"And I repeat to you, when a man is one of my friends... we have been baptised together with the wine of Champagne..."
      H. De Balzac, Le contrat de Mariage, 1842.

     'Champagnisation' is a neologism, quite surprising and yet so evocative. This second vinification phase is the special moment when all the values and skills of Champagne are put to work. It consists of making a sparkling wine from the still wine produced by the first vinification cycle. This crucial stage is governed by a very specific method, known as "the Champagne method". It combines an ancestral know-how with an extreme attention to detail and is the full and complete expression of the Champagne soil.

      'Tirage' is the term used in Champagne to designate all of the operations required to bottle the still wine obtained from the first vinification cycle. This phase known as the "capture of the sparkle" takes place via a second alcoholic fermentation, which gives off carbon dioxide (CO2), or in other words, the future bubbles and foam of the wine.
To achieve this the wine-maker can, from January 1st of the year following the harvest, pour into a vat containing the clear and still wine, a preparation of his own devising. He uses both his know-how and oenological knowledge to combine:     

      - a small quantity of candied sugar or 'liqueur de tirage' (bottling liqueur),
      - the bottling ferments, which is the active alcoholic yeast present in the form of a liquid culture called 'levain' (yeast starter preparation).

Note:
Before the revolution caused by the discoveries of L.F. Pasteur, the liqueur was added in a more or less empirical manner, producing badly controlled reactions, which resulted in an serious bottle breakage rate (up to 80% in 1828). It must be noted that at this time, the bottles blown by hand by master glass-makers contained irregular qualities and characteristics. It was only in around 1900 that the conditions of this second fermentation and the glass quality of the bottles were improved.

      The bottling liqueur takes the form of a mixture of still wine and candied sugar at a concentration varying from 500 to 625 g/l. The quantity added is uniquely determined by the desired pressure, on the following basis - 24 g/l of liqueur obtains 6 kg/cm2 at the end of 'the capture of the sparkle'.
      The preparation of bottling ferments requires the use of one of the three strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae already used for the first alcoholic fermentation. This is dried yeast, selected for both its organoleptical qualities and its aptitude for the 'capture of the sparkle'.
      In order to re-hydrate and multiply, this dried yeast is placed in a mixture of still wine, water, sugar and diamine phosphates. The wine, therefore, acts as a nutritional base for this yeast. Water is only present in very low quantities in order that the alcohol content does not rise above 11 to 12°. The sugar's role is to intervene as a source of carbon and as a fermentable element. Finally, the diamine phosphates provide the source of nitrogen necessary for the cellular multiplication.
      The production of this yeast starter preparation is at the heart of the champagnisation process. If it is not of a good technical quality, 'the capture of the sparkle' will not take place sufficiently and the wine will subsequently be returned to its vats. In these extreme cases, we talk about 'return to wood hoops' ('remise en cercles'), which refers to the wooden hoops around the tuns.
      To encourage the activity of this yeast starter preparation, the wine-maker works in vats that are virtually pure technological fermentors with powerful stirrers as well as regulated temperature and oxygen supplies.
      The multiplication of the yeast and its gradual adaptation to conditions during 'the capture of the sparkle' lasts from four days to several weeks. The yeast starter preparation contains approximately 40 to 80 million active cells per millilitre of liquid. At the rate of 3 l /hl, it gives an inoculation of 1.2 to 2.4 million active cells per millilitre of wine to be drawn off.

       Ten years ago, this yeast was still considered a simple fermentation agent. Today, scientific research has established its amazing ability to produce a variety of aromas depending on the strain used.
      The riddling adjuvants, which are mineral and/or organic (tannin, bentonite, alginate) take charge of agglomerating the dead yeast, or 'lees', and preventing them from sticking to the glass of the bottle. The heavier the deposit created, the more easily it will slide towards the bottleneck.

      Just before the definitive bottling, a homogeneous mixture comprising the liqueur, the ferments, the riddling adjuvants and the drawn-off wine is prepared in a vat equipped with a powerful stirrer.

The wine prepared in this way is bottled using entirely automated high-speed machines.

      Once filled, the standard Champagne bottle is sealed in a temporary manner with a metal cap (or 'crown cap'), equipped with a hollow polyethylene operculum, known as a 'bidule'. This will guarantee the air seal and the pressure and will then serve as a container for the yeast deposit at the end of the riddling.

      Legally, bottling cannot take place before 1st January of the year following the harvest. It can last from several days to seven or eight months depending on the size of the House. The smaller ones frequently use specialists who bring their mobile equipment into the Houses' cellars. The largest ones are equipped with mechanised and automated bottling lines, with speeds varying from 2,000 to 18,000 bottles per hour.

Note: Champagne bottles come in sizes for all pleasures.
            Apart from the classic 75 cl Champagne bottle (1 bottle = approximately 6 glasses), there are eight different bottle sizes, which keep to the traditional shape:

- the Quart : 18.75 or 20 cl - the Demie : 37.5 cl - the Magnum : 1.5l (that is 2 bottles) - the Jéroboam : 3l (that is 4 bottles) - the Réoboam : 4,5l (that is 6 bottles) - the Mathusalem : 6l (that is 8 bottles) - the Salmanazar : 9l (that is 12 bottles) - the Balthasar : 12l (that is 16 bottles) - the Nabuchodonosor : 15l (that is 20 bottles)

      Champagne must be produced and marketed within the container in which the wine has fermented to develop its sparkle. An exception is made for bottles containing less than 37.5cl or more than 3l.

bottles that we know today. Their aim was to associate the sparkling wine of Champagne, mostly enjoyed during celebrations, with the middle-eastern civilisations of antiquity famous for their splendour.

      Therefore, the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II (605 - 562 BC) and the regency of Balthazar (555 - 539 BC) marked the peak of Babylonian civilisation, famous for its ziggurats and hanging gardens.

      Salmanasar III, King of Assyria (859 - 824 BC), was a great conqueror and the remains of Nimroud are proof of his workmanship as an important builder.

      For his part, the celebrated Biblical patriarch, Mathusalem, apparently lived for 969 years! By naming a bottle after him, it was suggested that the sparkling wine of Champagne would promise a long life.

      Jéroboam I (931-910 BC) was the founder and first King of Israel.

      Finally, there is the idea of greatness with "magnum", a Latin adjective meaning "great".