OUR KNOW-HOW
Passion for terroir
we
are
proud
and
protective
of
our
vines
and
our
terroir.
our
soil
is
our
legacy.
Our
crafts
The
Making
of
Champagne
August - October
Grape
Harvest
The grapes are picked by hand, honoring the Champagne tradition. Every year 120,000 pickers harvest only whole, undamaged grape clusters to ensure clear and quality champagne.
Bertrand Lhôpital
Harvest
Pressing
Slow and steady pressure is applied to the fresh grapes, extracting the high quality juice. Grapes must be pressed the day that they are harvested.
Aurore Guerlesquin
6-10 days
First
Fermentation
When the grape juice is transformed into wine. Added yeast and sugar react with the natural sugars present in the juice, producing alcohol. The wine clarifies naturally as residual sediments sink to the bottom of the steel vats.
Aurore Guerlesquin
Assemblage
Blending is a paramount stage in Champagne making as it gives each Champagne its identity. It is the process through which the Cellar Master will use their collection of wines - vins clairs - from different grape varieties originating from multiple vineyards and years to produce the perfect wine base for future Champagne.
Bertrand Lhôpital
Tirage
The newly blended cuvée is bottled with the addition of the ”liqueur de tirage,” a blend of still wine, sugar and active yeast strains. Today, most bottles are sealed with a “bidule” held in place by a metal cap.
Aurore Guerlesquin
6-8 weeks
Second
Fermentation
Inside each individual bottle the wine will undergo a second fermentation and gain its sparkle. Trapped inside the bottle, the naturally produced carbon dioxide transforms into the fine bubbles we all know to be Champagne's signature effervescence – “prise de mousse”.
Aurore Guerlesquin
Minimum 3 years
Maturation
Deep inside the cellars, the bottles embark on a long period of maturation. The ”lees”, yeast cells left over in the bottles, will define the Champagne’s flavor profile. Telmont non-vintage champagnes age for a minimum of 3 years, twice the AOC requirement and our vintage champagnes spend a minimum of 6 years in our cellars.
Bertrand Lhôpital
4-6 weeks
Riddling
The bottles are rotated successively clockwise and counterclockwise, ushering the sediments from the second fermentation to the bottleneck. Traditionally hand-turned by skilled cellar masters, manual remuage can take 4 to 6 weeks and involves approximately 25 turns per bottle.
Bertrand Lhôpital
Disgorgement
The neck of the bottle is immersed in a bath at approximately -25°C, forming a frozen plug in the neck entrapping the gathered sediment. When the bottle is opened, the internal pressure allows the frozen sediment to be ejected and results in the desired perfectly clear Champagne.
Hervé Camus
Dosage
The Cellar Master choses the nature of the wine to be used as the base for the liqueur as well as the final sugar dose, in turn defining the classification of the Champagne: Brut, Extra Brut etc.
Bertrand Lhôpital
Cork,
Wire
and
Labeling
Finally the bottles are corked, wired and adorned with the house signature and label.
Hervé Camus
Champagne
Region
Excellence in its terroir, unique in its alliance of soil, climate and human craft. The Champagne appellation encompasses roughly 34,300 hectares of vineyards in the North East of France
Our
Story
Our house is as much at the heart of the vineyard as the vineyard is at the heart of our house.
Guided by our values, and by the eternal pursuit of excellence, ours is an approach that brings together tradition and sustainability.
