Craftsmanship

The production of Crémant de Bourgogne must follow the strict specifications as defined by the Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée. But then craftsmanship is essential to guarantee the quality and our own house style. This is the journey followed by our wines before they reach your tables.

Vines

Crémant de Bourgogne Henri Champliau is produced from plots known to produce grapes of great quality for the base wines.

This means having ideal characteristics which provide perfect ripening, a mineral quality but not to excess, and a true aromatic expression of the grapes. The earth is lighter and cooler, rather than rich.

The soil is well-drained; we generally avoid the full-south orientations and prefer the highest areas of Burgundy or partially exposed orientations.

Training the vines requires attention as early as the pruning. The soil is managed with passion to bring on the grapes to the correct ripening stage.

Harvesting

The grapes are harvested by hand only to prevent splitting and to capture the freshness of the fruit. The grapes are thus brought whole to the winery and are pressed in successive stages to create juices of different quality. They then follow a classic method for making a white wine. Alcoholic fermentation comes first which lasts about ten days, followed by malolactic fermentation.

In order to ensure the quality of the base wines, checks for content and flavour are carried out.

Blending

This is a process of great subtlety that defines the signature Henri Champliau, "house style".

All the complexity lies in the vision that the winemaker has to envisage the future Crémant de Bourgogne one year or several years later, based on the characteristics of the base wine.

At this stage, we are be able to shape the different characteristics desired: Crémant de Bourgogne blanc Brut Authentique, Brut Diamant and Brut Rosé.

Tirage and second fermentation

The wines are then ready for the “tirage” process. This traditional method involves carrying out a second fermentation in the bottle, a process known as “prise de mousse”. A “liqueur de tirage” is added to the wine in the bottle. The yeasts consume the sugar, producing more alcohol, which generates the carbon dioxide causing the effervescence and a pressure of 6 bars at the end of the process. Once filled, the bottle is closed using a crown cap with a seal and a plastic lid called a “bidule”, which creates an airtight closure.

The hermetically sealed bottles are stored in a horizontal position on wooden racks "sur lattes", to provide the largest surface area for reactions between the yeasts and the wine. Yeasts transform and release particles which provide flavour and also aroma: they dissolve and blend with the wine. Then the yeasts die for lack of substrate, but they leave behind aromatic elements in the wine.

For the Henri Champliau crémants , the ageing time varies between a minimum of 12 months and 20 months following the date of disgorgement which takes place every three months.

Disgorgement and dosage

At the end of the ageing period “sur lattes”, the dead yeasts need to be removed. The operation known as “riddling” consists of moving the bottle from its horizontal position to an inverted vertical position called “sur point” so that the yeast settles in the neck of the bottle. This process is performed manually on a desk known as a “pupitre” or by using an automatic riddling machine. The inverted bottle is then placed in a freezing tank to form an ice pellet that traps the yeast deposit. The bottle is then turned up straight ready for disgorgement. The bottle is uncorked and under the influence of the internal pressure, the ice pellet is expelled.

Once the bottle is disgorged, the volume needs to be replenished before adding the cork and the wire cage. The technique is called “dosage” and involves adding sugar to determine the desired flavour and therefore the house style. The sugar content is governed by the terms: brut nature, extra-brut, brut, extra-sec, sec and demi-sec.

The Henri Champliau crémants are lightly dosed to bring out the characteristics and clarity of the wines.