Champagne harvest: A short video

I spent the second half of last week at the University of Reims, where I was conducting some experiments with Laccase and sparkling wine juice. I plan on writing about this later.

However while i was there I shot a short video in one of the wineries we are taking samples from.  I was very impressed with the facilities of the Coopérative vinicole de Nogent l'Abbesse, which serves the most North Easterly vineyards of Champagne .  These vineyards are located on a small hill near the villages of Nogent l'Abbesse, Cernay-lès-Reims and Berru and are predominantly Chardonnay grapes.

Nogent l'Abbesse, North East of Reims

In a period of 10 days, the winery will process approximately 4000 tonnes of grapes through a winery, using some of the most up-to-date winemaking equipment available.  The video below highlights how the grapes get from the grower into the winery where there are whole-bunched pressed into juice.