Champagne Campus

your training programme:

Lovers

3. The winemaking process

How is pressing done?

There are different types of Champagne presses:

Traditional manually operated
vertical
wine presses
(28% of all presses).

Horizontal presses,
lateral membrane presses,
presses with a tilted plate
or a rotatable platen,
which are computer-controlled.

The presses range in capacity from
2,000 to 12,000 kilos
of whole grapes.

Traditional
VERTICAL presses

Automatic
LATERAL MEMBRANE presses

Horizontal hydraulic press with a
TILTED PLATE

Between every ‘marc’ (unit of measurement for a press-load of grapes), the press must be emptied and cleaned with water.

As part of the commitment to sustainable viticulture, solid residues left over after pressing are sent for distillation and 100% of all winery wastewater is treated.

What are reserve wines?

Reserve wines are sometimes stored
for several decades,
in stainless steel tanks

OR IN WOODEN CASKS

They are used in most blends
apart from vintages.

Their role is to
perpetuate the style
of each cuvée year after year and
to bring to the blend
their more mature character.

How is rosé Champagne made?

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Maceration and blending
are the two techniques
used to produce
rosé Champagne.

Maceration

Before pressing, destemmed black-skinned grapes
are left to macerate until the desired colour is achieved

24 to 72 hours
(depending on the year).

Blending

This involves blending ‘base’ red
and white wines from Champagne.

This is the

method used most
frequently.

What information must be included on the label?

The last stage before the bottle leaves the Champagne
cellars is labelling and packaging (habillage).

This
is very strictly regulated.

From the following items of information,
which must be included on the label.

Click here to find out more about the registration and code number.

1.

Did you know?

Since 2011, Champagne producers have been using a new, lighter bottle (835 grams instead of 900 grams), enabling them to reduce their carbon footprint by 8,000 tonnes per year.

Your next stage:

Tasting

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