Winemaking

At harvest, at stations in each vineyard, the grapes are gently pressed within one hour of hand-harvesting. In this way, the clarity of the must is not compromised. An indigenous, natural primary fermentation then takes place at the winery. Sebastien painstakingly blends the resulting wines of the classic Champagne varieties, using the product from hundreds of individual vineyards and several vintages. Blending is the ultimate art of Champagne, and is key to maintaining Champagne Collet’s incomparable house style. The cuvées are bottled with a bit of sugar and yeast for the second fermentation, or ‘prise de mousse.’ After disgorgement, the bottles are aged far beyond the minimum requirement in the winery’s 100-year-old chalk cellars resulting in softer wines needing less dosage. Some cuvées are matured in barrels from oaks grown in the appellation.

Viticulture

Champagne’s primary distinguishing feature is that the vines are planted at the northernmost limits of their cold tolerance. The ideal vineyard sites are east to southeast facing, gently sloped, and are protected by thickly wooded hilltops allowing the grapes to ripen given the climatic challenges. Champagne Collet’s vineyards are in Premier and Grand Cru villages that reflect the diversity of Champagne’s terroirs. They source fruit from 850 growers spread over 160 different crus (there are a total of 320 crus in Champagne). However, winemaker Sebastien Walasiak uses no more than 10% of the overall vineyard yields to produce the best possible champagnes with year to year style consistency.