THE ART OF MAKING CHAMPAGNE

THE HARVEST: End of September, beginning of October: after long months of attentive care, winegrowers are rewarded by the harvest. The meticulous care and the severe regulations which protect the wine and the name Champagne get obvious at the time of the year. The love and joy of making Champagne become obvious too.

THE PRESSING: As soon as the grapes are picked~ riley are taken to the pressing house to be pressed. Still in the purpose of preserving quality, the yield of must obtained from the traditional pressing of 4.000 kg (about 9.000 pounds) of grapes is limited to 2,666 litres. The rest cannot bear the name Champagne.

THE FIRST FERMENTATION: Transferred in the Rapeneau's cellar, the must is stocked in vats where, thanks to the natural yeasts it contains; it will go through a first fermentation and becomes a “clear wine” after a few weeks.

THE CUVEE: The family's oenologist, Christophe, tastes the clear wines and decides of the proportions to be blended to obtain a balanced wine, which will bear the “House Signature”.

THE BLENDING: It takes place in large vats, according to the oenologist prescription. Then ferments and liquor axe added to the wine, which will cause a second fermentation. Finally it is bottled.

THE SECOND FERMENTATION: THE AGING Bottles are immediately taken down to the cellars. Out of the second fermentation comes a gas, the sparkling is born.
Dom Perignon, cellar master of the Hautvillers Abbey, invented this method in the 17th century.
During several years, the wine will age thanks to the deposit created by the second fermentation. This aging must take place in the cellars at a constant temperature of 10 degrees centigrade ( about 50F), and lasts at least one year. At Rapeneau's, we make it three to five years: the longer, the better...

THE RIDDLING: Once the aging is achieved, the deposit must be taken out of the bottle. In order to do it, bottles are put on racks, neck downwards and at slight angle, and a riddler shakes, slants and twists them of a eighth of a turn twice a day during 5 to 6 weeks, thus making deposit slide down towards the cork.

THE DISGORGING: When deposit lies on the cork, the neck of the bottle is put in a freezing brine solution. The deposit is caught in an ice cube and, when the cork is taken off the bottle, the inside pressure pushes the ice cube out. The missing wine is replaced by some “liqueur de dosage”, made of sugar and wine, which determines the specifity of the wine: Brut, Extra-Dry, Sec, Demi-sec (the sweetest).

Then the bottles take some months rest in the cellars, they are washed, labelled and packed to be shipped.