To obtain the name Champagne: The grapes must be harvest manually The harvesting must be done in one time to insure the homogeneity of the juice.

For the appellation Champagne, all the grapes must be unbroken and entire when they are setted down on the wine- press. The wine press must satisfy some criteria specific of the champagne production: The loading must be easy, fast and with a short fall of the grapes The area of pressuring must be large The juice must be extracted at 90° from the pressure axe to grant rape auto filtration

Acidity of the grapes juice must be controlled. Use stainless steel cylinders or barrels. yeast is added to the grape juice The yeast feeds on the sugar in the grape juice and releases alcohol (as ethanol), heat and carbon dioxide.

From each of the fermented batches of wine a small sample is taken and tasted by the wine makers. The selected samples are then taken and combined to give a final master blend, which is called the cuvée. This can be a very difficult process since it requires the wine makers to predict the final flavour of the blend after the second fermentation. The remaining blocks of wine that have not been used in blending are auctioned off to other vineyards.

This stage takes place in spring. Before to bottle, yeast and sugar are added to the final blend to induce the second fermentation. Then the wine is bottled and closed with a non definitive capsule.

Low temperature (10 or 12°C) Dug in the chalk Laid down horizontally on wood boards to maintain the contact between the sediment and the wine. Yeast added before the bottling increases the level of alcohol and adds CO 2 which is the source of the bubbles. The yeast must now remain in the bottle for allow the champagne to age, even though the fermentation process is complete. This stage lasts at least 15 months, (three years for ‘‘millésimes’’).

Riddling is removing the yeast from the bottle. Bottles are placed at a 45 degree angle in either an automated or manual turning rack. Then the bottles are periodically rotated Make the deposit slide into the neck of the bottle Mechanical riddler : 1 week Manual riddler : 1 month

Disgorging is removing the yeast. After riddling the yeast is ready to be removed. The tops of the bottleneck is dipped into a freezing bath (-20°C) trapping the yeast as an ice plug in the cap which prevents it from falling back into the sparkling wine. Remove the cap from the bottle and the pressure built up inside shoots out the yeast ice plug.

Adjustement of the blend. Generally a combination of sugar and wine  balance the high acidity of the dry wine. The amount of sugar added determines the designation on the label Sulphur compounds can also be added to help preserve the wine. Cork is forced into the bottle and capped with a wire hood.