Degorgement

A visit today to a champagne caves to learn about the process and sample some of the product, followed by lunch.

I've visited one or two champagne houses over the years but for the first time I saw the Degorgement process in action. that is where the bottles which have been fermenting gently have been turned every day for around a month to make sure any sediment settles at the neck of the upturned bottles. Nowadays instead of manual turning, the bottles are moved in large crates thereby saving space - and manpower.

the bottles are very quickly frozen at the neck; the metal cap and the small block of ice is removed; the bottles are topped up if necessary with sugar/ more wine; then properly corked and wired to be left in storage until labelling. A mnimum of 15 months but often 3+ years or much longer.

The machinery is brought in when required and can be on site - in this cave for up to 10 days - processing around 8,000 bottles in a day.

The extra is of some of the 300,000 bottles currently being stored.