Who doesn’t like champagne, the famous sparkling wine from the French region called Champagne?
It’s easy to like. It’s festive. It’s delicious.
But it actually is quite difficult to make, involving more steps and control than most other wines.
First, you have to be very careful when you harvest – two of the three grapes used are red grapes, so one must take care not to get a red wine must. That’s why all harvest is manual.
It is very important (and highly controlled) how you do the pressing of the grapes. 4000 kg of grapes can only give 2550 litres of must, and it takes three to four hours to do the pressing.
Then, it has to ferment twice, once in tank/barrel and then again in bottle.
Blending is a critical element, often mixing several tens of different wines, to get the right flavour and balance. To get the right balance – according to consumers’ taste – a touch of sugar is often added.
And finally, it has to rest for at least 15 months, sometimes several years, in the cellar, before the temporary cork and yeast deposit is extracted and the final cork is put in. But for us consumers, it is just a question of how delicious it is when we have it in the glass.
You will learn all about how it is made on our champagne wine tour, but more importantly, you will taste many, many wonderful champagne, including three meals with 100% champagne to find your own preferences for pairing champagne with food.
Join us on a fantastic wine tour to Champagne.
- Champagne, 25-29 September 2024
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And also: We have written an internationally award-winning book on Champagne, so you can hardly get a better guide to the region.
