Something new

Whenever we visit producers caves in Champagne we see something new. Even though we may have visited many times before, it’s always an opportunity to learn something surprising or see something in a different way.

On a recent visit to a favourite producer of ours, Jérôme Cothias we had the chance to experience ‘dégorgement’ again. For those of you that haven’t heard of this process before it’s the moment when the Champagne has spent long enough in the cellar maturing, and is ready to have the dead yeasts removed in readiness to finally release the bottle into the world. Jérôme was kind enough to demonstrate the process by hand. It’s very quick, as the cap is released (with the yeasts captured inside it) and the neck is covered before too much Champagne is released. This slow motion video shows how fast it all is and the skill that is required. As a mechanical process they would freeze the neck to produce a small cube of ice, that is then released from the bottle by the pressure within.

On our way out he also showed us a bunch of young, French, Chardonnay vines that had been grafted onto American rootstock to protect against Phylloxera. He talked us through the preparation of the vine before it arrives with him, ready to be planted. How it’s coated in paraffin wax to help protect the graft through the summer, whilst it’s established at the nursery before they dig them up and send them out to be planted, he’ll be doing this very shortly. There’s always something new and interesting to see and learn.