Why is Champagne So Expensive?

There are several reasons for the luxury price tag on a bottle of Champagne.  The biggest one is the labor-intensive process in which it is made.   Unlike still wine, Champagne requires several added steps involving significant hands-on toil by a cadre of highly-specialized winery workers.   Moreover, the method of making these hallowed bubbles requires a lengthy period of time.  Time is money.

The unique process of making Champagne is one of the biggest reasons for its lofty price.  Once the grape juice ferments to wine, Champagne goes through an entirely separate process to create its bubbles.  This is called the Methode Champenoise and these words appear on every bottle of sparkling wine made in the Champagne district of France.  By law, no other region or country can use these words, or call their wine Champagne.

The Methode Champenoise involves a “secondary fermentation” in the bottle.  Already fermented still wine is placed in a bottle along with a tiny amount of sugar and yeasts.  A cork is then added.  Over the period of several weeks the added yeast eats the sugar and a secondary fermentation process occurs.   Carbon dioxide is a by-product of fermentation.  This carbon dioxide is responsible for Champagne’s illustrious bubbles.

  Dead yeasts from the secondary fermentation must be removed.

Once the yeast cells have consumed all the sugar they die off.  Now, comes the process for getting rid of the unsightly dead yeast sediment in the bottle.  It begins with “riddling.”  Bottles are placed in a special rack which allows them to be very slowly rotated to a vertical position over time (the cork end of the bottle ultimately ends up at the bottom).  Over a period of several months, each bottle is turned daily by a “riddler.”  Slowly, slowly each bottle is rotated so that over time the spent yeast cells gravitate toward the neck of the bottle. But, there’s much more.

  Riddlers painstakingly turn each bottle daily

Now that the yeasts have all floated to the neck of the now positioned vertical bottle, they must be removed.  This involves another hands-on process called “disgorgement.”  In short, the bottle is kept in its vertical position (cork side down) and placed in ice just long enough for the area near the cork to freeze.  With lightening-speed the cork is removed (and with the cork the frozen dead yeasts adhering to the cork are also removed), and a new cork is placed….all at the blink of an eye by a well-seasoned “disgorger.”    But the Champagne is not ready yet.  It now needs to “rest” for months or even years before it is sold. 

       Dead yeasts accumulate in the vertically positioned bottle & are frozen before removed.

Another reason that Champagne is pricey is the notion of supply and demand.  The Champagne region is the smallest wine region in France and produces a limited number of bottles.  Globally, Champagne accounts for <1% of total wine production.  To further complicate the issue Champagne is France’s most northern wine area.  There are some years in which grapes do not ripen adequately, thus further limiting availability and driving up the cost.

In summary, the Champagne process is long and complex, with many steps along the way that necessitate workers with well-honed special skills.  Production is limited.  All of this translates to do-re-mi for the consumer.   Wine Knows will be visiting both the Champagne and Burgundy regions in June 2019.  For more information about this trip visit www.WineKnowsTravel.com.

  

How is Champagne Really Made?

Many of Champagne's complexities are a result of aging with yeasts

There are several ways to actually make a sparkling wine.  One is to simply add carbon dioxide to a regular wine….voila, you have instant bubbles.  But, for true French Champagne there is only one way to make it.   It’s called the “Methode Champenoise.”   Here’s an overview of the process and why this technique creates a much more complex wine.

In the Méthode Champenoise non-bubbly wine that has already gone through fermentation is placed in a bottle along with some yeasts and a small amount of sugar.  Like in making bread, yeasts need sugar to jump-start their activity.  And, exactly like in bread-making the yeasts’ action gives off carbon dioxide bubbles as they work.  As the wine is in a bottle secured with a cap, this carbon dioxide is trapped and becomes the coveted bubbles we all look forward to appreciating in a glass of Champagne.  This process is a secondary fermentation, as the wine undergoes a second fermentation in the bottle due to the added yeasts and sugar.

Wines produced by the Méthode Champenoise must remain in contact with the yeasts for at least 15 months by law.  This means that wine is stored in the bottle long after the yeasts have stopped working.  It is this resting period that allows for Champagne to develop complexity from its interaction with the dead yeasts.  Many of flavor nuances in Champagne (e.g. aromas of baked bread & nuttiness) are a direct result of their contact with the remains of the yeast cells.  Moreover, the creamy mouth texture is also related to interaction with the yeast.  Now, the challenge is to remove the yeast debris which causes cloudiness.  Here’s how that is done.

First, the dead yeasts are slowly by gravity moved to the neck of the bottle.  This act is called “riddling.”  Painstaking each bottle is rotated by hand, little-by-little, over a period of several months so that it stands almost vertical.  With each labor intensive rotation, the cellular debris of the dead yeasts is moved closer to the tapered end.   Once all the yeast fragments are at the end of the bottle, the next step in the process occurs.  The neck of the bottle (still in its upside down position) is dipped in a frozen bath.  The dead cells, attached to the cork, become frozen.  Very quickly, the cork with the attached  “ ice cube of dead yeasts,”  is removed and a new cork inserted.  This freezing process and cork removal is called “disgorgement.”

No other sparkling wine in the European Union  may use the word Champagne or the Méthode Champenoise on their labels or any advertising material.   The word Champagne is carefully guarded by law and can be used  only by the sparkling winemakers of the Champagne district.  On this September’s tour we’ll learn all about these super-stringent laws prohibiting the unlawful use of the word Champagne, we’ll observe the riddling process as well as view the cellular debris of yeasts as the Champagne is aging, and if we’re lucky, we’ll be able to watch disgorgement.  For sure, we’ll be have ample opportunities to drink the world’s most famous bubbly.

A votre santé!  (to your health!)