes juice ?
fermentation The yeast feeds on the sugar in the
grape juice and releases alcohol (as ethanol),
heat and carbon dioxide C6 H12 O6 yeast
---------gt 2 C2 H5 OH 2 CO2 Q Chemical
change during fermentation sugar glucose
(C6H12O6 ) converted in pyruvate pyruvate
converted in alcohol by yeast
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The Champagne making process
Blending
From each of the fermented batches of wine a
small sample is taken and tasted by the wine
makers.  The selected samples are then taken
and combined to give a final master blend, which
is called the cuvée
Very difficult process ? wine makers must predict
the final flavour Remaining blocks of wine not
used in blending ?auctioned off to other
vineyards.
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The Champagne making process
Bottling, Second Fermentation and Ageing
Wine ? bottled and capped With the yeast
increases level of alcohol add CO2
bubbles
This second fermentation is called the malolactic
fermentation (COOH)² - CH2 - CHOH --------gt CO2
CH3 - CHOH COOH
Process about four to eight weeks
The yeast must now remain in the bottle for at
least a year to allow the champagne to age
The alcohol content of the wine is limited
because at a certain concentration the yeast
becomes "drunk" and can no longer ferment
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The Champagne making process
Riddling
Aged wine ? task of removing the yeast from the
bottle Bottles placed at 45 on automatic or
manual turning rack Bottles periodically
rotated Yeast fall down the cap of the
bottle Manual process about one
month Automatic process one week
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The Champagne making process
Riddling

• In the Champagne region, four machines are
  principally used to riddle
• The Champarex
• Capacity 183 or 381 bottles
• Hexagonal metallic container
• Manual rotation of the container
• The Pupimatic
• The Rotopal
• Capacity 297 bottles
• Metallic container
• Manual rotation of the container
• The Gyro
• Capacity 504 bottles
• Automatic rotation
• Very short cycle of riddling

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The Champagne making process
Disgorging
After riddling the yeast is ready to be removed
Manual process (old but still used)
CO2 bubble in the neck of the bottle ? claw to
remove the metallic capsule The yeast was also
expulsed with the gas
Automatic process Tops of the bottles frozen ?
disgorging machine removes the cap ?yeast ice plug
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The Champagne making process
Dosage
Obtain with add of sugar and sulfur compounds
cuvée non-dosée, brut, extra sec, sec,
demi-sec or doux
Corking, dressingand selling
Corking similar to brewery corking Dressing and
selling ? specific for each producer
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Thank you for your attention