So how is Champagne made? From the vineyard to your glass, we've got the answers.

Let's start in the vineyard(s). The grapes used to make Champagne (Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier) are always harvested by hand off of the vine, never by machine, so that the best fruit can be selected. Then they are collected and pressed as close to the vineyard as possible.

Why? Transporting red grapes to make white wine can be tricky – if the red grapes sit on top of each other too long, the grapes collapse under their own weight and the juice would be in contact with the red skins creating a red tinted wine.

After the wines are pressed, a large truck brings the various still wine(s) to the house to “ferment” in temperature controlled stainless steel tanks for 3-4 weeks to go through a process called “malo” (wine speak: malolactic fermentation.) This is a totally natural development when the grape’s sugar turns into alcohol and releases carbon dioxide, necessary to reduce the acidity, leaving supple juice with refined aromas.

Shown here, Champagnes Piper-Heidsieck & Charles Heidsieck vinifies cru by cru and varietal by varietal separately.

After the vinification, the prestigious M. Régis Camus (Chef de Caves for Champagnes Piper-Heidsieck & Charles Heidsieck) and his team of oenologists are responsible for deciding how these different wines will be blended to create the "recipe" for the house style.

For instance, the blend of Charles Heidsieck Brut Réserve is a discerning selection of approximately 120 crus each year.

40% of reserve wines, ranging in age from 5 - 10 years old, are incorporated into the blend before a minimum of 42 months of aging in their 2,000-year-old Gallo-Roman chalk cellars.

He and his team of oenologists taste the still wines (wine speak: vin clair, the "base" wine of Champagne) every day.

When the "recipe" has been decided, the wines are put into the blending tanks and then carried up to the beginning of the bottling line to start the essential part of Champagne making, a “physic-chemical” fermentation.  This is where yeast and sugar is added to the wine to trigger the 2nd fermentation, before being sealed with a bottle cap.

 
The bottles are then placed in these special crates to minimize movement and taken to "rest" in the Gallo-Roman cellars. These cellars are another essential part of making Champagne – perfect for their natural high humidity and constant temperature of 12°.

There they will “rest” in the dark from 2-6 years, where the yeast and sugar will create alcohol and carbon dioxide gas.

Because the gas cannot escape, pressure builds up inside the bottle (three times the pressure in a car tire) and dissolves in the wine – et voila…bubbles!

By the time this second fermentation and resting period are over, the bottles will have been turned from horizontal to vertical (wine speak: “riddled”) forcing the dead yeast cells (called “lees”) to settle in the neck of the bottle and will need to be removed to “clarify” the wine. The bottles are then brought back to the bottling facility to be “disgorged” to remove the yeast sediment.

This process known as “dégorgement” is fascinating…the neck of the bottle is dipped into freezing brine, which freezes the lees. The cap is popped off and then the frozen bit comes out.

A small dosage of Champagne is added to top off the level and then the bottle is sealed with a cork and wire cap and ready for delivery!