Grape harvesting
Done by hand with meticulous selection of ripe grapes.

Pressing
2,550 litres of juice for 4,000 kg of grapes, divided into 2,050 litres for the initial pressing and 500 litres for the second pressing. Separation of grape varieties and terroirs.

Malolactic fermentation
Bacteria are added to the wine in powder form to stimulate this fermentation, which makes it possible to stabilise the wine and reduce its acidity (not such a “green” taste). It lasts three weeks and is carried out in stainless steel vats at a temperature of 16°C. NB: For certain champagnes (e.g. our Cœur de Terroir), we do not use this method in order to keep such wines longer and obtain different aromas.

Blending
This is a very important stage as it will determine our own House style. First, we take different percentages of our wines, depending on the harvest year. For the first blending operation, we use 40% to 50% of the year’s harvest and the remainder is made up of reserve years (average 3 years). We use the same percentages of the three different grape varieties in order to obtain the same champagne from one year to the next.

Drawing off / Bottling / In-bottle fermentation
The wine is bottled and yeast and sugar added to stimulate the second alcoholic fermentation (= in-bottle fermentation or “prise de mousse”), which results in the creation of 5 to 6 kg of pressure per bottle. Even large bottles (Jeroboams and Methuselahs) are filled directly at this stage since we do not carry out any subsequent transfer to containers of a different size. The bottles are then stored on their sides and left to mature in our cellars for two to ten years, depending on the champagne. Allowing the wine to rest in this way means that its aromas can be released.

Disgorgement/Dosage
Once turned, the bottles end up neck down. They are then plunged into a very cold solution, resulting in the formation of a plug of ice in the neck. This contains the deposited sediment, which flies out as a solid pellet when the bottle is opened. For large containers, this operation is carried out by hand. Bottles are then topped up with a mixture of reserve wine and cane sugar (“liqueur d’expédition”), which is added by separately using the three grape varieties to arrive at liqueurs that will allow each champagne to arrive at a balance between sugar and acidity.