Blending different wines to produce a final product as a method which is practiced all around the world
However, perhaps nowhere, does it play such a vital role as in the region of champagne
Here the process of blending known as Assemblage
dates back almost as far as sparkling wine itself to the Benedictine monks of the 17th century.
The Champagne making process has been a long process to be able for
Winemakers in Champagne to to control the first one really developed
The method is the monk Dom Perignon that everybody knows it was a first winemaker to start and try to blend different
Cru, different villages, and try to find the perfect blend to make Champagne. And after he started also to develop
the second fermentation process and it was at this period that the first
sparkling wines appeared in champagne
Unlike other regions in Champagne, there are four different dimensions to the art of blending
first the blending of different grape varieties, mainly Chardonnay
Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier
Each of these grapes give the wine distinctive yet complimentary characteristics
So how different types of grapes
Effects the champagne? I will start as we do when we taste the wine, Chardonnay, the white grapes
Where people producing blanc de blanc with Chardonnay
Chardonnay, we say it's fresh
Fresh why when you drink it bring acidity, it's easier to drink but no aftertaste
Pinot Noir, I prefer Pinot Noir, I am from Ay
pinot noir powerful,
Pinot noir gives structure, Pinot Noir you have more sensation of fizz in front of your palate, strong aftertaste
after thirty seconds, Pinot Meunier fills the gap between
Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Pinot Meunier
I love the Pinot Meunier, Pinot Meunier, we say it's round you have sensation of sweetness on the tongue and
It brings a fruity aroma
And it gives a structure of all non-vintage or non-vintage on based Meunier so you can drink it younger
Second the blending of wines from the different villages or Crus of champagne with over 300 villages in the region
There are almost endless combination for a winemaker to choose from
So Olivier tell me about the process for the blendings. During a few months, we will taste every single
Tanks, and we make marks this wine. Maybe we can keep it we have to use it
Maybe this one is good for rose, etc
So after 2 months we start
Making the blend by taking a bit of some water
Maybe few tanks of tanks and we make different samples step by step. We taste a few
Samples, which will prefer why it's a try. So we remove and add another vat
this blending process can often take a number of months and the time taken will vary depending on the wine being created. when we
Think we have finds a good recipe. We tasted few times
it's about four five months of work every day to find as a blending of all cuvees. and
Sometimes we start bottling and also blending are not already done
How many different wines we use to blend?
We will taste all the tanks at the end of the harvest and we start with the non vintage wine for this
blending we use about
200 wines
third due champagne somewhat cool climate
Vintages can vary greatly here to adapt over the centuries the process of blending across
Vintages has become a vital aspect of winemaking within the region. We have fantastic years good years. Very good year
Challenging years. But let's say making a vintage from a challenging year
Because now the commercial diamond we have people want vintage but always the same place
It's we can't, we can't do it, by by blending years. We are quite constant for me
So I do prefer non-vintage to vintage to drink when you have the complexity of
20 years reserved wine with a 15:1 from this village will bring acidity. This one will bring the fruitiness
This one will bring honey, its village from this year
We bring a strawberry flavour and you have a lot of the young one true to make the volume
Finally, there is the human element
The winemaker known as the Chef de Cave in Champagne is a pivotal role
They must make an almost countless number of decisions both in the vineyard and in the winery
Their ultimate goal is to create a wine that is greater than the sum of its parts
This enables them to formulate their own unique and distinct our style