Champagne Chartogne Taillet à Merfy

The 27th, it was THE disgorgement day !

5 days before ... 37 degrees

3 days before ... 35 degrees

The day before ... The sun was also shining

During this month, we decided to begin to work at

6 o’clock

in the morning. Because, during the afternoon, the sun was too hot to work outside. But for the disgorgement there was always a problem. We couldn’t change the date of this work, and in

Champagne

, the winegrowers couldn’t disgorge, or something like 500 bottles a day ! When the weather is too hot, there is a formation of foam and the bottles overflow.

There aren’t a lot of winegrowers who have their own materiel of disgorgement. The prestation is a good solution, the machines are always build for quality and rapidity, but the date have to be planned two weeks before ... The machines are coming in a truck and needs 1 hour to be installed in our storeroom. That’s why we tried to begin earlier than we used to, near 5 o’clock in the morning.

By chance for us, the 27 was a good day, it was raining with a small wind which was also good for the vines! A real opportunity for us, and for all those who disgorged that day. I spoke during this week with other winegrowers who had a lot of difficulties to disgorge.

It was certainly the only day of this month that could be perfect for this work. And we had it!

Here you can see some pictures of this wonderful day!  The video is coming soon :)

 

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Some news about Alexandre

I finished my formation this year !

Avize was a great school for me, I learned wine and vines in an adult formation which was really interesting. We learned a lot about - The vinification - The vines - The respect of the environment - The wines in the world ...

I'm now working with my parents to obtain the best quality of grapes for the grapeharvest. During this year, I already helped them to reduce the quantity of grapes in the vines. Since 2003, the production of grapes is getting higher and higher, thats why winegrowers have (if they wants to make quality) to work a lot about their production of grapes. The selection of the fruit-bearing wood have to be strict during thepruning and the bud selection to let to the plants the most exact quantity of energy to grow up as good as they can.

After my formation, I also wanted to work with another winegrower, to compare our viticulture and vinification methods. I searched to work with a winegrower who work differently than the other, who could give me other things than my parents gave me. That's why I'll this year work a half time for Anselme Selosse from "Champagne Jacques Selosse". He is for me one of the most special producer in Champagne, he works with a respect of his wines and his soil that might learn me a lot.

I know we already share some ideas, and I want to see if I could receive things from him. Lets wait for August, my first day of work with him !

I'm happy to be there for you, and wish I'll help you  appreciate our Champagne !

Hail in champagne !

This year wasnt really nice for some winegrowers. 1800 hectars of vines were destroyed by hail during the night of the 4^th July and 680 hectars were 100% destroyed.

By chance, hail circumvented Merfy and touched only a small part of our southern vignets (about 5% of our production). But the winegrowers of the neighbourhood villages werent as lucky. Thil, Saint Thierry, Pouillon and other small villages have serious damage. Some vines were severaly damaged, around 100% of their production !

The grapes and the leaves were lost and the wood bursted because of the shock of the impact. The winegrowers loosed all their production for minimum 2 years if they will not be obliged to tear off the vines.

We’re trying to help them as much as we can but the mission is almost impossible.

Some pictures of these damages :

[Come back] The 2005 grape harvest

Hi all !

Here are the pictures of the 2005 grape harvest.
40 people were with us to pick up the best grapes of our vines.

The wether of this grape harvest was a nice surprise, for the vignes and for the workers. The weight of the grapes was about 140 grammes. That’s a high weight wich can be a good thing for the grape harvest. As the grapes were fat, we neednt a lot of grapes to obtain the 4000kg in the press. So we had less grapes and less raffles (green part or wood of the grapes wich could cause some problems of a high quantity of tanins in the moût). Normally, too fat grapes can be dangerous, but if the grapes are gorged of sugar with a nice maturity, that’s a good thing.
Concerning the quality, the maturity was good. A nice level of sugar with some acidity. Our goal isnt to aim a too high level of acidity. We’re the region of France that have natural acidity as we’re on the North of France. Even if the acidity is “low” for juces of Champagne, that’s not a problem. Moreover if we try to have a champagne produced to be drink with food.

For 2005 the quality of the grapes was good, with a good maturity (10,2% vol for the Pinot noir, and 10% for the chardonnay and the Meunier) and acidity. The only thing we could regret is that there were too much quantity of grapes in the vines. Even if we tried to reduce the quantity during the “taille” and the “ebourgeonnage”

But but this year stay a very good year for us, thanks to a very nice weather and a minimum of problems (illness, parasits) in the vignes.

For 2006  we made a very strict "taille" and "ebourgeonnage" to reduce the quantity of grapes. We also prepared the vines during the palissage, to permit to the wind to pass throug the plants, and avoid pourriture.

But the nature is the only one who will teach us how the grapes will be ! We only help the nature to produce quality, and for the rest the nature is the only reference :)

Some pictures of the 2005 grape harvest :

 

Welcome on our blog !

Welcome all !

It's an important day for us, we are now on the Internet !
From our vines to our computer, there is a big gap, but we'll try to make this blog pleasant and dynamic !

We'll try thanks to this blog to share our knowledge and the news of Champagne
We think it could be interesting for you to see how we work in Champagne, and to be a little with us for the goodest
and the ... badest moments :)

We also wish this blog will help you to learn more about us and about our passionnated work and ask us as many questions as you want. We will be happy to answer  !

See you soon, and now excuse me but ...

It's time to drink a glass of  Champagne !