Comité Champagne Wants You To Know Where And How Your Champagne Is Actually Made
It’s one of the most biodiverse regions in the world with a solid product making formula to match.
Words, Igee Okafor
Photography, Osmany Tavares
What comes to mind when you think of Champagne? Luxury? or maybe celebrating life’s most exciting moments? Both ideas are correct. Yes, it’s an expensive product and ever since its origination, the product has been the preferred choice for social activities of all kinds ranging from political to fashionable affairs.
There’s a champagne brand to suit every occasion and cuisine, but did you know Champagne only comes from Champagne, France? If yes, my utmost respect to you, if no, I’m thrilled because it means I have something to teach.
Last week, we joined Comité Champagne in France for a five day tour around the champagne wine growing region. We visited various champagne houses and wine growers and these are the learning targets we took away from the trip.
On Comité Champagne:
What a lot of people don’t know about the champagne industry is that every major champagne business needs to belong to Comité Champagne, an organization created to protect and advise the champagne brands under its umbrella. They do not handle any commercial activities like advertising. The focus is more technical, highlighting vineyard installations, post production quality control, brand registering, exports, economic Observatory and more.
In addition to those duties, wine education and tourism has become a huge goal as well for the sole purpose of supporting authenticity for the region and the business.
On Sustainability. More agronomy, less agrochemistry:
There are currently 340 champagne houses, 140 Cooperatives, and 16000 Wine Growers in Champagne, France. Growers own 90% of the vineyards and usually, the businesses are family owned.
In addition to respecting their landscapes and biodiversity for the business, they also prioritize doing their part for the planet, children, and future by consciously and effectively investing in innovative initiatives and techniques that reduce their carbon footprint.
Their maintainable goal is to reduce carbon footprint by 75% by 2050, and using no herbicide products by 2025.
Champagne is the first wine region in the world to have orchestrated a carbon footprint analysis back in 2003, and since its acting solution plan, the emissions prompted by each bottle of Champagne has been reduced by 20 percent in the last 15 years. At this point in time, Champagne producers are nursing and utilizing 100 percent of their wastewater, and recycling 90 percent of their industrial waste.
On Geographical Identity:
In Champagne, France the vineyards are founded on a chalky sub soil that encourage and develop growth in its surroundings. Hidden from light, noise, and harmful changes in temperature, the chalk is so valuable because it’s the only composition that can provide the best growing climate for the vines - returning heat humidity while also feeding the fine vine plants to result in the organic ingredients of finished wines.
On Creating The Finished Product We Know As Champagne:
For production, there is a patchwork of 280,000 plots in Champagne, France. One hectare being 2.4 acres. 1 hectare of a vineyard is 10,000 bottles of champagne.
There are three main authorized varieties of grapes that are planted in Champagne France: Chardonnay, Pinot noir, and Meunier. Each type possesses characteristics that help the art of blending for a finished product.
Chardonnay is light, fresh, and citrusy. It is also said that it’s the ideal blend partner for creating wine that is constructed to age.
Pinot noir is often referred to as the body/backbone of a blend because of its stellar aging ability.
Meunier is known best for its fruitful bloom and youthfulness aging faster than Pinot noir.
Step I:
Pertaining to the location of said vineyard, local representatives present appropriate dates for harvesting each grape variety as they grow. When at optimum ripeness, the grapes are picked by hand and sent to the pressing center.
Step II:
The second step is alcoholic fermentation, where freshly grinded grape juice (known as must), in which yeasts are added, is stored in tanks or barrels in cellars. When there’s not much of oxygen, alcohol fermentation occurs in the cytosol of its yeast cells. Simply put, simple sugars are converted to ethanol and carbon dioxide.
Step III:
After the alcoholic fermentation comes the blending. For this technique, winemakers blend different years, varieties, and crus of grape. In the process, a winemaker might choose to create a certain type of cuvée (blend) :
Vintage - a blend from only one harvest.
Non Vintage - a blend from a variety of harvests. It can be a mixture of three to six vintages. Other times, mixtures can be a span of up to 10 years.
Step IV:
After finalizing the blend, it is then bottled and aged in a dark and cold cellar for a minimum of 15 months to undergo a second fermentation. This is for the champagne to mature. The bubbles also start to form during this process. After aging, the sediments that are formed in the bottle must be relieved so the bottles are passed on to wooden racks to undergo a cylic turning of the bottle to allow sediments to descend towards the base of the cap.
Step V:
The final step sees Disgorgement which means getting rid of the sediment through removing the cap. Because of the bottle pressure, some wine is lost in the process so it is topped off with sweet liquids and old wine. The sugar amount added to the champagne just before corking is called Dosage and these are the categories:
Extra Brut: Less than 6 grams of residual sugar per litre. A bit dry.
Brut: 6 - 15 grams of residual sugar per litre. This is the preferred sweetness category.
Extra Sec: 12 - 20 grams of residual sugar per litre.
Sec: 17 - 35 grams of residual sugar per litre.
Demi-Sec: 35 - 50 grams of residual sugar per litre.
Doux: 50+ grams of residual sugar per litre. Very Sweet
To finish the process of champagne making, the bottle is then secured with a permanent cork, wired muzzle, and a foil capsule ready to be labeled and shipped.